UBS Launches Mobile Payment App Twint

UBS announced Friday (April 21) that it has launched UBS Twint, a mobile payment app.

In a press release, the company said UBS Twint can be accessed in the Apple App Store and via the Google app. The digital payment app is free for anyone with a UBS account or Swiss credit card of any kind. Payments made with Twint are debited directly to the bank account or credit card, UBS said.

UBS said Twint apps from Swiss banks BCV TWINT, Credit Suisse TWINT, PostFinance TWINT and Raiffeisen TWINT will be available to download in the early summer. While UBS is the latest to announce a mobile payment app, it’s not the first. Banks have been getting into the digital payments market for some time now with BMO Harris announcing a digital wallet earlier this year as one example. In January BMO Harris Bank announced the launch of BMO Harris Bank Masterpass, Android Pay and Samsung Pay digital wallets for select BMO Harris Bank credit and debit cards. In a press release, the bank said the new digital wallet lineup is one of the ways in which BMO Harris is trying to digitally connect customers to payments without the need to whip out a wallet or card.

BMO Harris Bank Masterpass, Android Pay and Samsung Pay are available for BMO Harris Bank personal credit cards, personal debit cards and small business debit cards only. More BMO Harris Bank card products will be available for use with digital wallets later this year, the bank said. The bank said that with its BMO Harris Bank Masterpass, purchases are expedited wherever contactless payments are accepted, while transactions are made with a tap using the BMO Harris Bank Masterpass app, which pays securely with the user’s digitized debit or credit card number assigned within the app. With Android Pay and Samsung Pay, users hold an NFC-enabled device near a participating terminal and the payment is made. Samsung Pay users will also be able to make contactless purchases at merchant point-of-sale swipe terminals, BMO said.