Today Bell ID announced that it has been working in collaboration with Monitise Group on a shared Trusted Service Manager approach to mobile contactless payments.
The project will bring together Monitise’s award winning mobile money service, which has already been rolled out to consumers in the UK and North America, and Bell ID’s technology leadership in smart card and application management.
The shared Trusted Service Manager approach of Bell ID and Monitise will create separate environments for both chip security and the management of consumer’s financial accounts, therefore combining trusted card security with a proven, mass-market, consumer interface.
David Orme, CEO of Bell ID, commented: “Millions of consumers worldwide are already using their mobile phone to manage their money while on the move. Now, the challenge is to ensure that contactless payments from handsets are as secure and mass-market as mobile banking has already become.”
“Monitise is widely acknowledged to be the industry leader in the delivery of consumer focused, mobile money services”, Erik Vermeer, Bell ID’s Technical Director, continues. “By combining this with our expertise in card and chip management, we are confident that the Trusted Service Manager is the most sustainable approach to ‘beep and pay’ payments from the mobile phone.”
Alastair Lukies, Chief Executive of the Monitise Group added: “The mobile phone has quickly established itself as a major banking channel. However, for contactless payments to become mainstream, the industry needs to work together to ensure that the service is ‘bank grade’ from the outset.”
“Monitise and Bell ID have both made a name for themselves by delivering mass-market, banking grade, secure services that allow consumers to adopt new payment services with confidence. I’m confident that by working together we can help create a solid and practical showcase for the Trusted Service Manager role in contactless mobile payments.”
About Monitise plc
Monitise plc (MONI.L) is a specialist in mobile banking, payments and commerce technology. It has engineered the world’s first mobile banking ecosystems, which allow customers of multiple banks and mobile operators to perform banking and payment transactions directly from their mobile handset.
With live services in the UK and the USA, where it has delivered the MONILINK and Monitise networks in partnership with VocaLink and Metavante Corporation respectively, the Company is currently working with international partners to deliver similar safe, secure mobile banking & payment services in territories worldwide.
Current key partners include VocaLink, Metavante, HSBC, Lloyds TSB, first direct, Alliance & Leicester, Royal Bank of Scotland, NatWest, Vodafone, Orange, O2, T-Mobile and Hutchison 3G.
Monitise was recognized as a ‘Technology Pioneer’ by the World Economic Forum in 2006; ‘Mobile Innovation of the Year’ by The Banker Magazine in 2007 and awarded the Innovation in Messaging Award 2007 by the Mobile Messaging Association.
