By Prince Osuagwu

Although it looked as if it wouldn’t have had a place in African payment system, now, Near Field Communication, NFC, is here in Nigeria. Whatever authentication it has given to payment systems in other developed nations of the world where it has long held sway, Nigerians would soon experience it.

NFC is a method of wireless data transfer that detects and then enables smartphones and other enabled devices in close proximity to communicate without the need for an internet connection. It’s easy, fast and works auto-magically.

To make payments, all a user needs to do is hold out his or her phone close to another NFC enabled device and the deed is done.

It is the technology that enables tap-and-go services like  Apple Pay and  Google Wallet  among others, work like pure magic. However, it is not magic. What happens is that an NFC chip, which actually evolved from frequency identification technology, operates as one part of a wireless link. Once it’s activated by another chip, small amounts of data between the two devices can be transferred when held a few centimetres from each other.

Although it has taken some time to come, considering the speed of mobile penetration in the country since 2001, with the unveiling of PayWithCapture multi-channel payment solution at the weekend, Access bank Plc, has finally given Nigerians the opportunity to make payments with their mobile phones.

PayWithCapture is a mobile payment solution that permits customers to make payments by scanning a merchant’s pre-generated QR-Code using the camera of their mobile device or via a one-step Beacon-NFC System.

The solution’s Beacon-NFC Pay, allows Merchants to push Ads and content to consumers which helps them look beyond traditional value chains for new opportunities.

According to the bank, it can be linked with different payment cards including any Bank’s MasterCard/VISA, Bank Account, Mobile Wallet, and affords customers the opportunity of selecting any payment instrument of choice.

The bank said that modern world is ever expanding and with it comes new technologies that change the way people communicate and interact with each other. Therefore, countries that wouldn’t want to play catch up must adapt to the dynamic nature of technology.

Group Managing Director, Mr Herbert Wigwe said that, “forging growth in mobile payment solutions requires inclusiveness. For the potential of mobile payment technologies to truly explode, it is important that we begin to see it as more than a bank initiative but more of a consumer initiative and that is where inclusiveness comes in.

We are committed to providing solutions that meet people in their niche and we have been working closely with technology partners to achieve this. Nigeria is an exceptional country with unique consumer needs.

“This journey of inclusiveness is based on the belief that inclusiveness is the first step in the journey of innovation and the biggest players in the mobile space have been those who opened up their platforms to other players”.

He added that, Access Bank introduced PayWithCapture because it is a solution that allows for a combination of payment solutions to accelerate financial inclusion in Nigeria.

“Banking is morphing into something at the intersection of retail and mobile. To actually achieve innovation in mobile payment, we need a payment solution that recognizes all our financial payment instruments, allows us perform transactions without physical encumbrances and takes cognizance of our unique local challenges like nascent internet infrastructure,”.

Also Head of Product Management and Innovation, Access Bank,  Mr Gbenga Agboola explained that PayWithCapture comprehends inclusion and fidelity because “we realized that the average Nigerian is multi-banked and this brings unique case scenarios; like cash being spread around different accounts/cards and the inconvenience of lugging around so many cards. PayWithCapture solves that problem.

According to him, Access Bank has entered into a partnership with merchants in all market categories to offer unique discounts for users of the PayWithCapture application.

“With PayWithCapture, you can pay with any bank’s card. You register all your Cards on your PayWithCapture profile and they will be selectively or collectively debited based on your preference. Also, this application works offline, this way, transaction details are sent in little packets of data where the customer’s payment details have been encrypted. This reduces, or rather, totally obliterates issues of network downtime and unavailability to process payments” he stated.