Visa and Payez Mobile Releasing New Specifications
- Visa Europe and the EU association Payez Mobile have released specifications designed for Visa’s SIM-centric mobile payment solution. These documents and the AEPM implementation guide should also be updated in 2012 to address the evolution of this solution in France.
- These specifications may be of interest for contactless solutions’ manufacturers and developers wishing to make sure the m banking apps they propose are interoperable (SIM-centric apps). The compatibility of these solutions with the POS terminals is still a major concern.
- The AEPM was founded in 2008 and aims to favour and fasten the deployment of contactless mobile payment. It gathers banks and mobile operators: BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole/LCL, Crédit Mutuel-CIC, La Banque Postale, BPCE, Société Générale and Crédit Mutuel Arkéa, as well as Bouygues Télécom, NRJ Mobile, Orange and SFR.
- These main members have been collaborating since 2006 around the Pegasus project in Caen and Strasbourg. Large scale experimentations have been conducted in Nice (starting spring 2010). The commercial deployment of m-payment tools has, for its part, started with the help of Strasbourg and Caen (autumn 2011), which were followed by Marseille and Bordeaux (see May 2010 Insight as well as August and December 2011 Insights).
- These specifications are based on international standards and have been designed relying on partnerships with French and international organisations. The notions of homogeneity, interoperability and improved customer adoption are their main objectives.
- In December 2010, MasterCard and the AEPM had also released standards on contactless m payment apps’ interoperability with MasterCard PayPass acceptance terminals in France and worldwide. A guide dedicated to the implementation of MasterCard PayPass in a SIM centric architecture had to be made available in January 2011.
- Finally, in view of future deployments, 17 French local administrations have been preselected end December 2011 after a call for tender on Caisse des depots-managed “NFC / ville intelligente” (literally “smart town”) project, to help develop NFC services in the largest towns.