Sequent, a provider of digital issuance and mobile wallet platform as-a-service, and Arxan Technologies, the leading provider of application protection solutions, today announced a strategic partnership to deliver secure mobile payments for financial institutions and other organisations deploying mobile payment solutions. Sequent and Arxan are combining their industry-leading security technologies in a new solution that protects Host Card Emulation (HCE)-based payment service deployments from threats.

“As a recognised leader in mobile payment security, Sequent maintains the highest level of security in all our products, giving organisations peace of mind when deploying cloud-based HCE mobile payments in global markets,” said Lance Johnson, Chief Security Officer at Sequent. “By combining Arxan’s technology with our PCI and EMV compliant products, we can deliver an industry-leading, software-based security equivalent to a secure element that organisations can use to secure sensitive cardholder data and tokens stored in smart phone memory.”

Financial and retail institutions today are leveraging HCE for mobile payments because of its flexibility and independence from the limitations of the hardware-based secure element in a mobile phone.

The Sequent and Arxan solution delivers real value to organisations seeking advanced security for mobile payments. For example, for financial institutions, the solution not only makes it possible to implement bank-level security for card data protection on mobile devices, but it also provides quick time to market. Sequent creates a scalable model that gives control to banks deploying HCE services under their own brand, leveraging their own apps. It also gives banks a secure framework to distribute their credentials for safe use by their partner’s apps.