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White Paper Reports on disruptive potential host card emulation offers for mobile payments
DES MOINES, IA (July 2, 2014) — In a white paper issued by payments processor The Members Group (TMG), Senior Product Manager Brian Day addresses the dramatic impact a new technology is expected to have on the mobile payments marketplace. According to Day, the technology – known as Host Card Emulation (HCE) – is poised to make it not only possible, but beneficial, for community financial institutions (FIs) to deploy consumer-centric mobile payments solutions.
Writing for an audience of FI leaders, Day opens the paper with a call for collaboration. “To bring mobile payments to the inevitable (albeit long-awaited) ignition point, tech developers and issuers will have to link up. HCE technology may be just the innovation to grease the wheels for such a marriage.”
Introduced by Google with its Android KitKat update, HCE was built in response to wireless carriers blocking Google Wallet’s access to the secure near-field communication (NFC) chips in their devices. HCE was recently endorsed by both MasterCard and Visa, and according to Day, it will benefit community FIs and consumers in two major ways. HCE, he writes, will:
1) Keep card issuers in play
2) Allow for a seamless user experience
Studying the many different available and emerging technologies for mobile solutions has been a focus of Day’s for four years. Readers of the white paper will benefit from his exhaustive research, as Day outlines several of the technologies he observes as having the greatest potential for eventual consumer adoption.
He writes: “A lack of agreement on one core technology to power mobile payments has complicated issuer, merchant and consumer adoption. Simply put, a plethora of choices for both providers and consumers exists today. Among these options, three main technologies stand out as leaders in the emerging payments landscape. They are barcode + cloud, bluetooth low-energy (BLE) and near-field communication (NFC).”
Day walks through each of the three, addressing pro-and-con points from the end-user, or consumer, perspective. Ultimately, he concludes the greatest promise for both consumers and FIs lies in the combination of HCE and NFC: “Just as card issuers have long pursued top-of-wallet positioning, very soon it will be top-of-app positioning they most cherish. With HCE and NFC working together, long-standing cardholder relationships are not only safe; they are poised to take off.”
To download the white paper, “The Mobile Payments Ignition Point,” visit themembersgroup.com/mobile_ignition. Readers can keep up with the author on Twitter at @TMGBrian and on TMGblog.com.
About TMG
The Members Group (TMG) is dedicated to creating customized, technology-driven card processing and payment solutions for credit unions and community-based financial institutions across North America. Innovations in fraud management, loyalty programs, alternative payment systems and analytic reporting, and the competitive advantages they create, have helped TMG forge a new standard in offering cutting-edge credit, debit, ATM, prepaid card products and a P2P payment solution. For more information, visit www.themembersgroup.com.