Skip to main content

NFC payment rollout in Australia

Australia’s largest bank, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, is adding multiple mobile phone-based payment options to its range of mobile banking services.
March 13, 2012 Read time: 1 min
RSSAustralia’s largest bank, the 3841 Commonwealth Bank of Australia, is adding multiple mobile phone-based payment options to its range of mobile banking services. Giesecke & Devrient (G&D) is providing the technology to allow secure contactless payments using mobile phones featuring Near Field Communication (NFC).

In the first phase, Commonwealth Bank is giving iPhone 4 and 4S owners the opportunity to transfer their MasterCard PayPass details onto their smartphone. Since the iPhone does not currently feature an NFC chip for contactless payment, a special cover with a secure element has been developed for iPhones to enable NFC data transfer. The iPhone cover, which can be ordered through Commonwealth Bank, is hooked up to the iPhone data interface and automatically communicates with the “Commbank Kaching” app installed on the iPhone. In the next phase, this set of mobile payment functions will also be made available to Android users.

Over the last few years, Commonwealth Bank has pioneered the deployment of contactless technology in Australia. It has supplied the bulk of its customers with contactless dual interface cards which are accepted for making payments at over 42,000 locations in Australia.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Creative finance enables parking progress in LA
    March 15, 2016
    David Crawford investigates an innovative public/private partnership. Los Angeles entered the second decade of the 21st century facing major challenges to its parking operations. With a population of 3.8 million, and its car-oriented culture still predominant, the city's parking meters were technically outdated - with most only accepting coins and many regularly out of service - resulting in a substantial loss of revenue. This coincided with a number of Californian cities looking to parking income to boost
  • Chicago Transit Authority’s Ventra mobile app hits two million downloads
    August 22, 2017
    Chicago Transit Authority’s (CTA) Ventra mobile app, implemented by Cubic Transportation Systems (CTS, and also used by suburban bus operator Pace and commuter rail system Metra, has reached a milestone with a download of more than two million and was used to purchase nearly US$250 million in fares. The Ventra app, developed and launched by Cubic, CTA and its transit partners in November 2015, is a free, regional transit application in the US that allows customers to plan, manage and pay for journeys ac
  • Montreal’s ARTM chooses Masabi’s Justride fare collection
    August 5, 2025
    Software as a Service solution will replace current Opus card in Canadian city
  • Q-Free increases its stake in Intelight
    March 20, 2015
    Q-Free has increased its stake in US traffic controller supplier, Intelight, with a five year option program which will give shareholders the option to sell shares at closing in 2015 and in five subsequent years valid from 2016. The deal will give Q-Free the opportunity to add some 15 per cent of Intelight shares to its current 10.2 per cent shareholding each year. At end of the five year period, Q-Free has the option to acquire the rest of the shares. The first transaction will be closed during the second