SIX and Swisscom join forces with banks for mobile payments service

The service is expected to enable consumers to make in-store mobile payments at retail locations using either NFC, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) or a combination of both.

Participating banks include UBS, Zürcher Kantonalbank, Banque Cantonale de Genève, Banque Cantonale Vaudoise, Luzerner Kantonalbank and Raiffeisen.

The service will be based on a mobile app called Paymit that was launched by SIX in partnership with UBS and Zürcher Kantonalbank in May 2015 as a peer-to-peer (P2P) transfer service that lets users send and receive funds using credit stored in a Paymit account.

In-store payments will go live in early 2016 following a pilot in September 2015, with value-added services including loyalty and offers expected later.