Transfer money contactless by pointing your smartphone at someone standing next to you. That is not yet possible, but according to the Eindhoven chip company NXP and ING, this will probably be very normal in a few years. Together with NXP, the bank has already prepared the technology behind this.
The idea is that you will soon see in your bank app who is walking around in the area and at what distance they are from you. Then you select who you want to transfer money to. The recipient then receives a confirmation request and if he accepts this, the payment is settled.
“Then I give you 25 euros, for example, and then I say: go and get some beer,” says Thijs Janssen, of the ING Factory development department. This method eliminates the need to get someone’s username, email, or phone number first.
Latest Samsung devices
Steve Owen, director of NXP, is enthusiastic. He explains that the technology used by NXP was actually intended for use in car keys. Now that the associated chip can also be used for payments, there seem to be great opportunities.
However, it will probably take some time before we can all do this. The new payment method is only possible on the latest Samsung phones. Anyone who has an iPhone would not be able to do this. That’s because Apple would first have to give permission for the use of its own technology.
In use in three years
And then the general public must also find the application interesting. The plan is now to test NEAR, as the new payment method is called, first within a small group of people. That should start later this year. According to Janssen, this technology will be ready in three years.