Visa added compatibility with its payWave contactless technology to the wallet app offered by Russian payments firm Qiwi, using HCE technology.

The two firms already have a strategic alliance, such that the Russian firm’s wallet is called the Visa Qiwi Wallet. Now users with the wallet app on their smartphones can tap and pay where Visa payWave’s technology is accepted in Russia and abroad.

Wallet users can pay using NFC-based mobile devices operating on Android 4.4 or higher in locations where payWave is accepted, including shops, cafes, cinemas and hundreds of thousands of other points of sale internationally.

HCE technology makes it easier for Qiwi to add a payments capability to an existing wallet app.

The payments feature is available to “millions” of Visa Qiwi Wallet users, the partners said, who can top up in more than 100,000 Qiwi kiosks throughout Russia, by linking a bankcard, or from a mobile phone account.

Russians use these kiosks to deposit cash into their Qiwi accounts and choose screen options to pay bills or top up mobile phone minutes.

The new feature is preinstalled on the new version of the wallet. Those who have already installed the app need only to download the latest update.