Dah Sing Bank and Visa announced on Monday the launch of Pay@Mobile, the first credit card payment acceptance service via mobile phone that accepts both chip and magnetic stripe credit cards.

The Pay@Mobile service, which will turn a smartphone into a secure point-of-sale device via a plug-in accessory, will enable merchants to either swipe a credit card or use a chip reader to accept all kinds of credit cards, Dah Sing Bank's head of Retail Banking Division Phoebe Wong told a media briefing on Monday in Hong Kong.

Wong said that the service is targeting small to medium-sized retailers and on-the-go service providers, such as insurance providers, logistics companies, cash-on-delivery businesses and merchants at exhibitions.

She said the bank expects the Pay@Mobile service to be available to local merchants and customers by the first quarter of 2013.

Although Wong refuses to disclose whether any local retail firms have signed up for the service yet, she said that many local merchants are "very interested" in the service. She stressed that the cost of the plug-in accessory to the Pay@Mobile service is only around 10 percent of a traditional payment device.

Wong said that the launch of this service may not be able to drive up Dah Sing Bank credit card businesses directly, but by reaching out to local Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), it may expand its customer base and promote the bank's overall image.

Tom Tobin, country manager at Visa Hong Kong and Macao, said that "Hong Kong is a perfect place to develop the mobile payment market due to its high mobile penetration rate and consumers' receptive attitudes towards innovative payment methods."

As the launch partner for the Pay@Mobile service, Visa will bring its experience to Dah Sing Bank, said Tobin.

The penetration rate of mobile phone users in Hong Kong is 217 percent, smart phone users account for 35 percent of all mobile phone users in the city, according to HKMA.

According to Dah Sing Bank, the Pay@Mobile service contains robust security measures to protect cardholders, and during the transaction process, no cardholder or transaction information is made available to, or retained by the mobile device or plug-in accessory at any point.

Dah Sing Bank is a Hong Kong based bank with over 60 years of history and 45 branches in the city. Visa is a global payment technology company that connects consumers, businesses, financial institutions and governments in more than 200 countries and territories to digital currency.

sophiehe@chinadailyhk.com

(HK Edition 12/18/2012 page2)