Canada’s Banks and ‘Big 3’ Carriers Agree on Standards for Upcoming Mobile Payment Solutions

According to a report from The Globe and Mail, Canadians can expect mobile payment solutions fairly soon, as our big banks and mobile carriers have agreed upon a set of standards:

The new guidelines, which are expected to be made public as early as Monday, will open the door for partnerships between financial institutions and telecommunications companies to embed credit card and debit card information inside smartphones.

Those standards were agreed upon by the country’s largest banks late on Friday at a meeting of the Canadian Bankers Association, and will set out rules for “how banks will operate in this new world,” a source close to the situation told The Globe and Mail.

Mobile payment solutions will set to arrive as some of our largest banks are set to announce their partnerships with either Bell, Telus, or Rogers, with the latter expected to be the first to unveil such a service, as CEO, Nadir Mohamed, formerly said a mobile payment solution was forthcoming. According to the report, Rogers would want a smartphone’s SIM to also act as a mobile wallet and store critical information, and be able to charge customers to use the service.

Rogers applied to become a Canadian bank to offer credit services last September, most likely to be a part of their mobile payment system.

Near the end of April, it was reported Rogers and Bell were set to announce their ‘mobile wallet’ solution, EnStream, within six months time. The report notes both carriers have already begun NFC mobile payment trials. Even the Royal Canadian Mint plans to change the way we pay for items, as last April they asked developers to make use of their MintChip technology and create an app as part of a $50,000 contest.

Personally, I’m looking forward to ‘photo chequing’ to arrive to the iPhone from our Canadian banks.

Are you looking forward to being able to pay for things from your smartphone? We would need an iPhone with NFC capabilities first.

[via The Globe and Mail]

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