Swedish firm Seamless brings Near Field Communication mobile phone payment system to Romania

Seamless, a Swedish mobile payments firm, has teamed up with Turkey's Garanti Bank to bring a Near Field Communication (NFC) and QR code mobile payment system to Romania. Via the partnership, Seamless will launch its SEQR NFC and QR payments platform on the Romanian market. The system, which allows users to make payments by bringing their phone into close proximity with another device, or via QR codes, is to start operating “in a few weeks” according to industry news site NFC World. The CEO of Seamless Peter Fredell told NFC World that his company always offers both systems, NFC and QR, when entering markets and that the firm has been running pilot schemes in Romania for the last six months. He also described Romania as an “interesting” market and said the decision enter it came as a result of being approached by Garanti Bank. The low credit card usage in Romania, with 79 percent of transactions made with cash, provides greater opportunities for mobile payments than in Western European countries, where card use is much higher, according to Fredell. He added that banks are driving change and the introduction of cashless systems like the NPC payment method to bring down the costs associated with cash handling. Seamless is a global mobile payments company headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, and with operations in more than 30 countries around the world . The firm markets prepaid top-up systems and mobile payment services for mobile operators, distributors, retailers and consumers. The company has two main products: the proprietary transaction switch ERS 360 for top-ups to mobile operators and distributors, and SEQR for mobile payments in stores, on-line and via apps. The Romanian subsidiary of Turkish banking group Garanti Bank recorded EUR 9.9 million net profits in Q1 2013, almost 70 percent up on the same period last year. The Garanti Bank Romania Group’s consolidated revenues rose to EUR 45.4 million, a 62 percent increase on the first quarter of 2012. editor@romania-insider.com (photo source: Visa)