ICK obtains Mastercard payment certification following A&B Korea visa approval... 'World's first'

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunseok Yoo] ICK announced on the 7th that its affiliate A&V Korea, after starting the supply of SoftFOS for Visa (VISA) in October last year, has obtained MasterCard (MASTERCARD) Tap on Phone Level2 certification. As a result, Cellfie became the world's first SoftFOS payment system to receive both global card certification and local certification simultaneously.

Tap on Phone Level2 refers to enabling MasterCard payments with only a software (S/W) app on a smartphone without any separate hardware (H/W) device. Visa cards are commonly referred to as tap to phone. Regardless of the brand, it is generally called SoftFOS.

A company official said, "This is a terminal certification that can accept Visa and MasterCard, the two major credit card brands with the highest global credit card market share and owned by almost everyone," adding, "Since most people worldwide carry these cards, the range of credit cards that can be accepted has expanded."

With this certification, Cellfie, the next-generation payment platform developed by A&V Korea, was selected as an initial partner for the next-generation payment systems of Visa (VISA) and MasterCard (MASTERCARD). It plans to supply SoftFOS for Visa and MasterCard going forward.

A company official said, "We have completed terminal certification not only for Visa and MasterCard but also for the domestic Credit Card Association, enabling us to fully proceed with the payment business," adding, "There are two types of Credit Card Association terminal certifications: V1 supports RF EMV functions, and V2 supports RF EMV, PayOn, Samsung Pay, OCR, and Key-in functions."

ICK expects to receive payment fees in the Asian region through global business royalties and Asian distribution rights of Cellfie via its affiliate A&V Korea.

Cellfie is a card POS terminal that operates via software without separate hardware on personal devices such as smartphones, tablets, and smartwatches. This allows sellers to accept card payments simply by installing the Cellfie app on their personal smartphones without needing a separate POS device.

ICK anticipated that SoftFOS operating on personal devices would become a strong trend in the global payment market in the second half of 2021 and during the COVID-19 era in 2022. A company official said, "Since Cellfie is currently the only universal terminal SoftFOS in the Android ecosystem, we also expect to supply SoftFOS to companies beyond Visa and MasterCard."