BofA and FitPay team on wearable contactless payments
By Bank of America
Bank of America (NYSE: BAC ) and FitPay, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of NXT-ID, Inc. (NASDAQ: NXTD), today announced an agreement to extend contactless payment capabilities to a range of new devices, giving Bank of America customers more payment options and accelerating the adoption of new payment devices.
This collaborative effort enables Bank of America customers to use their credit or debit cards to make secure contactless payments directly from devices that are integrated with the FitPay[TM] payment platform at NFC-enabled point-of-sale locations and more than 9,000 Bank of America ATMs.
“As digital payments evolve, our goal is to give Bank of America customers access to payment options that are easy to use and highly secure,” said Mark Monaco, Head of Enterprise Payments at Bank of America. “Working with FitPay will allow our customers to use a range of new contactless payment devices to improve the payment experience, provide a high level of security, and fit seamlessly into any lifestyle.”
Under the agreement, Bank of America will participate in FitPay’s Digital Wallet Program, which enables manufacturers of Internet of Things (IoT) and wearable devices to add contactless payment capabilities to their product, making it possible for consumers to pay for goods and services at near-field communication-enabled (NFC) point-of-sale terminals with a simple tap. The platform uses tokenization, a payment security technology that replaces cardholders’ account information with a unique digital identifier (a ‘token’), to transact highly secure contactless payments.
“We are very pleased to be working with Bank of America to give their customers access to the latest payment technology,” said Michael Orlando, COO of NXT-ID and President of FitPay, Inc. “Broad adoption of digital payments requires fundamentally changing the payment experience and making new payments methods widely available. Our work with device manufacturers and Bank of America is driving both of these goals.”
Manufacturers of 15 IoT and wearable devices are currently integrating with the FitPay payment platform. Bank of America and FitPay are working together to enable Bank of America customers to use their credit or debit cards to make contactless payments or use NFC-enabled Bank of America ATMs with these devices. This collaboration includes ensuring that the devices meet Bank of America’s technical, usage, security, branding, and consumer experience requirements. Product announcements from the manufacturers of these devices are anticipated in 2017 and 2018.
