Westpac is running a trial to allow customers with a debit MasterCard to turn their Android smartphones into contactless payment devices. The bank has partnered with Optus and Oberthur Technologies for the pilot, and hopes to release the system next year.The trial uses Oberthur's "trusted service manager" platform that allows the data held on an EMV debit card to be stored in the secure element of the phone's SIM card. Using near field communications technology - but without the need for a dedicated NFC chip - the mobile phone can be tapped against an NFC reader to make a payment.Oberthur said in a media release that this trial may be the first time an Australian financial institution did not use a bridging technology such as an NFC-enabled phone case, microSD (a form of flash memory) or stickers to facilitate mobile NFC payments.Daryl Babus, head of mobile payments at Westpac, confirmed that although the bank had first gauged interest among customers and merchants with a stick-on NFC chip, the current trial is the bank's first integrated solution and involves having a fully functional SIM card inside an NFC-enabled smartphone. While the bank does have mobile payments applications for iPhones, these are not NFC-enabled.Babus said the mobile payment app was initially for the Android - which, she added, was NFC-capable and the fastest-growing mobile operating system.Optus is also making efforts to develop a payment offering itself. Earlier this week, the telco announced partnerships with Boku and BlackBerry that will allow customers to buy online credits - including Facebook credits - as well as apps and games, and have the charges appear on their monthly Optus bill.