U.K. Government Draws Up New Guidelines for Mobile Payments

The growth in mobile payment services has prompted the U.K. government to plan a series of anti-fraud guidelines, following concerns that the new technologies are more open to abuse than traditional payment and banking methods. The government has set up a task force, involving representatives from the mobile phone and banking industry, to agree a set of guidelines to cut down on opportunities for criminals and reduce harm to consumers. Apart from technology to immediately disable payments from stolen phones, the task force has also agreed that that any transactions above the maximum contactless payment value of £10 (US$16.2) will require personal verification, such as a pin number.

The U.K. government has welcomed the contribution from the industry to ensure the technology builds in tough security measures at the earliest stages of development. Following years of false starts, mobile payment technology—in particular NFC "contactless" payments—are finally edging closer to becoming a reality. Nokia announced last week the launch a new set of mobile financial services, as the handset giant extends its reach into new services. Nokia notes that there are now some four billion mobile phones in use around the world compared with only 1.6 billion bank accounts—showing the massive potential market for such services. As mobile networks spread rapidly into emerging markets, the potential for bringing mobile payment and banking services into regions such as Africa in huge, as these areas are traditionally lacking in electronic money services due to underdeveloped infrastructure. As growth in traditional voice and SMS revenues slows, particularly in developed markets, operators are seeking fresh revenue streams and ways to stimulate data use—and mobile payments and banking both offer exciting new opportunities.

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