CUA, a leading Australian credit union, launched a new NFC-based Android payments app for use at contactless terminals around the country.

Such apps are relatively common but CUA’s is the first in Australia, and indeed the Asia Pacific, to be based on host card emulation (HCE) technology. The claim comes from Cuscal, the Australian vendor behind the redi2pay app.

Cuscal first trialled HCE-based mobile payments in March 2014 and CUA’s is the first commercial rollout by one of its client base.

“Whilst many of our competitors are charging customers a separate fee for having ‘tap and go’ capability on their phone, we are providing this at no cost, as part of our ongoing better-value service offering,” said CUA CEO Chris Whitehead.

“As a customer-owned financial institution, our model enables us to provide better value to customers in the form of lower rates and fees, and more accessible services. And this rightly positions CUA as a credible alternative to the ‘big banks’,” he said.

HCE is available on phones running Android KitKat 4.4 or later.