Visa Europe is to launch NFC mobile payments in the UK by the end of 2013, according to a video advertisement released by the payments company.

The video (below) says the service will be launched “on compatible handsets” by December 2013. The exact launch date and details on how the service will work have yet to be revealed.

A Visa Europe spokesman told NFC World that the UK launch “could well be” connected to a previously announced plan to pre-load the Visa payWave applet on embedded secure elements on selected devices from Samsung.

The plan, announced in February, would mean banks could potentially offer NFC payments without a mobile operator being involved.