RCBC rolls out tap-to-pay feature for Android users
Yuchengco-led Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) has launched a new method to leverage the “contactless” trend and make payment transactions easier for its Mastercard credit card users.
Launched last Friday, RCBC Pay allows the bank’s cardholders to tap their near field communication (NFC)-enabled Android smartphones on a special reader to complete their purchase.
These types of mobile phones have chips that send and receive signals from payment terminals. Once the bank authenticates the transaction, the amount will automatically be credited to the mobile finance app-linked account.
This is similar to the service offered by China-based mobile and online payment platform Alipay.
Mastercard Philippines country manager Simon Calasanz said RCBC Pay could be used at over 92 million Mastercard-accepting merchants across the world.
In the Philippines, Mastercard currently has around 300,000 merchant partners.
Apart from product merchants, contactless payments are also used in public transportation across Metro Manila, such as the Edsa carousel and train stations.
Calasanz noted RCBC was their first partner for the mobile tap-and-go service.
“We’re in discussion with other banks, so you’ll see this becoming a more common payment method in the future,” he said.
RCBC Credit Cards chief commercial officer Mylene Bico clarified the service was not available to Apple devices since the technology giant has its own Apple Pay, which similarly uses the NFC technology.
Bico said customers need not worry about security since they would not be transmitting their actual credit card number.
