Embedded finance enabler Ukheshe Technologies has launched what it describes as “the very first tap-on-phone payment solution that requires no certifications.”

Ukheshe said that while tap-on-phone payments have been available for a while, the functionality has been costly and complicated with numerous administration hurdles.

The company referenced research from Accenture which shows that while micro-merchants represent around 40% of the GDP in emerging markets, 90% of them don’t take digital payments of any kind.

Ukheshe believes its latest tech rollout will help to address this issue.

The technology is designed to provide merchants and service providers with the means to leverage digital payment technology and according to the company, the solution will allow any near-field communication (NFC)-enabled Android phone to accept tap-on-phone transactions, without the need for certifications and app approvals.

“… and no need to include any third parties or software development toolkits (SDKs),” the company stated.

Ukheshe explained that when a merchant requires a payment, the merchant’s app would initiate the tap-on-phone functionality. The customer would then tap their card against the merchant’s phone, and the purchase is done. Similarly, if a customer were to make a payment in a consumer facing app, the customer could tap their card on their own device and the payment is complete.

“Tap-on-phone transactions are protected by the same security and encryption technology offered with chip cards throughout the world, and the same secure transaction process as traditional POS transactions,” the company added.

Paul Selibas, President: Channel Solutions for Ukheshe Technologies, elaborated: “Tap-on-phone payments are the most practical way to enable these businesses to accept digital payments - not only for its convenience, but now also its ease of implementation and lower costs. Tap-on-phone essentially turns a merchant’s smartphone or tablet into a contactless point-of-sale (POS) terminal that can receive payments from contactless cards or mobile wallets, without requiring any additional hardware.”

“The cost of a terminal is a hurdle to these businesses, not to mention the additional distribution and maintenance concerns. This new technology combats the high costs of app certifications in developing and implementing tap-on-phone solutions.”

Ukheshe added that its solution allows any merchant or service provider to accept a tap-on-phone payment powered by its Eclipse platform. Once the tap-on-phone function is selected, the Eclipse Payment Service App (EPS) will open on top of the merchant app and the payment will be facilitated by Eclipse.

The planned production release for the EPS is 1 July 2022.