Analysts predict that the global contactless payments market is expected to reach $2.23 trillion by 2025. North America and Europe are steadily growing in their contactless payment use as more and more terminals offer the option and customers steadily become more acclimated to the process. However, one international market that is embracing this easy form of payment in full is Australia. According to Mastercard (MA), four in five Australians make a contactless payment purchase each week. Moreover, the same survey by the global payment giant found that Aussies were even inclined to avoid a vendor if they did not offer tap and go payments.

So, it was no surprise that NXT-ID Inc. (NXTD), an innovator and leader in the IoT and digital payment sector, announced that its subsidiary FitPay™ closed a deal with Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZBY), allowing all ANZ cardholders to make contactless payment with wearable devices that are integrated with the FitPay payment platform.

“We are very pleased to be working with one of Australia’s leading banks to help drive the adoption of new contactless payment technology,” said Michael Orlando, COO of NXT-ID and President of Fit Pay, Inc. “Australians have embraced the convenience of tap and go payments. This agreement allows them to enjoy that same frictionless payment experience on a wider variety of devices.”

NXT-ID’s Scalable Network

It’s important to realize, as new devices enter the payment ecosystem, they have to be approved by payment processors like Visa (V) and Mastercard, then are assessed by the issuing banks for various criteria. These types of partnerships and the trust involved are hard fought. The process can be complex and challenging for new entrants. So, this move in Australia demonstrates NXT-ID’s scalable network and infrastructure as well as the breadth of their relationships among financial institutions, paving the way for more devices to use FitPay in the future.

“This deal speaks to our ability to launch devices and quickly establish card issuer acceptance,” Chris Orlando, NXT-ID’s Vice President of Communications and Investor Relations told Equities. “As new device’s are on-boarded onto our platform, we already have relationships in place that allow us to launch the devices and make them available to more banks and cardholders in an efficient manner – much faster than device manufacturers can do their own.”

In that vein, the FitPay Payment Platform™ utilizing tokenization – a payment security technology that replaces cardholders’ account information with a unique digital identifier creating a highly secure contactless payment and authentication services – is rapidly growing and has already been approved by an impressive list of partners like Mastercard cardholders from numerous issuing banks and credit unions including Capital One, U.S. Bank, BECU and First Tech Federal Credit Union in the United States, and internationally through Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Cornèrcard, Sberbank of Russia, and Swiss Bankers Prepaid Services and more and more issuers are following suit. In addition, in the Fall, NXT-ID struck a deal with Bank of America extending contactless payment options to a range of devices for the bank’s 34 million active users.

In September, NXT-ID further increased the size of its net when they announced that Fit Pay would also be enabling payment capabilities for leading wearables company Garmin International (GRMN), whose commercial you might have seen playing during the holidays, and their new vívoactive 3, a smart watch that has a contactless payment feature called Garmin Pay™. The vívoactive 3 is a smart watch for those with an active lifestyle like runners or cyclists who want to leave their wallet at home. Fit Pay now allows them to pay for goods with a simple tap.

Award-Winning Technology for the Future

These recent deal underscores the fact that NXT-ID is growing and becoming a go-to name for companies who are looking to assure customers that modern payments will work simply and securely. To further emphasize the company’s innovative technology, FitPay took home the bronze medal from IoT Innovator’s 2017 IoT Innovator Awards in the IoT Consumer Cloud Platform category.

“It’s simple, really: Consumers want frictionless payment experiences across a range of mediums,” Kim Kay, the publication’s Editor in Chief stated. “As luck would have it, FitPay has taken the wheel by enabling contactless payments and authentication on a range of wearable and IoT devices, effectively driving digital payment options beyond the smartphone. The judging panel for the 2017 IoT Innovator Awards recognized FitPay’s prowess when it comes to delivering a solid, seamless and secure mobile payment experience to consumers. What’s more, the robustness of FitPay’s platform can handle not only payments with security and ease, but also other secure transactions, such as transit and keyless entry.”

“Indeed, by allowing IoT and wearable device manufacturers to add payment and authentication capabilities with virtually zero startup time; no investment in software development; and instant access to the leading credit card networks, it comes as no surprise that 15 IoT and wearable device manufacturers have already integrated with the FitPay payment platform,” Kay added. “By focusing on aligning how people pay with how they live, IoT payment devices – the smart ones, anyway – have reached well beyond the smartphone. Whatever mobile payment device users favor, FitPay is helping to ensure the perfect fit.”

Throughout 2017, NXT-ID has been making moves and putting the pieces in place across the chessboard all year. Now, the company’s forward-thinking strategy is starting to show. The acquisition of FitPay in May – in the middle of the IoT boom – has proven to be a catalyst for the company and the momentum is growing for an even stronger 2018.

“I think that all this growth and all of these interconnected devices are going to require one critical thing for the whole ecosystem to be successful, and that is essentially trust and security,” CEO of NXT-ID Gino Pereira told Equities in March. “All of the innovation won’t be helping anyone if you don’t trust that transactions being done through IoT are secure and your identity is safe. Whether they be payments or simple things like access to your home and your car, that’s an essential part of the IoT ecosystem and that’s the piece that we feel we can play a big part in.”


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