Thales brings contactless payment functionalities to Axis Bank’s Wear ‘N’ Pay wearables program

03/12/2021

Digital Identity and Security Financial Services contactless payment wearables

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As part of the collaboration, Thales provides security and connectivity technologies (certified Secure Element along with its antenna), embedded into the wearables by Tappy Technologies.
The innovation offers Axis customers smooth and secure transaction, delivering an enhanced payment experience.

Thales, worldwide leader in digital security, has been a pioneer in enabling convenience and security of contactless payment to the wearable market. Today its technologies enable Axis Bank’s wearables as a stylish and secure contactless way of payment. The new Thales chip form factor will leverage Tappy Technologies’ holistic payment solution to Axis Bank, to further enhance customers outreach by offering innovative purchase methods.

These range of wearable contactless payment devices are easy to carry around, and blend seamlessly into the users’ daily lives with minimum intrusion. Thales has managed to condense the technology of a contactless payment card into a tiny piece of secure payment technology – Thales Gemalto FlexiTag - that can be invisibly integrated into a vast range of wearable shapes and sizes. Axis Bank customers can therefore enjoy payment bands, key fobs, or loops to process fast contactless transactions - without having to take a wallet out.

The wearable is directly linked to the customers’ bank account and functions like a debit card. This allows purchases to be done at any merchant who accepts contactless transactions. Also, to ease accessibility, the Axis wearables can be purchased via phone banking or at Axis Bank branches.

Sanjeev Moghe, EVP & Head-Cards & Payments, Axis Bank said: “With the increasing number of digital payments users, we see a huge opportunity in contactless payments, which will continue to grow, given the post pandemic situation and the need for social distancing. Contactless payments are the future of payments industry in India. To tap into this market, our Wear ‘N’ Pay program brings in convenience in contactless payments at a budget friendly price point, offering a safe and secure mode of payments on the go. Not only are these devices contemporary looking, but are also designed in a way that it becomes a part of our daily lives, thus increasing adoption of cashless transactions for everyday requirements. We are confident that the ‘Wear ‘N’ Pay’ program would be an attractive value proposition for our customers.”

Emmanuel de Roquefeuil, Vice President and Country Director, Thales in India, said, “Thales has always been a key driver to launch innovative and secure digital solutions. We are glad to support Axis Bank with this innovative contactless payment experience in India. The current time is apt to discover new secure payment methods and here contactless wearables arise as an optimal alternative. We look forward to unleashing the full digital potential of our customers and accompany them as well as possible through this fast evolving payment ecosystem.”

Suboor Ahmed, Vice President of Strategic Partnerships & Operations at Tappy Technologies said, “The Indian mass market potential for contactless enabled wearables is significant and we see this expanding into use on India’s public transport systems in the future. With Axis Bank’s forward-thinking initiatives and Thales’ innovative development in the wearable space, Tappy is extremely proud to be a part of this collaboration to bring wearables with contactless payment functionality to more people across the globe.”

With swift integration into a range of products such as watches, accessories and more, contactless technology is a part of the next innovation wave. It is at the helm of the next phase of revolution in the field of digital technologies.
There has been significant growth in adoption of contactless payments, both globally and in India. Contactless payments have been surging across the world with MasterCard reporting over 40% growth in contactless transactions globally in the first quarter of 2020.