Canadians Take Global Lead In Mobile Digital Wallet Deployment With Broad Industry Support For suretap™
Canada's Leading Wireless Carriers, Banks and Retailers Offer Customers the Convenience and Safety of the suretap wallet
Canadian Wireless Customers Now Have Ability to Use Their Smartphones to Make Mobile Payments, and Access Gift Cards and More
TORONTO, June 23, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Suretap™, a leader in open mobile wallet technology, today announced broad and growing support from Canada's leading telecommunication providers, retailers, and banks for the launch of its new mobile wallet for secure, effortless mobile transactions on-the-go.
The new suretap wallet enables smartphone owners to easily make secure mobile payments using a wide range of virtual and encrypted credit cards, gift cards, and soon debit cards, loyalty cards, digital coupons and deals. Users can also view their transaction history, track spending and access a wide range of other easy and convenient features through the suretap wallet. The suretap wallet can be used anywhere contactless payments are accepted. This means you can carry all your favorite cards with you in one place securely.
Some of Canada's leading wireless carriers, Bell, Rogers, TELUS, Koodo and Virgin Mobile, are offering the suretap wallet across more than 30 Android and BlackBerry smartphones, with other device platforms expected to follow by the end of 2015. All Canadian wireless carriers are invited to adopt the open suretap wallet for their customers. In addition to strong wireless carrier support, suretap announced a new partnership with the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) today, expanding the credit cards options available through the suretap wallet.
"Suretap has gained and continues to gain substantial support and participation from a growing ecosystem of Canadian companies that embrace our application's open and technology agnostic model," said Jeppe Dorff, President of suretap "Together, we are creating a win-win proposition for banks, merchants, and service providers—but most importantly, for the Canadian consumer. Millions of Canadians will now be able to enjoy the convenience of carrying this secure mobile payment experience on their smartphone wherever they go."
The suretap mobile wallet marks a new milestone in Canada's leadership in mobile payments and mobile commerce. Canada already ranks number two in MasterCard Worldwide's Global Mobile Payments Readiness Index. This is a reflection of the country's high degree of cooperation among telecommunication providers, financial institutions and government, as well as the benefits of a positive regulatory environment. Canada has a broad deployment of contactless payment terminals across approximately 75 percent of major retailers, according to Jupiter Research. Smartphone penetration in Canada is 73 percent, according to J.D. Power & Associates in its Canadian Wireless Total Ownership Experience Study, 2014. These numbers equate to a Canadian market that is ready for the suretap mobile wallet.
The Suretap Solution
The suretap wallet provides a single location for customers to store credit cards, and gift cards. It can be used at any retailer in Canada or around the world that accepts contactless payments. Customers can make transactions simply by holding their NFC-enabled smartphone up against payment terminals and use QR/barcodes at retailer locations to redeem their gift cards. In the future, the suretap wallet will also store other items you currently have in your physical wallet like loyalty cards, coupons and ID card. Users will also be able to receive personally relevant offers and have the ability to search for customized deals.
The suretap wallet uses Near Field Communication (NFC) technology which is immediately compatible with all contactless payment terminals; it also uses barcodes and QR codes for the compatibility to transact with retailer infra-red scanners. NFC technology, which is being built into more and more mobile devices, needs to be activated on the mobile device by the user, and when active, is a way for devices to communicate through a secure channel between each other when placed in close proximity of one another. Global news outlets have been reporting that most new smartphones will support this technology. Suretap will initially be available for download or will come preloaded on more than 30 different handsets, a number that will grow as new devices becomes available. This state-of-the-art encryption technology together with a secure, passcode-protected app gives users peace of mind knowing that their mobile payments are safe and reliable.
Growing Card Options
Some 38 different credit cards and 30 gift cards are available in the new suretap mobile wallet application. Customers using the suretap wallet will be able to download payment cards from Rogers Bank and a large selection of CIBC's credit card products into the application. Physical and online retailers such as SIR Corp (who carry Jack Astor's, Scaddabush, Far Niente and more), Cara Operations (who carry Swiss Chalet, Milestone's and more), Indigo, Cineplex, Forever 21, Groupon, and others have also signed up to participate in the multi-partner program and are available in the suretap wallet.
"At CIBC, we're focused on providing our clients with banking and payments solutions that fit their lives," said Todd Roberts, Senior Vice President, Cards and Payments Innovation, CIBC. "Our partnership with suretap gives our clients choice when it comes to paying with their smartphone and builds on our commitment to delivering the payments solutions that reflect where are our clients' needs are today and where they are going in the future."
"The suretap wallet provides banks and merchants with an easier and more cost effective way to deliver the value of mobile payments and loyalty rewards to their customers, who benefit from the broad availability of the wallet with a simple download on mobile devices from Canada's leading mobile carriers," said Jeppe.
About Suretap
Suretap is the leading Canadian open wallet provider, with relationships spanning multiple industries and merchant categories. As a mobile wallet, suretap has enjoyed significant success in the Canadian market place and is currently focused on expanding its industry relationships. Based on global security standards, suretap is focused on delivering contextually relevant local market content to the end consumer.
Ease-of-use is central to the suretap model: easy for shoppers to store bank, debit, credit, gift and loyalty cards onto a true mobile wallet and easy for retailers to accept suretap wallet payments without altering their current point-of-sale transaction processes or systems, and easy for brands to reach and engage customers with deals, savings and special offers. As an open wallet, all wireless carriers, payment card issuers, handset manufacturers and service providers alike across Canada have the opportunity to adopt the suretap wallet.
Suretap protects customer data and payment card information at a level not possible today with physical cards by securing payment card and passcode data on the smartphone's encrypted SIM card. Customers are also protected by multiple levels of security settings in the suretap wallet and technology that has been certified by global payment networks. This certification and method of storing information on the SIM card also provides assurance to retailers and merchants accepting mobile transactions.
Suretap also supports the Code of Conduct for the Credit and Debit Card Industry in Canada and merchants will not incur extra costs by adopting suretap.
For further information please go to www.suretap.com or contact [email protected]
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