Now customers of Priorbank, a leading commercial bank in Belarus and a member of Raiffeisen Bank International group, can use their phones as a universal payment tool.
The service supports MasterCard cards and will be expanded to Visa cards later this year.
This is the first time Host Card Emulation (HCE) technology for issuing cards in a smartphone has been used in Belarus. The solution was developed on the WAY4 platform by OpenWay, a recognised leader in software for bankcard issuing and acquiring, payment processing, remote banking services and financial transaction routing.
To start using the service, Priorbank customers download a special app to their phones and create mobile version of their bankcard in two clicks. The card in the phone can be used for payment in shops, restaurants and anywhere POS terminals supporting contactless payment technology are installed. Each transaction over 200,000 Belarusian rubles (about $10) is confirmed by PIN.Access to cards in the phone is protected by the app's password. The bank plans to implement the mobile issuing service for both debit and credit cards.
The WAY4 HCE solution allows issuers to independently issue virtual cards to client mobile phones and store encrypted card data on bank servers. The technologyensures a high level of security for storing financial information according to international standards. The service can be used anyone who has a phone with NFC support, running under Android KitKat 4.4 and higher.
"With the launch of this project, Belarus joins the ranks of progressive markets with the most innovative technology in the financial sphere. The solution we introduced today is one of the newest in the area of contactless mobile payments, used by the world's leading banks. − notes Sergei Shishov, vice president of the board of Priorbank. - The technology (HCE) we chose to implement in this project offers great opportunities. Consumers get a convenient, fast, and reliable payment tool. We are certain this technology is not only significant for us, but for the market as a whole. Priorbank plans to actively work on implementing and promoting contactless payment technology in Belarus, assist in raising the financial literacy of the population and developing cashless payments in the Republic of Belarus".
In many countries, contactless payment is already helping to solve the problem of lines. It speeds up service in shops and fast food restaurants, on public transportation and at public events. The ability to provide mobile services is becoming another way to attract and retain clients. Mobile tokenisation is becoming one of the main ways to protect card data.
Despite international technology giants such as Apple Pay, Android Pay, Samsung Payentering the payments market, processing companies and banks are also interested in developing their own mobile applications for tokenisation andcontactless payment. This helps them to maintain their brand and direct contact with clients. The WAY4 HCE solution offers many advantages for issuers, allowing them to expand their line of innovative card products, save on plastic card fulfilment costs, and quickly and securely bring new services to market. Not only does the solution make it possible to issue a mobile version of a client's existing card, virtual prepaid card can also be offered to new customers. These cards can be issued instantly at mobile sales points or during public events as a ticket and means of payment.
"We see our clients are interested in the WAY4 HCE solution and are already implementing several pilot projects in Europe and Central Asia. In the nearfuture, we plan to support international payment system protocols — MDES and VDEP, which will make it possible for banks to provide contactless paymentswith MasterCard and Visa cards using payment system tokenisation services", - notes Dmitry Dovgal, deputy director of business development at OpenWay.
The WAY4 HCE solution was developed to be compatible with any processing system. Moreover, OpenWay has created a set of developer tools, WAY4 HCE SDK, so banks can build WAY4 HCE into their own mobile applications (for example, mobile banking apps operating on WAY4 or another platform).
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According to National bank data, in Belarus more than 10% of all payment terminals installed support contactless payment.