Swipe Pay - The First Open Virtual Wallet?

Swipe Pay has unveiled its mobile payment solution and app, which, the company claims, is the first “open virtual wallet”. Users can add their debit and credit cards – as well as loyalty and rewards cards – to the app, and make payments utilising encrypted QR codes and Bluetooth technology.

Complementing iOS and web apps will be ATM and POS hardware, enabling users to get cash out with their phones, pay online and in-store, and make person-to-person transfers.

Swipe Pay is also keen to address issues of security, apparently introducing an additional seven layers of security to existing Chip and PIN solutions.

“Because it’s contactless, there’s a perception that people can grab it from thin air,” says Nick Holland, mobile transactions analyst at Yankee Group. “But it’s actually a more sophisticated technology than traditional credit cards with magnetic strips, making it more difficult to steal a consumer’s payment information.”

Swipe Pay is currently in the final stages of development and will be available to merchants and consumers in the UK and US later this year.