80% of UK Consumers to Benefit from Fast, Safe and Convenient Way to Pay and Receive Offers via their Mobile Phones
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London, 6th February 2014 – Weve, the joint venture between the UK’s three largest mobile operators, is partnering with the global leader in innovation, MasterCard, to accelerate the development of the UK’s most comprehensive contactless mobile payments system.
MasterCard president UK and Ireland, Marion King and Weve CEO, David Sear announce a partnership that will see MasterCard create the UK’s most comprehensive contactless platform, working with the UK’s major mobile telecoms group
The partnership announced today will provide consumers with a fast, safe and convenient way to pay via their mobile phones at point of purchase and receive the offers they love. The partnership will allow consumers to take the next step in the contactless journey by tapping their mobile phone to make a payment.
Under the terms of their agreement, MasterCard will continue their strong legacy of innovation to provide technology and integration services to banks and financial institutions wishing to take advantage of Weve’s payments platform, accelerating their ability to offer customers safe, simple and smart contactless mobile payments.
With a 220% growth in the number of contactless transactions in Europe, there is massive scope for innovation in mobile payments – from location-based initiatives to point-of-sale engagement. The partnership between Weve and MasterCard will create the most ubiquitous platform for contactless mobile payments in the UK, which will enable innovation to evolve and thrive as the parties work together in future.
The partnership will play an important role in ensuring the success of Weve’s mobile payments initiative, thanks to MasterCard’s long heritage of partnering with financial institutions in over 210 countries and territories. To date, banks wanting to get involved in mobile payments have had to engage in complex development and integration projects, which often only address only one area of the market. MasterCard removes much of the complexity, ensuring that financial institutions and mobile operators can get up and running with mass-market contactless mobile payments in the shortest possible time, while enjoying the same protections from fraud as they would with conventional MasterCard payments.
“MasterCard’s vision of a world beyond cash maps neatly onto our own vision of a world powered by mobile,” said David Sear, Weve CEO. “Its existing relationships with the banks, in addition to its own experience of the mobile payments world, make it an ideal partner for Weve.” Sear continued, “It allows the banks to focus on what they’re good at – finding smarter and more elegant ways for their customers to pay for goods and services. Contactless payments have already been embraced by UK consumers and retailers. In fact, with around 300,000 retail outlets now accepting contactless payments, the UK is the most advanced and ideal market to further adoption of contactless payments through mobile phones.”
Marion King, President UK & Ireland at MasterCard said “MasterCard is delighted to be working with Weve who is an innovator in the mobile space. We look forward to implementing this contactless mobile payments technology in the UK and providing the technology and service to banks to ensure their customers can benefit from safe and simple mobile payments. The partnership with Weve will play an important part in providing ways to pay as we continue to work towards a world beyond cash.”
MasterCard’s partnership with Weve’s platform provides financial institutions with minimal complexity while facilitating ease of access– two of the biggest barriers to mobile payments to date. “By removing those barriers, MasterCard and Weve are enabling banks to focus on engaging with their mobile customers at the point of sale” said Sear.
Weve and MasterCard know that UK banks don’t want to be invisible partners when it comes to payments – they want to be a visible part of the process, engaging with customers at the point of purchase. Weve’s service and platform gives them a way to do just that, reinforcing customer relationships while helping them to maximise the value of the payment products they use. Weve’s partnership with MasterCard enables banks to work in the way that they always have done – with partners that they trust to manage key elements of the payments process.
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About Weve (www.Weve.com) @Weveuk
Weve is a new focal point for a whole new set of ideas and services in mobile marketing and display, payments and loyalty. The company has taken these services and the combined base of its shareholders’ customers to develop a unified marketing service combined with a payments and true loyalty service which will be available to businesses in the UK with a single point of contact and a single point of technical integration. This is all underpinned with some of the most intelligent data analytics available in the UK. The company is a JV between the three largest MNOs of Vodafone, O2 and EE.
About MasterCard
MasterCard (NYSE: MA), www.mastercard.com, is a technology company in the global payments industry. We operate the world’s fastest payments processing network, connecting consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments and businesses in more than 210 countries and territories. MasterCard’s products and solutions make everyday commerce activities – such as shopping, traveling, running a business and managing finances – easier, more secure and more efficient for everyone. Follow us on Twitter @MasterCardNews, join the discussion on the Cashless Pioneers Blog and subscribe for the latest news on the Engagement Bureau.
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