Apple has been granted a wallet patent that relates to establishing rules for how a central account controls a subsidiary financial account. The patent also relates to the systems, methods and electronic devices set up to establish such rules, reports Patently Apple. The patent would allow parents to control the spending of children or in another scenario it could be applied to employer-employee payments. The patent makes reference to the use of NFC technology.

The granting of the patent will likely renew speculation that Apple is considering a move into the mobile payments market. But not everyone views such a move as likely. Just last week PayPal VP David Marcus poured cold water on the idea of an Apple m-payments move by saying it would make no sense from a financial point of view because Apple’s core business in the consumer electronics business was far more profitable than handling financial transactions.