Customers of the National Australia Bank will have instant use of new, approved personal Visa credit cards, even before they receive their “physical” card, with the bank’s new mobile banking app to be released in coming weeks.
NAB is claiming an Australian first, with its customers able to instantly use their new Visa credit card through NAB Pay for contactless transactions less than $100, without having to wait for their physical card to arrive in the mail.
NAB’s executive general manager of consumer lending, Angus Gilfillan, says customers will have more control over how, when and where they use their cards when the new mobile banking app is launched later this year.
Gilfillan says the new app will make it easier for customers to “conveniently and instantly” self-manage their personal Visa debit and credit cards through their mobile device.
{loadposition peter}An open pilot of the new app is set to begin soon for compatible Android devices, which the bank says will give thousands of customers the opportunity to provide feedback. To participate in the pilot, NAB customers can visit the Google Play Store and download the new app.
And, customers with iOS devices will also be piloting the app over coming weeks.
During the pilot and after the app is launched in full later this year, features will be released in stages.
“This is a whole new platform for a new era of NAB mobile banking,” Gilfillan says.
“Our new app will be fast and seamless, and has been designed to make banking as convenient and easy as possible for our customers.
“We want to give our customers more control over their everyday banking, and our new App will help them to do this with the tap of a button.”
NAB announced a strategic partnership with Visa in November last year, which was designed to accelerate the delivery of payments innovation and product development for customers.
Gilfillan says that through the partnership, and utilising the capabilities Visa made available through its Visa developer platform, NAB was able to enhance the card transaction control features in its new mobile banking app.
The card transaction control features will enable customers to select and modify when and how their Visa debit and credit cards can be used.
“Customers will be able to control what type of payments can be made through the app; for example, if you’ve provided a secondary card to a family member, you can choose 'don’t allow’ for online purchases on that card,” Gilfillan says.
The NAB says the new app will also see improvements to existing features and functions in the bank’s current mobile banking app, and a “new look and feel”, will make it easier for customers to login, view account balances, and search past transactions.
NAB will also this week launch its new NAB PayTag to customers, a sticker which can be attached to mobile devices to enable contactless payments linked to a customer’s Visa debit card.
Global Head of Visa Developer, Mark Jamison, says that by directly connecting Visa and NAB developers through the Visa Developer programme, “the NAB team was able to save around six months of development time.”
“We’re really pleased to have been able to open up our capabilities which are delivering speed to market and innovation.”