Priorbank was the first in the country to launch contactless smartphone payment technology for Visa cardholders. Belarusians can now pay without their bank "plastic" in shops, cafes, restaurants, cinemas, and other establishments across the country, the bank's press service reported.
Priorbank was the first in the country to launch contactless smartphone payment technology for Visa cardholders. Belarusians can now pay without their bank "plastic" in shops, cafes, restaurants, cinemas, and other establishments across the country, the bank's press service reported.
"The HCE (Host Card Emulation) technology will turn a smartphone into a payment instrument. A 'digital card' is used for payments – a virtual duplicate of the standard "plastic" card. It can be created free of charge directly in the special Prior Pay application. Both new and existing Visa cardholders can do this, and the latter do not even need to visit a Priorbank branch," the press service explained.
The bank reported that to pay for a purchase, one only needs to tap their smartphone to a payment terminal supporting Visa payWave (which is currently used by contactless cards). The optimal distance between the smartphone and the terminal is 4 cm. Information that the payment has been processed will immediately appear on the phone screen.
Smartphone payments are instant – transaction speed is much higher than when paying with a plastic card. "HCE technology also provides a higher level of security, as intercepting data is practically impossible. Paying with a phone is more convenient than taking a card out of a wallet or pocket. The technology is supported by many retail, catering, and entertainment venues throughout Belarus. In the coming months, their number will significantly increase with the mass transition to modern payment terminals," the press service noted.
The solution currently works only on smartphones with the Android operating system (version 4.4 and higher), but in the future, it will be available on other platforms as well. For contactless payments, the phone must have an NFC module. An internet connection is also required for data exchange (data traffic consumption is minimal).
"With the launch of HCE technology, we are taking the first step towards phasing out physical plastic. In the future, a smartphone or other mobile device will become the primary payment tool," noted Sergey Shishov, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Priorbank. "Belarus is among the countries where innovative financial technologies are available. The solution presented is one of the latest in the field of contactless mobile payments, and it is used by leading banks worldwide."
Andrey Shcherbina, Visa's Director of Innovation for CIS and Southeast Europe, in turn, noted that the project to launch HCE technology at Priorbank is the next stage in the development of contactless payments. "Cloud technologies allow the use of a mobile phone as a payment instrument, increase the volume of electronic payments, and bring mobile commerce to a new level. We see that the volume of contactless payments is steadily growing worldwide. Therefore, we are confident that Priorbank customers will appreciate the technology, and in the near future, we will record growth in the Belarusian market as well," he believes.
Priorbank is a market leader in payment card issuance and cashless transactions. Cashless transactions currently account for 45.4% of banking card operations. For comparison, in 2015, this share in the bank was 39%.