Vodafone customers will soon be able to add bank cards to their Vodafone Wallet and use smartphones to pay for goods and services at contactless terminals.

The mobile operator has announced new agreements with Visa and Carta Worldwide that will see bank card payments via the Vodafone Wallet enabled in European markets from the second quarter of 2015 onwards.

This service, which requires a Vodafone NFC SIM, will be supported on a wide range of Android smartphones. Payments are automatically debited from the selected bank cards, which are protected with a user-defined, four-digit PIN for higher value payments.

To use the service, customers will need to input their bank cards to the Vodafone Wallet app, where an alias of each card is stored securely on the Vodafone NFC SIM. They must confirm ownership of the card using Verified by Visa authentication, and can then pay by tapping their phones against a contactless point of sale terminal. Users can also check their mobile payment transaction history using their phone, wherever they are.

Mark Ritzmann, head of m-commerce at Vodafone Group, commented: “The digital wallet just took another step forward. With a few clicks, customers will be able to add payment cards to their Vodafone Wallet and use Android smartphones to pay at contactless terminals. Thanks to our agreements with Visa and Carta Worldwide, using bank cards stored on Vodafone Wallet is fast, secure and simple.”

Vodafone Wallet is currently available in Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and the UK. Customers can already add loyalty cards to their Vodafone Wallet, as well as pay with Vodafone SmartPass, that was launched in partnership with Visa in 2013.

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