In Turkey, payment processor and merchant bank BKM is taking mobile payments further by connecting card payments with the cloud.
The bank announced it will migrate its mobile-payments service to become cloud-based, just a month after it released enhanced digital wallet tools in its BKM Express platform.
The technology uses host-card emulation, or HCE, to create a software reproduction of the physical card. Turkish consumers will be able to use their NFC-enabled mobile devices to make payments at compatible point-of-sale terminals throughout the country.
For now, the program is only enabled at Turkish banks as a test, but a larger rollout of the service is expected in 2016.
BKM first launched a mobile payments platform in 2013, which enabled domestic and overseas money transfers to be made via mobile phones. The service allowed faster transfers between accounts, and has been adopted by hundreds of online and real-world merchants.