Spain's Bankinter has announced the Mobile Virtual Card, a technology enabling one-time-use NFC-based credit or debit cards to be used with mobile phones for e-commerce and bricks-and-mortar purchases. Following its commercial launch in the second or third quarter of 2014, MVC will be made available to any financial institution wishing to deploy the technology, Bankinter said in a statement.

MVC uses Host Card Emulation technology to create a software version of EMV smart cards. HCE replaces the secure element that is currently used in NFC transactions, Jacobo Díaz, Bankinter's director of innovation, products, markets and quality, said in a statement. Secure elements store cardholders' payment credentials in a tamperproof part of their NFC-based mobile phones' SIM card.

While Blackberry led the development of HCE technology, it was Google's support for HCE on its new Android 4.4 Kit Kat operating system that allowed Bankinter to build a wide enough commercial proposal for its customers, Díaz said. He is convinced that iOS-based mobile devices and Windows Phone will incorporate HCE very soon.

With HCE, any application on an Android 4.4 device can emulate an NFC-based EMV smart card, allowing users to tap and pay at the point of sale. Smartphones can also act as HCE card readers that accept NFC-based payments.

HCE does not require any changes to the existing POS terminal acceptance infrastructure for NFC payments, nor does it require network connectivity at the time of payment.

Bankinter developed its MVC solution with Madrid, Spain-based payments technology company Seglan. "We have dedicated an entire year to reach the adequate security level for EMV online payments," Díaz said.

Users download the MVC application and register the bankcards that they wish to use for EMV mobile payments. The registration can be done via the Web, phone banking or at a bank branch.

Learn more about contactless/NFC payments.