MasterCard Worldwide is launching a trial of its contactless payment technology in Australia.

The trial of MasterCard® PayPass™ will be on a mobile phone at this year’s MasterCard Masters golf tournament.

In conjunction with Commonwealth Bank, the MasterCard PayPass mobile phone trial will include a free giveaway of 3000 MasterCard PayPass cards by Commonwealth Bank, each with $25 to be used at any of the retailers at the MasterCard Masters, which have been set up with MasterCard PayPass readers.

“Contactless payments technology is already extremely popular with consumers around the globe,” said Leigh Clapham, executive VP of Australasia, MasterCard Worldwide.

“The mobile phone trial and free MasterCard PayPass card giveaways at the MasterCard Masters will give Australians the chance to use this innovative next generation payment technology now.”

Commonwealth Bank is the first Australian bank to introduce a contactless payment solution like MasterCard PayPass to the Australian marketplace.

“We’re really excited about being the first Australian Bank to actually trial a contactless payment solution using Near Field Communication to the Australian market,” said Stephen Karpin, executive GM credit cards, Commonwealth Bank.

“The phone trial is an exciting way to showcase the technology and give everyone an indication of where the technology is heading.”

The phones use the NFC protocol to transmit data from the phone to PayPass readers. Cardholders need to simply tap the phone against the MasterCard PayPass reader at a merchant counter, wait for a beep, and the purchase is complete.

There are over 19 million PayPass cards and devices in use at over 73,000 merchants worldwide.