Digiseq is giving consumers the functionality to turn any object into a payment device using an application on their mobile phone.

The Rcos rapid contactless personalisation is available for any Android and iOS device, delivering Mastercard payment data via secure tokenisation by downloading the Manage Mii mobile app.

The pandemic has accelerated the pace of adoption of IoT technology and contactless applications, which is now forecasted to extend to over 41 billion devices by 2027. Rcos technology can be used for both prepaid and tokenised accounts.

The technology lets consumers pay with any object at millions of acceptance points globally. This could be a game changer in the passive wearables market, breaking down the technical barrier to making payments simple and secure on any object, and could be the catalyst for scaling passive wearables for mass market adoption.

Brands, including Rosan Pay and Stiss, will be brought to life with digital services as wearables are now payment ready without the need for the manufacturer, retailer or card issuer to do anything beyond embedding the NFC chip into the device. Previously, the chip embedded within the wearable would need to go through the process of being personalised by the manufacturer or at a retail kiosk before being ready to use.

Rcos puts control in the hands of the consumer as they can provision any wearable with a suitable NFC chip through the Manage Mii application, transforming it into a contactless payment device in place of a card and speeding up the process of purchasing with payments functionality. Manufacturers can now offer payment enabled items for sale from rings to watches and virtually anything at retail outlets and via online stores without any need to be involved in the payment card delivery.

The development also offers benefits for issuers and banks; previously confined to existing payment methods such as Apple Pay and Android Pay, they’re now able to maintain better relationships with their customers and their finances, and begin to distinguish themselves by delivering innovative experiences for the user.

“The team behind rapid contactless personalisation, Terrie Smith CEO and Colin Tanner CTO, know this space intimately, having led the product development of tokenisation at Mastercard in 2014 that supports solutions such as Apple Pay,” said David Birch, non-executive chairman of UK firm Digiseq. “They co-founded Digiseq to revolutionise services in the contactless wearables and smart objects space and they are delivering on that promise by building a fantastic company which they are now scaling up to deliver mass market payments for the internet of things, in the new contact-free economy.”

Terrie Smith added: “The pandemic has disrupted many traditional payment methods and, as a result, customers are looking for easier, more seamless ways to purchase goods or services. Rapid contactless personalisation is the next step in this process, and will help brands and manufacturers place passive wearables at the heart of the payment ecosystem as the trend develops. We’re confident that the removal of obsolete, cumbersome processes will ultimately lead to greater adoption from brands, and empower customers to pay in safer, more flexible ways.”

Digiseq believes consumers deserve the freedom to choose to use any object they want to pay or for identification, whether it’s a watch, ring or even a face mask. The IoT platform provides an end-to-end service which securely delivers data into everyday wearables, enabling objects – unconnected or connected – to have NFC payment, access control, digital identity and user engagement contactless functionality. The company acts as a centrepiece between banks, product creators, retailers, chip manufacturers and service providers.

The platform is said to offer businesses a seamless all-in-one way to enter the wearable technology market, empowering them with existing infrastructure, partners, hardware and security systems to create wearable technology.

“While consumers are looking into new ways for payment, Digiseq’s rapid contactless personalisation enables just that,” said Björn Scharfen, head of product line payment and ticketing at Infineon. “The secure provisioning of payment credentials into a ring, a wristband, a fitness tracker or pretty much any accessory you can imagine, becomes as easy as a tap on a smartphone. Together with Infineon’s expertise in security controller, contactless performance and scalable turn-key payments, the vision of anything can be a payment thing is becoming reality.”