Secure identification specialist Multicard is to provide an NFC-based payment system to Rabobank, one of the Netherlands’ largest financial services companies.
Employees at Rabobank will be able to use the system to make contactless payments using their mobile phones at canteens and cafeterias throughout the bank’s national network of offices. Rabobank is currently signing up additional merchants and facilities such as schools, cafés and sports venues to participate in the program.
The solution ties into Rabobank’s MiniTix mobile wallet service. As well as providing NFC-compatible stickers to allow ordinary phones to work with the readers in the bank’s offices, Multicard will also provide applications to transfer money, check balances and top-up money to the wallet, as well as handle management of all transactions.
The MiniTix system is a virtual wallet that allows anyone to make payments and hold funds of up to €150.
Last September, Rabobank joined with two other Dutch banks and three mobile network operators to sign a letter of intent to jointly introduce NFC-based payments in the Netherlands.
Under the terms of the deal T-Mobile, Vodafone, KPN, Rabobank, ABN Amro and ING will set up a joint venture company which will be responsible for introducing and managing the new service. They expect commercial services to begin in 2012.
The deal marked the first time major banks and mobile operators in a European country have joined forces to introduce NFC technology.
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