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Some French banks will begin to issue significant numbers of contactless payment cards next year, a move that prepare the way for the launch of phones enabled with Near Field Communication technology in 2010, the head of the payments business for France-based BNP Paribas Group, France's largest bank by assets, tells CardLine Global sister publication Cards&Payments. BNP Paribas itself will launch a contactless trial during the first quarter of 2009 in Bordeaux and decide later in the year when to roll out cards. The official, Gilbert Arira, says the cards would help lay the groundwork for contactless terminals at shops and lead to a launch of mobile payment when NFC-enabled mobile phones are available in sufficient numbers. NFC, which is being tested around the world, enables consumers to make contactless payments and information downloads with mobile phones and other devices. Arira spoke Wednesday at the European Financial Management and Marketing Association's Cards & Payments conference. "The good thing with mobile phones, they are interactive," he told conference attendees. "The customer is always connected to you, which is not the case with the card. This is the opportunity of brand new services we can offer our customers." BNP Paribas helped to organize a large NFC mobile-payment trial launched last November involving six other major French banks and four mobile operators in the French cities of Caen and Strasbourg. But before BNP Paribas would roll out mobile payment, 20% to 30% of its customers would have to carry NFC phones or have access to them, says Arira. A large range of such devices will not be available until 2010, he predicts. In the interim, however, Arira says the bank might join the launch of NFC services planned by mobile telco France Telecom-Orange in Bordeaux early next year. Contactless cards and phones use the same contactless terminals, but getting French retailers to accept contactless will be a challenge, acknowledges Arira. Besides BNP Paribas, two other major banks, Société Générale and Banque Populaire Group, are considering issuing contactless cards, Cards&Payments has learned. They likely would follow at least two large retailers in the market with the first contactless card rollouts: hypermarket chains Carrefour and Auchan. Both plan to issue cobranded or private-label contactless cards and install terminals in their stores.
