Best Practices On NFC Mobile Payments Issued In Hong Kong

Near field communication (NFC) mobile payment services are on the rise in Hong Kong, and are offered in many retail outlets as a payment method. To facilitate the growth of such technology whilst balancing the security concerns of the public, the Hong Kong Association of Banks (HKAB), in consultation with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), has recently issued a Best Practice on NFC Mobile Payments in Hong Kong (Best Practice). The Best Practice is intended to provide the minimum security requirements and other best practices for the development of NFC mobile payments in Hong Kong.
NFC mobile payment services are already offered in Hong Kong by, amongst others, HSBC, Hang Seng Bank and the Bank of China. The Octopus Group is also set to introduce NFC mobile payments as an alternative to its widely popular Octopus card, and Jetco recently announced that it will team up with several banks to build an NFC mobile payment platform. With the growing popularity of NFC mobile payments, concerns have arisen as to the security and infrastructure of this new payment method.