Alpha Bank Augments Its Mobile Payments With Tap and Pay System

Good news for Alpha Bank customers recently hit the scene, as the Alpha wallet system was expanded to include tap and pay functionality. This may not sound like much of a development at all, but it will mean some exciting new use cases, including the ability to pay via mobile phone at any point of sale (POS) terminal that uses contactless payment systems. That’s a growing number of systems these days, and there was more afoot besides.

The Alpha wallet is now one of a comparatively few contactless payment systems that can support mobile transactions using several different bases, including not only Mastercard and Visa, but also American Express. It’s built specifically with both security and ease of use in mind, a fine line that’s historically proven difficult to straddle effectively.

Those interested in putting the Alpha wallet to work—that haven’t already—will need a smartphone with near field communications (NFC) technology built in as well as Android 4.4.2 or better. With those points in place, users can then download the my Alpha wallet app from Google Play, and just create a four-digit PIN to access the system and set it up accordingly.

Alpha Bank’s Damianos Charalampidis, who serves as chief digital officer and executive general manager, noted “Alpha Bank’s Digital Transformation agenda is already being implemented as we continue to develop advanced digital solutions that benefit from the latest technology advances and we remain focused on offering high quality service to our Customers and on constantly improving customer experience.”

It’s always worthwhile to improve customer experience, and while Greece has been having plenty of economic troubles lately, it’s good to see that they’re still making the push to keep customers in the fold as best they can. Giving customers the option to use mobile payments directly connected to bank accounts should ultimately prove a welcome notion, and the kind of thing that keeps current customers at a current bank. It might even be enough to pull some customers out of a bank and transfer them—and their accompanying wealth—to Alpha Bank.

It may not be enough on its own for some, but this push into mobile payments should be a good turn for all concerned, demonstrating the power of mobile payments once more.