(7 November 2006 – USA) Bank of America is using its staff to test a new proposition of making small value payments with mobile phones rather than cash.Some 500 staff at BoA’s Delaware offices are using mobile phones to purchase drinks and food from vending machines, at the staff cafeteria and other company convenience stores.
To make payments during the pilot, which is expected to last eight months, staff just need to wave their phones over a “reader”.
The contactless technology has been developed by MasterCard and Visa and other US banks such as JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup have also launched the payments technology using keyrings and payments cards.
MasterCard also recently announced that it is partnering with Nokia and 7-Eleven stores to trial contactless mobile phone payments.