DIGISEQ and VIMpay empower German banks to extend contactless payments

By Joy Dumasia

DIGISEQ, the wearable payments tech pioneer, has announced its partnership with the German mobile payment and banking app, VIMpay, to provide prepaid or tokenised payment accounts to customers’ wearable items. Powered by DIGISEQ’s revolutionary mobile personalisation solution (RCOS™), the bank-independent solution will allow German customers of any German bank to combine all their accounts into the VIMpay app and use their wearable item or smartphone using Mastercard anywhere in the world to make secure contactless payments. 

DIGISEQ’s ability to securely ensure the provision of payment data over-the-air to customers’ iPhone or Android mobile devices means that users can activate their wearable item in their comfort of their home without needing to wait for VIMpay or any other bank or issuer to do it on their behalf. As well as providing bank customers with even more freedom and flexibility in how they want to pay, DIGISEQ’s world-first solution will empower VIMpay, banks and issuers to generate more transactions, boost revenue streams, and provide invaluable opportunities to strengthen customer loyalty through targeted marketing insights through real-time transaction tracking. 

The partnership comes when banks and issuers face intense competition for their customers from non-bank challengers and seek ways to offer more customer choice and convenience in how and where they can pay. Financial institutions, meanwhile, are on a quest to incentivise more transactions through their mobile banking and payment apps to create customer stickiness. DIGISEQ’s partnership with VIMpay is exciting for wearables as they break into the mainstream market and are expected to have a market value of $171.38 billion by 2032, a projected growth of more than $150 billion over the next 10 years. 

Terrie Smith, DIGISEQ Co-Founder and CEO, said: “We’re delighted to be partnering with VIMpay to share the benefits of our mobile personalisation solution (RCOS™), which enables payment data to be delivered to any object directly via the consumer’s Android or iOS mobile device. DIGISEQ’s wearable tech combines the convenience of contactless payment and secure digital ID to protect against lost and stolen cards, fraud and ID theft all in one wearable item that goes wherever the user goes, with no PIN required, and real-time tracking for added security. These are huge business benefits for banks which are looking to streamline costs and incentivise more daily transactions. 

It’s been an exciting 12 months for DIGISEQ, with tech being used to great effect by globally recognised names like football club Real Betis, designer Philippe Starck and ABN Amro. Wearable tech creates so many huge opportunities for banks, retailers, and brands to get closer to their customers and give them truly interactive and immersive experiences, and we can’t wait to see VIMpay put it into action.” 

The growth of wearable tech, especially amid the pandemic-driven surge in contactless payments, has created the ideal environment for banks and issuers to connect more deeply to their customers while at the same time giving customers complete control over which payment functions they want to use on their wearable item. 

DIGISEQ’s mobile personalisation and tokenisation ensure that all provisioned payment data is fully protected, with contactless transactions secured exactly as a card or phone NFC payments. By promoting wearable tech, banks and issuers can reduce their reliance on producing and personalising plastic cards, as DIGISEQ handles the over-the-air personalisation and payment enablement of the wearable item from end to end, saving banks and OEMs vast amounts of time and money. Additionally, this also helps banks significantly reduce the amount of plastic they use, improving their environmental and sustainability efforts. 

Max Kahlert, Product Manager of VIMpay, commented: “DIGISEQ’s technology to securely provision payment data over-the-air to customers’ iPhone or Android mobile devices is a huge plus. VIMpay users can simply buy a wearable of their choice and activate it at their own convenience at home. This enhances the user experience tremendously and also opens up many new use cases, such as distribution of wearables at festivals, expos, concerts, and more.”

Manuel Thoma, Head of Marketing of VIMpay, added: “Our choice to partner with DIGISEQ was a natural one given. The spirit of VIMpay is to give users complete freedom to pay how they want. The DIGISEQ team shares this mindset and supports a wide range of wearables to pick from. We are curious to see how our users in Germany embrace the products. Also, we will expand the roll-out of DIGISEQ-provisioned wearable items to Austria later in 2022.” 

VIMpay users will be able to select from a wide range of wearable items available from DIGISEQ’s original equipment manufacturer (OEM) partners, including LAKS Pay, STISS, Rosan Pay, and DressCode Shirts, and use them as secure contactless payment and ID objects. DIGISEQ’s ground-breaking technology revolutionises wearable payments by allowing consumers to register and activate their items using their payment card through DIGISEQ’s Manage MiiTM mobile app, which can be white-labelled with the branding of its clients, essentially making it an invisible payments partner.