Canada’s Desjardins financial cooperative pushes NFC offering
Canada is seeing a fresh push to promote near field communication (NFC) services after Canadian cooperative financial group Desjardin signed a deal with mobile money solutions provider Monitise and a joint venture with the nation’s three largest mobile operators.
Under the terms of the partnership, Monitise will provide the NFC-enabled mobile payment application; the technology will allow Desjardins members and clients to make purchases at Canadian retailers using their smartphone.
EnStream, a joint venture between Canadian operators Telus, Bell and Rogers, will act as the trusted service manager (TSM) to facilitate NFC payments. A TSM is typically a third party that will validate that a user’s application to spend funds is a valid one, and that the user has the money in their account to purchase the product or service.
“With our banking industry expertise, we are helping Desjardins expand its mobile offer by developing a cutting-edge contactless payment solution,” said Lisa Stanton, president of Americas for Monitise. “The delivery of NFC capabilities for Desjardins highlights our continued momentum in expanding our offering in the areas of payments and commerce, cementing the role of the financial institution at the centre of the mobile money ecosystem.”
The solution will be launched in 2014 and according to Desjardin, is the first step towards enhancing its mobile payment offering. The development of the solution is in line with the Canadian mobile payment guidelines announced in May 2012 by Desjardins and other Canadian banks, which aim to guarantee security, reliability and ease of use for merchants and consumers.
