Canada’s leading mobile operator Roger and CIBC, which is the country’s fifth largest bank, are to launch what they claim will be the country’s first mobile payment service later this year. The new service will enable Rogers subscribers with a NFC handset to make payments on their CIBC credit cards in retail outlets.

Other alliances between mobile operators and banks in Canada are likely to react to Rogers/CIBC’s move. Rival Telus is working with a number of banks to launch a mobile wallet shortly, according to Reuters. And Bank of Montreal, the country’s fourth largest bank, said it aims to launch a mobile wallet within 12-18 months, according to the same source.

Other potential participants whose intentions are not yet known include Bell Mobility, the country’s third national operator, as well as its three largest banks: Bank of Nova Scotia, Royal Bank of Canada and Toronto-Dominion Bank.

CIBC was part of an announcement made yesterday by the country’s leading banks which laid out guidelines for making NFC-based payments. The announcement was co-ordinated by the Canadian Bankers Association.  Rogers and CIBC say the service they aim to launch later this year aligns with the bankers’ guidelines.

The Rogers/CIBC service will initially only be available on select BlackBerry smartphones later this year with additional devices to follow, the operator said.

Canada is ranked second in the world in terms of its preparedness for mobile payments, according to the recently published MasterCard Mobile Payments Readiness Index finishing beind Singapore and ahead of the US, Kenya and South Korea in the top five.