HTC will tomorrow (19 June) announce a partnership with MasterCard and two local companies to launch a mobile payment service in Taiwan. The proposed service will enable users to make payments once they have inserted a microSD card enabled with MasterCard’s PayPass application into an NFC-based HTC handset.  The service is also supported by Taiwan’s Cathay United Bank and Easycard, a local company that specialises in contactless cards for the transport sector.

The PayPass-enabled card will be the first in Taiwan that will integrate a credit card and a pass for public transport into a single card. Initially the card can be used with a single HTC smartphone, the Incredible E. Demand for NFC-based handsets in Taiwan is expected to reach 100,000 units this year, according to the country's Central News Agency.

HTC announced an alliance in August 2011 to launch its first NFC handset. The handset was offered first in China through a partnership with China Unionpay, the country’s card payments network. At the time, HTC urged financial institutions in its domestic market to build out a national mobile payments platform. This has not happened so now the vendor is urging the Taiwanese government to push mobile banking through state-owned banks as a means to encourage the private sector.