Westpac First Large Australian Bank to Create its Own Wearable Devices

Australian bank Westpac has created its own line of wearable devices, under the name ‘PayWear,’ to enable ‘tap and pay’ payments for its customers.

Westpac PayWear, a wrist band, does not rely on Apple or Samsung Pay, or other mobile wallets, but is rather a range of devices made by the bank itself.

The devices (which are created by the bank through partnerships with designers) will allow customers to pay without using their phones or wallets at a contactless POS terminal; the PayWear bands will have an EMV chip set into it “similar to Mastercard’s chips” so there is no need for a battery.

Westpac is the first of Australia’s largest four banks—which including the National Australia Bank, the Commonwealth Bank, the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group and of course, Westpac—to release its own range of wearables.

PayWear devices are expected to roll out in early December 2018, according to the bank.

Read more at BusinessInsider Australia and ZDNet.