Commonwealth Bank and Gemplus begin contactless payment pilot

Payment card solutions provider Gemplus has joined forces with Commonwealth Bank in a project to set up Australia's first MasterCard PayPass pilot program.

The six-month trial will be rolled out in New South Wales, with the first phase involving 33,000 Commonwealth Bank cardholders who will be able to use their MasterCard PayPass cards at more than 150 participating merchants.

Participating outlets include fast food restaurants and convenience stores for payments under A$35. Cardholders will not need to enter a PIN or sign a receipt, instead they will be able to wave their card over a payment terminal to conduct a transaction, resulting in faster payment processing times.

Gemplus provided the GemInstant cards for this project. GemInstant is a range of contactless payment solutions already widely in use in other parts of the world.

Contactless payment is becoming an international trend and innovative banks such as Commonwealth Bank want to be the first to provide their customers with this convenient way to pay, commented Philippe David, vice president of business development for financial services at Gemplus.