Wells Fargo has become the third bank to sign up for Isis, the U.S. mobile commerce joint venture between AT&T Mobility, T-Mobile USA and Verizon Wireless. The San Francisco-based bank said its Visa consumer credit cardholders can now load their cards onto an Isis Mobile Wallet stored on an NFC-enabled smartphone. Cardholders will be able to make payments, redeem coupons and present loyalty credentials by tapping their NFC-enabled mobile phone against a contactless POS terminal.

Isis launched its mobile wallet nationwide in November. The other banks supporting Isis are American Express and JPMorgan Chase. In September, Capital One dropped out of the project, with little explanation. Barclaycard, which was also involved early, has also dropped out.

In the first phase of an agreement with Isis, Wells Fargo has launched a customer pilot of the Isis mobile wallet. "During this pilot phase with Isis, we will test and learn with customers who want to be on the leading edge of this technology," Peter Ho, manager of digital payments for Wells Fargo's Consumer Financial Services group, said in a statement.

Customers with one of the more than 50 Isis Ready smartphones available from AT&T, T-Mobile or Verizon Wireless can receive an enhanced SIM card from their wireless carrier and download the Isis Mobile Wallet for free from Google Play.

Purchases made using the Isis Mobile Wallet are protected by Wells Fargo's Zero Liability program, which protects Wells Fargo credit cardholders against fraud if their card is lost, stolen or used without authorization. Cardholders can remotely freeze the Isis Mobile Wallet with a single call to their mobile carrier, the bank said.

First Data will act as Wells Fargo's Trusted Service Manager to deliver card credentials onto its customers' mobile devices.

Learn more about mobile/digital wallets.