ING Bank launches mobile payment solution via smartphone

ING Bank announced the launch of ING Pay, a payment solution via smartphone using Visa contactless technology, which allows clients to make mobile payments at the points of sale, given the increasing smartphone adoption in Romania.

“With ING Pay, the ING approach towards e-banking services crosses the barrier of the internet on the PC/laptop/tablet and goes towards the mobile market, which has been on an upward trend over the past years,” says Maria Cristina Matei, head of ING Retail Banking.

ING Pay is compatible with smartphone models iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, Samsung Galaxy S (I9000), Samsung Galaxy S Plus (I9001), Samsung Galaxy S II (I9100), Samsung Galaxy S II Plus (I9105), Samsung Galaxy S III (I9300), Samsung Galaxy S4 (I9505), Samsung Galaxy Note II (N7100), provided they have internet connection.

The ING Pay solution consists of an application available in GooglePlay or AppStore and a Visa incorporated micro-SD card.

For faster payments, clients have the option to introduce the PIN only in the case of sums that exceed RON 100, but the application offers the possibility to introduce the PIN code for all transactions, irrespective of their value.

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The contactless payments can be carried out both in Romania and abroad, wherever the logo VISA PayWave appears at the cash register- in supermarkets, gas stations, restaurants, cinemas and pharmacies.

According to the ING International Survey (IIS), 37 percent of Europeans use mobile banking and manage their money on-the-go and 62 percent of these pay their bills on time more often due to this service. Netherlands is the European country with most mobile banking users.

The IIS is carried out by various research companies for ING Bank in 12 European countries, Canada and the United States.

Some Europeans still do not use mobile banking. The reasons vary: while 37 percent of them do not do it because they do not have a smartphone or tablet, 33 percent doubt the service is secure, while 11 percent believe that mobile banking services do not offer them something they cannot obtain using traditional bank interaction methods.

In Romania, more than 32 percent of internet users said they use mobile banking, which ranks Romania in front of countries like France (25 percent) or Belgium, with 26 percent.

Earlier this year, ING launched contactless Mastercard and Visa cards which allow making payments just by placing the card in front of a POS contactless terminal.
In picture: Stefan Radu, head of product management ING Bank Romania

Otilia Haraga