Polish mobile payments platform prepares for launch with six banks
Six Polish banks are backing the mobile payments project
A new bank-run mobile payment service is set to launch in Poland next month, following collaborative efforts between six Polish banks. The new service will allow customers to make payments in stores and online, withdraw cash and send P2P transfers, all using their mobile phone.
The initiative is managed by the Polish Payment Standard, a company formed by six Polish banks. These consist of Alior Bank, Bank Millennium, Bank Zachodni WBK, mBank, ING Bank and PKO Bank Polski. Together, they aim to facilitate mobile payments in the country by building a common infrastructure that includes standard authorisation and settlement.
“This is the first local payments scheme in Poland – we’ve never had anything like this before,” said Joanna Erdman, head of transaction products and services at mBank. “It is based on mobile technology, and we are going to offer a new mobile app with this function inside. Every bank will be able to include this as a payment option in their mobile app, and as far as we know most of the other banks are going to combine this with their payment application.”
The system will support Android, Apple iOS and Windows Phone, and is expected to reach 70% of banking customers in Poland, according to estimates provided by Bank Zachodni WBK, while mBank says it will bring four million customers to mobile payments.
“This is also not the end,” added Erdman. “Once the system itself is live, we at mBank would like to use it to include further abilities, including Peer to Peer payments before the end of the year, mPOS for merchants and NFC, which is fast becoming a standard in Poland. Some of the services are separate and need to be developed, but this platform enables all of that to happen.”
Security will be handled via one-time passwords to log in for the first time, although it will also be possible to make quick payments to existing contacts without logging in. Erdman added that customers will not need an NFC phone to use the new payment standard BLIK – a segment of the market she estimated at roughly 60% of the market.
The service is due to go live in the first week of February.
