For all the debate on NFC, there are plenty of plans afoot to use it for mobile payments. Alfa-Bank, Russia's largest FI, is working with wireless carrier Vimpelcom and card brand MasterCard to run a pilot program using NFC.

The trial program, running in Russia and the Ukraine, is open to a small number of Alfa-Bank customers using an NFC-enabled HTC Smartphone, but Alfa Bank said any smartphone supporting NFC-enabled SIM cards will work with the program.

"At this stage, we have prepared a number of SIM cards for testing in a real environment," said Vera Platonov, CEO of Mastercard in the Ukraine, in a statement. "Today, the market has the necessary infrastructure to launch this project, and our partner banks continue to set the receiving terminals for NFC payments."

Funding for purchases will come from customer's bank account. Payments of less than RUB1,000 ($31) can be made with just a tap on any terminal that supports MasterCard's PayPass contactless technology.

Read more about contactless/NFC.