Two organizations whose purpose is to set the specifications and framework for two of the leading emerging-payment types in the U.S. are joining forces to speed up the spread of mobile payments.
EMVCo and the NFC Forum are working together to optimize the development and testing process of Near Field Communication-enabled mobile devices for vendors.
The alliance will benefit stakeholders in EMV-related NFC projects by reducing product time-to-market and by decreasing certification costs, the organizations said in a Sept. 5 news release.
EMVCo is the EMV standards body collectively owned by American Express Co., JCB, MasterCard Inc. and Visa Inc. The NFC Forum is a nonprofit industry association whose purpose is to advance the use of NFC technology.
The groups plan to establish a framework to synchronize NFC Forum and EMVCo specifications, test plans, test tools, laboratory accreditations and the management of contactless-product certification.
Their activity will focus on Level 1 functionality, which covers contactless communication protocol.
"To enable contactless to reach its full potential and facilitate the delivery of secure [payments] … we need to create an efficient testing and certification framework that allows products to be swiftly brought to market." Joe Cunningham, chair of the EMVCo executive committee, said in the release. "Alignment between industry bodies is, therefore, essential to ensure we apply specialist knowledge and a cohesive approach to the creation of this very innovative ecosystem."
Koichi Tagawa, NFC Forum's chairman, said in the release, "By working closely with EMVCo, we're able to better support vendors while furthering our commitment to global interoperability."
