Category: Apps

The application from the Royal Bank of Canada now supports host card emulation to broaden usage capabilities.

The mobile payments app from the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) has now announced the addition of support for host card emulation (HCE), in a move that it says will give Canadians the ability to use Android based smartphones to complete purchase transactions without having to worry about having the right type of SIM card or being on the correct network.

The bank has built on its existing platform, called the RBC Secure Cloud to encourage smartphone payments use.

According to RBC, this change to its app is “allowing Canadians to pay with most Android mobile phones without worrying about being on the right mobile network or having the right SIM card.” The service will give customers with virtually any Android smartphone that is NFC technology enabled the opportunity to make mobile payments at merchants equipped with Interact Flash contactless POS terminals. The smartphones will function as an alternative to using a traditional debit card.

This new mobile payments technology will be piloted over the winter months by employees of RBC.

They will be using a number of different mobile networks and types of Android device, said the bank. This trial will not yet be testing the support for MasterCard, Visa, and other types of credit card, and other types of value added service, though the bank did confirm that those would be coming “shortly.”

The RBC executive vice president for digital, payments and cards, Linda Mantia, stated that “We are committed to providing our clients with the most innovative, convenient and secure solutions to pay how they want, when they want — HCE is a critical step.” She also added that through the use of HCE, the smartphone based payments by way of the RBC Secure Cloud become “even easier to use”.

The bank first started developing its mobile payments app back in 2009, and it has gone through a number of different evolutions and additions. This addition of HCE is only the latest move by the bank, which is among the players that are attempting to act the most quickly in order to grab hold of the largest proportion of the Canadian smartphone transaction market.

Apple Pay has managed to find success where other services have failed

Apple Pay has been finding significant success as a mobile payments service in the few months since its launch, but the service could face challenges in the future. When Apple launched its payment service in September of this year, many believed that it would be a game changer in the mobile commerce space. The service launched with the support of several major retail companies and financial institutions and has been gaining more support from these sectors since.

Report shows that mobile payments among iOS users is rising dramatically

A recent report released by Investment Technology Group found that Apple Pay has already had a significant impact. The report shows that 60% of new Apple Pay users made a payment through the service multiple times during November, suggesting that the platform is engaging consumers effectively. By comparison, 20% of new PayPal customers used the company’s service during the same period.  The report also shows that Apple Pay customers used the service approximately 1.4 times per week.

Consumers are likely to continue using Apple Pay with merchants they already purchase products from

The retail partners that Apple has acquired for the launch of Apple Pay have helped the service flourish. Those with iOS devices have been without a comprehensive mobile payments solution for some time, and many were happy to use Apple Pay when it was launched in September. The report from Investment Technology Group shows that Apple Pay users were more likely to continue using the service with the same retailers numerous times, with 66% of consumers using the service at the same merchant for future transactions.

 Mobile payments is coming under regulatory scrutiny

Despite the success of Apple Pay, it could be subject to restrictive financial regulations in the future. Apple may be subject to examination by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which has grown somewhat concerned about the mobile payments space recently. While the agency has not yet taken steps to examine companies like Apple and determine whether or not they must comply with the Consumer Financial Protection Act, mobile payments have been falling under more regulatory scrutiny recently.