Bancontact/Mister Cash Unveils P2P Mobile Payments In Belgium

Belgium’s Bancontact/Mister Cash has unveiled a new payments solution that will change the country’s payment landscape. The national payments company has launched a new mobile solution that allows users to send up to €125 to each other, through their phones.

How does it work? Just like buying something in a shop. The ‘receiver’ enters the amount on his or her device, thereby generating a unique QR code. Next, the ‘payer’ reads this QR code with his or her app, enters a secret PIN and the payment is immediately executed.

   

The app is linked to the user’s Bancontact/Mister Cash card. This is done by Atos Worldwide, the technology partner in this project. The application is not linked to a particular bank or mobile network – the money is credited to or debited from the user’s bank current account and appears as a normal purchase transaction on bank statements.

However, the application is still in development phase. Bancontact/Mister Cash will actively involve its users and partners during the last phase of the product development by launching a ‘co- creation’ initiative. Together with a number of banks that today represent together more than 90% of the Bancontact/Mister Cash cards, it will launch pilot projects and events aimed at critically evaluating and perfecting the app.

The app will be commercially launched in 2014. The ambition is to become the standard for mobile payment in Belgium, just as Bancontact/Mister Cash is already the standard for payment by bank card.