The Smart Card Alliance's (Princeton Junction, N.J.) Contactless Payments Council has expanded its focus to include Near Field Communications and mobile payments, and has been renamed Contactless and Mobile Payments Council.

The Contactless Payments Council's top priorities this past year have included conducting and publishing research on how merchants, consumers, financial issuers, mobile operators and technology providers view contactless and mobile payments. The Council's Mobile Payments Work Group published Proximity Mobile Payments Business Scenarios: Research Report on Stakeholder Perspectives, research that found that 86 percent of industry stakeholders believe NFC-based proximity mobile payments will be adopted, and it will happen with a "Collaboration Model," bringing together banks, mobile operators, merchants, handset manufacturers and other service providers. The Council's Consumer Work Group recently completed consumer research on attitudes toward contactless and mobile payments. The Security Work Group plans to publish the white paper, What Makes a Smart Card Secure?, in the early fall. The Contactless and Mobile Payments Council is made up of more than 120 individuals from 48 organizations, including card issuers, payment brands, merchants, financial payment processors, terminal vendors, card manufacturers, chip vendors, systems integrators/consultants, and personalization bureaus. New officers and steering committee were elected in July and include members of financial services firms, vendors and also the Metropolitan Transportation Authority New York City Transit.

Peggy Bresnick Kendler has been a writer for 30 years. She has worked as an editor, publicist and school district technology coordinator. During the past decade, Bresnick Kendler has worked for UBM TechWeb on special financialservices technology-centered ... View Full Bio