Belgium-based Belfius Bank in collaboration with Worldline has rolled out host card emulation (HCE) based mobile payments for its customers in the country.

Belfius incorporates Worldline’s HCE technology in its mobile application for contactless payment with all types of cards, including Bancontact cards. The solution has been developed by Worldline’s subsidiary equensWorldline.

Go deeper with GlobalData

Data Insights

The gold standard of business intelligence.

Find out more

Now customers of Belfius Bank who have the Belfius Mobile application can make payments with their Android compatible mobile phone by tapping it to a payment terminal equipped with contactless technology.

To accept the payment initiated by Android compatible smartphones, merchants do not require any additional investment on hardware or software.

At present, Worldline is working on a large scale operation to ensure that all shopkeepers can accept this type of payment by next year.

When a consumer transacts through a contactless payment channel, the card number is not stored on the mobile telephone, and it is replaced by an encrypted unique number, that decreases the risk for fraud considerably.

How well do you really know your competitors?

Access the most comprehensive Company Profiles on the market, powered by GlobalData. Save hours of research. Gain competitive edge.

Company Profile – free sample

Thank you!

Your download email will arrive shortly

Not ready to buy yet? Download a free sample

We are confident about the unique quality of our Company Profiles. However, we want you to make the most beneficial decision for your business, so we offer a free sample that you can download by submitting the below form

By GlobalData
Visit our Privacy Policy for more information about our services, how we may use, process and share your personal data, including information of your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications. Our services are intended for corporate subscribers and you warrant that the email address submitted is your corporate email address.

equensWorldline Belgium general manager Daniel Braeckman said: “Contactless payment via smartphone will change our way of paying drastically. Worldline is particularly proud to bring this innovation on the Belgian market.

“Thanks to the incorporation of Bancontact, it is henceforth also possible to pay with a smartphone in a large number of large and small retailers. This innovation is moreover at the confluence of our business lines, namely to enable banks to provide secure, reliable and innovative solutions for their customers, and enable retailers to accept all types of payment, our prime concern being to provide optimal customer experience!”

For amounts below €20, the customers do not have to enter their PIN, while for amounts over €20, they need to enter PIN on their smartphone to validate the transaction.