Visa and Thai Bank Kasikornbank have launched a mobile payments trial using Nokia's 6212 NFC-enabled handhelds in Thailand.

The service enables bank users to upload their Visa accounts onto the Nokia 6212 handset which contains Visa’s payWave contactless application. This will allow Kasikornbank customers participating in the trial to make purchases at more than 1,000 payWave merchant locations in Thailand. Clients will be able to make mobile payments by waving their mobile phone over the Visa payWave contactless readers at the point-of-sale (POS). Purchases will be charged directly to the customer’s Kasikornbank Visa credit card account. The Visa payWave-enabled transactions are protected with the same security layers used for all Visa transactions. On top of contactless payments, the Visa payWave platform offers over-the-air personalisation, coupons and direct marketing.

So far, Visa has launched mobile payment trials based on payWave-enabled Nokia 6212 handsets with Wells Fargo Bank in the US, with Maybank and Maxis in Malaysia, with Barclays in the UK and with Chunghwa Telecom and China Trust Commercial Bank in China.