News

Dutch banks, mobile phone companies target mobile payments

September 9, 2010

Three of The Netherlands’ largest banks and three mobile telephone operators have signed an agreement to offer payments at the point-of-sale with smart phones by 2012.

The banks are Rabobank, ING and ABN AMRO, and the mobile phone operators are KPN, Vodafone and Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobile.

If successful, smart-phone owners would be able to hold their phones near contactless payment terminals to purchase merchandise, according to a joint statement issued by the participating companies.

The companies announced their intention ahead of a mobile payments pilot sponsored by Bank of America, Wells Fargo Bank and U.S. Bank. That pilot, which also involves Visa Inc., the world’s largest payment network, is scheduled to begin the week of Sept. 13 in New York City.