Royal Bank of Canada with several Asian operations, has been awarded a patent on its innovative Secure Cloud payment and security technology by the United States Patent Office. The patent covers use of secure tokens by clients to facilitate payments from mobile devices.
Secure Cloud technology enables RBC clients, who want to use their mobile device for transactions, to quickly and securely pay with any card – from Visa and MasterCard to debit, gift and loyalty cards – using merchants’ existing contactless payment terminals.
“The patent on our Secure Cloud technology underscores our commitment to enhance the client experience by investing in technology and innovation,” said Linda Mantia, executive vice-president, Digital, Payments & Cards, RBC. “With Secure Cloud we knew that we needed to create a solution flexible to future technologies, while also providing our clients with the security they expect from RBC. As a result, we deliberately pursued an open architecture solution that would work across platforms and keep sensitive client data with the bank.”
Mantia adds: “For us, innovation is about connecting what is possible to what is valuable to our clients. This patent, in conjunction with others now pending, will enable RBC to continue to provide that innovative client-centric experience across payment platforms, from mobile phones to wearables.”
With RBC Secure Cloud, sensitive client data remains with the bank, as opposed to it being on the phone. Substitute data is transmitted encrypted and decoded locally on the client's mobile device at the point of sale, instead of the sensitive data itself.
While the solution thoroughly protects client financial data by leaving it at its source, clients are also protected by the existing Zero Liability Policy for Interac, Visa and MasterCard. RBC has several other patents pending in the payment solutions space.
