Santander ‘superwallet’ targets m-commerce
Santander is targeting m-payments in CEE, starting in Poland through its subsidiary Bank Zachodni WBK
A Santander subsidiary has added m-commerce to its mobile banking and payment app, in a development it is claiming as the world’s first ‘superwallet’.
Launched in Poland through the group’s central and eastern European subsidiary Bank Zachodni WBK, the BZWBK24 mobile banking app allows users in Poland to shop at merchants using the app. They can arrange home delivery, send items such as flowers or buy bus tickets in 30 cities. The app will soon have other abilities added, including booking flights, hotels, tickets to cinemas, ordering taxis and takeaway food from 1,500 restaurants.
The Superwallet product was developed by mobile technology company eLeader and is currently being offered as a white label solution for banks. According to the firm, the biggest advantage of the system is that it sits behind the bank’s own security layer, in a manner similar to the UK Payments Council’s Paym service, which is due to go live in the UK later this month.
“Banks have a big advantage over other mobile wallet providers, because in most cases their app is already installed on a client’s phone,” said Tomasz Krajewski, head of m-commerce at eLeader. “Therefore a bank can profit from the m-commerce and m-payments market without having to compete with non-banks’ wallets.”
Poland is relatively advanced in terms of mobile payments. In July last year, six banks announced they would collaborate to create a new mobile payments standard in the country. Alior Bank, Bank Millennium, Bank Zachodni WBK, BRE Bank, ING Bank and PKO Bank Polski agreed to create a common infrastructure including standard authorisation and settlement, which is expected to reach 70 per cent of banking customers in Poland. The service includes abilities such as mobile cash withdrawal from ATMs and mobile money transfer.
