You've been redirected from MobilePaymentsToday.com to PaymentsDive.com. In March 2021, Mobile Payments Today became a part of Payments Dive. For the latest payments news, sign up for the daily newsletter.

Accumulate makes m-payments easy for banks, FIs

Published

April 9, 2012

Accumulate, a Stockholm-based mobile payment company, is trying to make it easier for banks and financial service providers to offer mobile payments. The company recently launched its Accumulate Card Overlay, which it calls a "safe, easy-to-use and cost effective 'card in the cloud' solution." According to the company, the new product consists of a fully functional mobile payment system placed on top of an existing credit card system, requiring a minimum of integration or changes to existing infrastructure.

"We are already working with the card companies and what attracts them is that they now offer a cost effective, secure and flexible mobile payment service, and as a bonus, they can take advantage of the already made investments such as clearing and settlement," said Stefan Hultberg, Accumulate's CEO in a statement.

The new solution from Accumulate sounds like a hybrid point-of-sale meets "cloud wallet," where the purchase is initiated by a scan or tap of some kind and then verified by secured credentials sent back and forth between the device and point-of-sale terminal using the cloud. This is the transaction process as described by Accumulate:

  1. The user starts the mobile application.
  2. Transfer via appropriate pairing method (NFC, QR code, bar code, etc) from the application to the payment terminal.
  3. The details of the purchase are presented to the user in the application and confirmed with OK (or PIN + OK if higher values).

The company said the Accumulate Card Overlay can be used not only for POS transactions but also for vending and ticketing applications. Accumulate Card Overlay is also fully compatible with any number of technologies for making a transaction, whether it's NFC stickers or QR codes. And it supports most phone types including Android, iOS and Blackberry devices.

Accumulate touted its new product saying it's actually safer than either POS solutions or online purchase with the card since no sensitive card data is ever transmitted or stored on the mobile device, and it even protects against skimming and phishing.

For those who may not remember, Accumulate is the company that worked with PayPal on its test of NFC technologies last Christmas in Sweden. The company recently announced it's partnering in pilot programs in China as well.

For more stories like this, visit the Mobile Wallet research center.