CBA to make 'tap-on-phone' contactless payments a reality
Small retailers in Australia will soon be able to accept card payments from customers using just a mobile phone. Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has signed a deal to allow its customers use the "tap-on-phone" SoftPOS system developed by Canadian tech firm Mobeewave, which enables customers to pay by simply tapping their card to the retailer's phone screen. Mastercard payments of up to AUD100 ($76.64) will be possible through the system.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia business customers will soon be able to accept a payment by simply tapping their phone with a contactless card or mobile wallet.

Commonwealth Bank will use a white label version of Mobeewave's SoftPOS technology and Digital Enablement from Idemia to deliver the service, which will me made available for Mastercard transactions on Samsung flagship devices from the second half of 2018.



The technology is a real threat to the dongle-dependent mPOS technology of firms like Square as it requires no additional hardware plug ins to accept payments. When Square launched in Australia last year, CBA initially moved to block payments over the card reader citing security concerns.



Sam Itzcovitz, Commonwealth Bank managing director commerce and platforms, says: “This solution gives Australian small businesses the ability to accept in person payments quickly and simply using just their phone so they can get on with running their business.”



Mastercard research has shown that more than four in five Australian consumers are using contactless payment at least once a week, but fewer are making use of mobile contactless payment services.



Matt Barr, SVP, core, digital and new payment flows of Mastercard Australasia, says: “This pilot brings us one step closer to our vision of 'enabling every device to become an acceptance device'. We all use our phones to make payments, why not use them to accept payments as well. With its high use of contactless technology, Australia is an ideal environment to roll out this type of “tap-on-phone” solution.”