German mPOS payments company Payleven announced it will launch an NFC mobile chip-and-PIN card reader in Europe in the second half of 2014.

Payleven launched a contact-based chip-and-PIN card reader in 2013 in Europe, which connects to a merchant's mobile device via Bluetooth.

According to The NextWeb, Payleven will charge around €100 (US$138) for its NFC-capable chip-and-PIN card reader, which will connect to mobile devices via Bluetooth.

Payleven said that to date NFC-enabled terminals have been too expensive for most U.K. small business owners to deploy. The company hopes to remove this barrier through its low-cost unit, which will be aimed specifically at SMEs.

As with the existing Payleven chip-and-PIN card reader, the NFC version will have no fixed costs, no minimum monthly payments and no contract, the company said.

"NFC definitely has the potential to become the market standard for contactless payments," Alston Zecha, Payleven's founder and COO, said in a statement. "However, until now, the hurdle for SMEs has been the huge cost associated with it. By launching our new device we will be offering a disruptive solution that will help our customers to keep up with cutting edge technology, making their business even more efficient with NFC."