Hang Seng expands mobile offering with CSL

1010 and one2free customers who are also Hang Seng MasterCard holders can use designated near-field communication-enabled mobile phones to make payments to more than 3,000 merchant outlets in Hong Kong starting next year.Customers can receive a free NFC SIM card; and after downloading the Hang Seng Mobile Payment app to an NFC-enabled phone, they can sync their credit cards and start using them as payment tools.Users can also download e-coupons that can be used in conjunction with Cash Dollars and Merchant Dollars.Heng Seng’s latest mobile payment offering falls a year behind the iPhone payment service by HSBC, who promises to duplicate the application for iOS and Android-powered systems by the end of this year.The existing Heng Seng mobile services only include personal and business e-banking, travel insurance purchasing and personal loans applications.This new focus on NFC mobile payments, however, comes at no surprise.According to Ipsos’s 2012 Hong Kong Credit Card Monitor research, Hong Kong’s virtual card holders increased from 17% in 2011 to 31% of all cardholders in 2012.“Hang Seng is committed to investing in technology,” said Nixon Chan, head of retail banking and wealth management at Hang Seng.“The [mobile payment] service uses an open architecture design that allows other interested parties to participate. We will continue to actively explore opportunities to expand our service scope through collaborative alliances.