NAB is preparing to roll out a new mobile app that will allow the bank’s customers to apply for a credit card, receive in-app approval and then begin making purchases on the card using their handset.
The bank said the feature means customers will be able to make sub-$100 purchases before their physical card arrives when using its NAB Pay mobile payment platform.
NAB said its strategic partnership with Visa and access to the Visa Developer platform had allowed it to add a range of new features to the app.
“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,” NAB executive general manager of consumer lending, Angus Gilfillan, said in a statement.
The bank said it was preparing to launch an “open pilot” of the app on Google’s Android platform. NAB said that customers with iOS devices “will also be piloting the App over coming weeks.”
The bank will progressively roll out features ahead of a full launch, which is expected later this year. NAB said it would also release a new ‘PayTag’ for customers. The NAB PayTag is a sticker intended to be attached to mobile handsets that can be used for contactless payments.
NAB is currently banding together with a group of other banks in an effort to force Apple to open up access to the iPhone’s NFC capabilities for mobile payments. Currently, only Apple’s Apple Pay platform can use the handset’s NFC antenna for payments.
Apple has said that opening up access to the antenna will jeopardise the iPhone’s security and that the banks are seeking to pass on the fees it charges them to their customers.
NAB expects to complete the nationwide rollout of its Personal Banking Origination Platform (PBOP) by the end of 2016. The PBOP rollout is part of the biggest technology transformation in the bank's history.