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UK-based payment card issuer Barclaycard appears sold on contactless-mobile payment and would not wait for a broad range of Near Field Communication-enabled phones to be available or several mobile operators to be ready before launching commercial service. "We have done trials, we know there are consumer needs," said Colin Swain, Barclaycard head of research and development, the credit card-issuing arm of Barclays PLC, speaking last week at the Mobile&NFC Payment Strategies conference in Budapest. "Our focus now [is] when should we launch." Barclaycard participated in an NFC trial of mobile payment and transit ticketing that finished earlier this year, after which nearly 80% of participants said they would use contactless mobile services if available. The issuer is also leading the rollout of contactless cards in the United Kingdom. Its chief executive, Antony Jenkins, made headlines last fall when he prognosticated that in five to 10 years plastic cards could go the way of now little-used checks in the UK in favor of mobile payment and other payment form factors. Swain says Barclaycard would consider forming a partnership with just one major mobile operator for an NFC commercial launch and could make due with one high-end handset supporting the technology to start. NFC phones are not expected in any significant number or variety until at least the end of 2009. But Swain adds that one or two large merchant chains, especially supermarkets, would have to begin accepting contactless payment in the United Kingdom before Barclaycard would consider a mobile-payment launch. Merchant acceptance of contactless cards, launched by Barclaycard and other British banks in London in September of 2007, has run behind expectations. Consumers could tap their NFC phones to make purchases on the same terminals they use for cards. Overall, Swain says Barclaycard would not get hung up on building an ironclad business case before launching NFC. "It's payment, it's transit, smart-tag advertising and reward and coupons, I think all this bundled together is an extremely good proposition," he tells CardLine Global sister publication Cards&Payments. The issuer would also benefit from the publicity of being the first bank to move on NFC in the market. "Do not underestimate the impact of brand," he told the conference. "(Being the) first one there, it's going to have a huge impact." Barclaycard is in early negotiations with one or more mobile operators for a possible launch and so far there have been no requests for revenue sharing from the operators, Swain noted.
