National Bank of Kuwait trials mobile Visa payWave based NFC payments

 National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) in association with Visa Inc have partnered with Zain telco operator for the first Near Field Communication (NFC) mobile payment trial in the GCC, using NFC enabled Nokia 6212 devices. The trial marks the first live EMV-Chip compliant Visa payWave NFC transaction in the GCC.

The pilot program lasting from October 2009 till April 2010 is deploying the technologies provided by VIVOtech. Interested NBK consumers will be able to subscribe for the participation in the trial since October. In order to be enrolled into the pilot a customer visits NBK website and follows the instructions on registration.

500 selected cardholders will be enabled to download Zain Visa credit card account details directly to their Nokia 6212 classic handset over the Zain network. Once the account is personalized on the mobile device customers can then begin to make purchases at any one of the 100 merchant partner outlets at Kuwait’s largest mall, The Avenues by simply passing a Nokia mobile phone over the Visa payWave reader at the point of sale. The trial uses the same EMV technology which protects all NBK credit and debit cards.