UK-based wearable payments tech company DIGISEQ has partnered with VIMpay to provide prepaid/tokenized payment accounts to client’s wearable items.

Supported by DIGISEQ’s 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 contactless payments.

DIGISEQ’s ability to ensure the provision of payment data over-the-air to customers’ iPhone or Android mobile devices means that users can activate their own wearable item from their home, without needing to wait for VIMpay, or any other bank or issuer, to do it on their behalf.

The partnership comes at a time when banks and issuers face intense competition for their customers from non-bank challengers and are seeking 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 mobile personalisation and tokenization ensures all provisioned payment data is protected, with contactless transactions secured in the same way as card or phone NFC payments. By promoting use of 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.