Dutch bank ING is to pilot a payments feature that uses ultra wideband (UWB) technology to enable consumers to make peer-to-peer (P2P) mobile payments to another user’s smartphone without needing to find, enter or exchange personal data such as their email address or phone number.

The solution — known as NEAR — will allow users to settle P2P payments with other NEAR users via ING’s banking app simply by holding their UWB-enabled smartphone close to another UWB phone, entering the payment amount and confirming the transaction.

“It means that users no longer need to search for each other’s username, email address or telephone number if, for example, they want to buy something at a jumble sale, put some money in a collection box or split a restaurant bill,” ING says.

“It works like this: using the ING banking app, select the person close by who you want to pay. You’ll then see the recipient and their distance from you in the ING app.

“Enter the amount and confirm the transactions. The recipient will see the amount in their list of transactions.

“The payer and the recipient must have NEAR on their phones and both phones must have access to UWB technology.”

ING has developed the solution with NXP Semiconductors and Samsung and will carry out an internal pilot with users of UWB-enabled Samsung smartphones “in the second half of this year”.

“Parties will then consider the next steps to actively involve customers in future development,” ING adds.

Samsung launched its first Android device to include a UWB chip, the Galaxy Note20 Ultra,  in August 2020.

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