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Westpac and MasterCard trial SIM + NFC phone payment system

In a world first, Westpac is trialling a system that stores debit card data in your phone's SIM card, to work with any MasterCard PayPass payment system.

Seamus Byrne Editor, Australia & Asia
Seamus Byrne is CNET's Editor for Australia and Asia. At other times he'll be found messing with apps, watching TV, building LEGO, and rolling dice. Preferably all at the same time.
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Seamus Byrne

In a world first, Westpac is trialling a system that stores debit card data in your phone's SIM card, to work with any MasterCard PayPass payment system.

Galaxy S III is Westpac's trial handset.(Credit: Samsung)

The new mobile contactless payment app will work on NFC-enabled Android handsets and can make payments by tapping at PayPass terminals, which are now widely available in stores.

Our sister site ZDNet reported that the current trial, which starts today, includes around 100 customers, with the trial running for three months.

The Commonwealth Bank has launched NFC payments via a special iPhone case, and has expressed frustration that Google has moved slowly to bring Google Wallet to Australia, to support NFC payments on Android. This move to store the secure data on the SIM card cuts Google out of the equation, while also allowing easy movement of your secure payment details from one phone to another.

Westpac has made no commitment to launching the system beyond the trial, but indicated that feedback from the trial will be "instrumental" in further development and integration of any final product offering.

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