Many banks and challenger new entrants have tried to make a go of digital wallets in the recent months; if one believed the hype with each launch, the days of carrying cards in our wallets are numbered, writes Douglas Blakey
No matter that even an innovative and well funded player such as Square had to issue obituary notices about its own wallet, after trying and failing for about three years to make a go of it; digital wallet roll outs continue to mushroom.
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Quite how Square thinks it merits a company valuation of $5bn (as per its last regulatory filings) is another debate for another day.
So it is a welcome novelty to be able to report a knockout success for a digital wallet: take a bow Royal Bank of Canada (RBC).
Last year, RBC developed a patent-pending process to deliver securely mobile payments from the cloud, instead of on the mobile phone SIM card.
RBC customers are able to add all of their credit and debit cards (using Interac, Canada’s low cost domestic debit network) to the wallet in seconds.
Over near field communication, customers can use their wallet at over 25% of Canadian merchants – or anywhere in the world where contactless payments are accepted.
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By GlobalDataRBC clients will also never have to reload these cards in the event of expiry, product upgrade or fraud.
The card credentials will be automatically upgraded and maintained by RBC.
In addition to the convenience element, the RBC Secure Cloud takes security to the next level with a patent-pending method of provisioning phones so that there is never any sensitive data on a phone or SIM card; in the event a device is lost, there is nothing of any value.
Current plans to expand its popularity include the necessary extension of the service to cover Apple devices and, as this is Canada, Blackberry handsets.
Next up is a new security model to extend coverage to include all RBC clients, regardless of their telecommunications carrier.
And here might be the killer feature: adding new payment instruments including gift cards and loyalty points while improving the customer experience with value-added services such as eReceipts and personalised offers.
A lot of banks agonise over how best to road test such innovation launches: RBC’s 6 month trial including 60 merchants combined with opening the doors to its research and development shop suggests a rather successful road test.
