GSMA and EPC announce agreement on mobile payments

Following yesterday's dialogue about the long tail of banking being mobile focused, the EPC and GSMA announced a cooperative agreement for mobile payments this week.  Here's the press release:

GSMA Press Release 2008
GSMA Teams Up With European Payments Council
Alliance will accelerate deployment of mobile payment services

30th June 2008, London: The GSMA, the global trade body for the mobile industry, and the European Payments Council, which represents 8,000 banks in the European Union and EEA and Switzerland, are to work together to accelerate the deployment of services that enable consumers to pay for goods and services in shops, restaurants and other locations using their mobile phones.

Both the GSMA and the EPC envisage that this cross-industry cooperation will enable banks to deliver better mobile payments services to their customers, supported by mobile operators' infrastructure. These services will be facilitated by a ‘Trusted Service Manager', which will support banks and mobile operators in the distribution, configuration and activation of the bank's payment application on the UICC within users' NFC handsets. The GSMA, through its Pay-Buy-Mobile initiative, and the EPC will focus initially on defining a contractual framework document detailing the minimum set of requirements for a Trusted Service Manager to interface with banks and mobile operators.

"Together, the European Payments Council and the GSMA are well-placed to develop the tools our members need to deploy mobile payment services that will work internationally to the benefit of consumers," said Alex Sinclair, Chief Technology Officer of the GSMA. "We look forward to a productive working relationship with the EPC."

"We are convinced that this cross industry cooperation between GSMA and EPC is the best way forward for efficiently enabling the mobile as a channel for initiation of payments in SEPA, and this cooperation model could also be a model for other parts of the world," said Gerard Hartsink, Chairman of the EPC.

Following this announcement, Commissioner Reding and Commissioner McCreevy released an official response (pdf download) from the European Commission:

EU Commissioner for Internal Market and Services, Charlie McCreevy, and EU Telecoms Commissioner Viviane Reding welcomed the announcement today of GSMA, the global trade body for the mobile industry, and European Payments Council (EPC) to promote the use of mobile payment services. EPC and GSMA have agreed today to accelerate the deployment of services that enable consumers to pay for goods and services in shops, restaurants and other locations using their mobile phones.

“Bringing more competition to the payment services market has been my aim and agreements such as this show the possibilities that new technologies and innovative approaches offer in this regard” said Mr. McCreevy. "This is exactly what the Payment Services Directive, which comes into force at end of 2009, is designed to promote", he added.

"Voluntary industry agreements by the mobile industry are always welcome where they bring about concrete benefits of consumers and enhance the level-playing field for European companies in due respect of competition rules", said Commissioner Reding. "I therefore applaud today's announcement which should bring Europe to the forefront of mobile payments."

Mr. McCreevy recalled that a huge effort is being made by industry and stakeholders to create the conditions for a Single European Payments Area. In this regard he said that standards and requirements resulting from the agreement should be prepared in an open and transparent manner. "It is important that all stakeholders can have access to the process so that the outcome is of benefit to all." he said.