It was recently announced that ING Bank was to pilot Project NEAR, ING’s industry’s first UWB Peer-to-Peer payments application.
What are UWB Peer-to-Peer payments?
The pilot program will leverage UWB-enabled Samsung Galaxy smartphones1 to allow consumers to directly share money with peers through the ING banking application when two Galaxy smartphones are in close proximity to each other.
The pilot program aims to make UWB peer-to-peer payments simpler, more intuitive and more seamless.
Why It Matters
Peer-to-peer payments have become increasingly common, with consumers frequently using these applications to share expenses, shop from private vendors, or simply send money to family or friends through a linked bank account or card.
Typically, this requires users to search for each other’s profiles, using usernames, email addresses or phone numbers.
But UWB technology streamlines this process by directly connecting two users through their smartphones.
In this instance, compatible Galaxy smartphones will be able to automatically detect when another user’s device is within range and how close they are. The sender simply needs to be within close range of the recipient, making money transfers faster and hassle-free.
“It means that users no longer need to search for each other’s username, email address or telephone number if, for example, they want to buy something at a jumble sale, put some money in a collection box or split a restaurant bill,” ING says.
It works like this:
- Using the ING banking app, select the person close by who you want to pay. You’ll then see the recipient and their distance from you in the ING app.
- Enter the amount and confirm the transactions. The recipient will see the amount in their list of transactions.
- The payer and the recipient must have NEAR on their phones and both phones must have access to UWB technology.
“With this new technology, you can make a peer-to-peer payment by directing your phone towards another. Consumers no longer need to share personal details, which makes mobile payments even more swift and easy. UWB’s precision location capabilities ensure that the payment is safely transferred to the right person,” explains Thijs Janssen of ING Factory, ING’s department that innovates in co-creation with corporates.
“By using NXP’s Trimension SR100T UWB chips to enable consumers to pay directly through the ING banking app, we’re enabling all the convenience of peer-to-peer payments, while also creating the opportunity to expand to new use cases in the future, such as adding UWB to point of sales to enable a secure, hands-free checkout experience,” continues Rafael Sotomayor, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Connectivity & Security at NXP.
“UWB technology is opening up a whole new world of connectivity, one where devices and appliances can all communicate seamlessly with each other in an open ecosystem.”
1 Compatible UWB-enabled devices include the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra, Galaxy S22+, Galaxy S21 Ultra, Galaxy S21+, Galaxy Note 20 Ultra, Galaxy Z Fold2 and Z Fold3.
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