Commercial Bank introduces Qatar's 1st mobile contactless payment wallet

Commercial Bank has again raised the bar a notch higher in terms of convenient, fast, and secure payment tools with the introduction of the ‘CB Wallet’, Qatar’s first mobile contactless payment wallet.

Using technology for Commercial Bank’s ‘Tap N’ Pay’ contactless payment service, the ‘CB Wallet’ is the bank’s latest offering that will now allow customers to pay with their mobile phones by digitising their cards into the wallet.

Speaking at a media roundtable yesterday, Commercial Bank AGM, head of Cards and Payments Roya Khajeh said the ‘CB wallet’ provides secure, fast, and convenient transactions, allowing customers to make in-merchant payments by simply tapping their mobile phones, or they can use it for express checkouts during online shopping using ‘Masterpass’. 

To guarantee that payments are highly-secure, Khajeh said ‘CB Wallet’ uses ‘tokenisation’ and digitisation to provide a safe and secure way to deliver card credentials into mobile phones; this reduces fraud for the entire digital payments ecosystem.

As the main feature of the CB Wallet, tokenisation is the process of replacing a card’s primary account number (PAN) with an alternate card number, or ‘token’. Embedding card payment credentials directly into devices to easily pay in store, online, and in-app in a secure way is done using tokenisation technology, Khajeh noted.

She explained that with tokenisation the payments are taking place without sharing the exact card details with the merchant. A tokenised or encrypted value is being passed which makes the payment highly secure.

“For merchants who are also customers of Commercial bank, the ‘CB Wallet’ helps boost revenues as it improves speed of payments at point-of-sale (POS) transactions through Android phones. As for online merchants, it helps with express checkouts,” Khajeh said. 

The ‘CB Wallet’ can be used on existing POS terminals available in the local or international market utilising tap and pay technology, Khajeh noted, adding that the ‘CB Wallet’ is currently available only on Android devices, but will also be made available for iOS. 

“Commercial Bank has been continually investing in new technologies to make transaction banking a simple and secure experience for our customers. CB Wallet follows Commercial Bank’s introduction of contactless cards in 2018 and represents a significant development in Qatar’s cashless ecosystem and e-commerce market,” Khajeh stressed.

Commercial Bank EGM and head of Retail Banking Amit Sah said the bank is aware of the changing ecosystem and is leading the payment revolution in Qatar by investing in future technologies to put the country amongst the leading payment ecosystems in the world.

“In line with Qatar National Vision 2030, Commercial Bank is bringing to the country’s banking space the best in global practices, products, services, technology, and customer experience, among many others.

“We believe that all of this is very important because it provides value to the customer and it enhances the overall infrastructure level, making it more ready for the upcoming 2022 FIFA World Cup,” Sah said.

Abeer Marwan al-Kalla, head of Corporate Communications & CSR, said: “Launching the ‘CB Wallet’ comes in line with the bank’s plan developed in 2018…and as part of its strategy to focus on creativity and innovation, and offering clients the best service and banking experience.

“Year-on-year, Commercial Bank has been recognised by industry leaders and has won many awards in recognition of its cards business and for retail banking and innovation in products and services.”

As seen on GulfTimes  Image Credits GulfTimes