MasterCard brings NFC to New Zealand

MasterCard and ANZ bank have announced a trial to enable payment transactions of up to NZ$80 using mobile phones and NFC (Near Field Communication).

The trial, launched today, will see a group of ANZ staff issued with a PayPass sticker, containing the NFC technology, which can be attached to any mobile phone - or a microSD card for BlackBerry devices. Either technology will allow participants to use their mobile phone to make purchases of up to NZ$80 by tapping the device in front of a MasterCard PayPass terminal.

PayPass uses similar NFC technology to that announced recently by Visa and Google in each of their 'digital wallet' launches, though neither of those plans have hit Kiwi shores yet.

In a statement, MasterCard and ANZ said the payment terminals will be available at locations throughout New Zealand from July.

MasterCard's Albert Naffah said the future of payments is "undeniably linked" to the mobile phone. "It's quicker and more convenient, and we believe it will be adopted by a large number of New Zealand retailers over the next few years."

Payments made using NFC technology have been forecast to reach US$50b by 2014.