As early as 2017, Monet+ developed its own Host Card Emulation (HCE) solution for Android under the Switchio brand, enabling secure contactless payments via virtual cards on mobile phones. The first customer implementation followed in 2018. Since then, more than 150,000 unique mobile cards have been activated within various closed-loop payment systems, including meal vouchers, benefit cards, and other private, closed-loop payment networks.
Until recently, iOS users did not have access to these services due to Apple’s restrictions regarding NFC technology, which enables short-range contactless communication and is crucial for contactless payments. For a long time, Apple made this technology available exclusively to its own Apple Pay service, meaning third-party applications could not offer their own NFC payment solutions. This significantly hindered card issuers during the transition to virtualized cards, especially at a time when the market is shifting toward issuing purely virtual payment cards—i.e., without a physical plastic card.
The turning point came in 2024, when Apple introduced iOS 17.4, allowing third-party applications in the European Economic Area (EEA) direct access to the NFC chip. For the first time, companies could offer contactless payments on iPhones outside of Apple Pay.
Evolution of the BENEFIA Platform and the UpKarta Pilot
Following this change, Up Déjeuner in Slovakia initiated a collaboration with Monet+ to expand mobile payments. These payments are integrated into the BENEFIA platform—a digital solution for benefit management across both mobile and web interfaces.
In the first phase, a standalone payment application called UpKarta was created, enabling users to make contactless payments outside of Apple Pay. However, this solution was intended as a pilot from the very beginning. The ultimate goal was to migrate mobile payments directly into the BENEFIA mobile application as an integral part of the BENEFIA platform, which serves as the primary digital solution for managing Up Déjeuner benefits.
The Switchio solution provided the complete technology package, including NFC-based contactless payments. As Aurel Babic, Account Manager at Monet+, states:
“The cooperation with Up Déjeuner was highly beneficial and led to the creation of a solution that not only aligns with the trend of fully virtualized cards but, above all, delivers real value to end users”.
Pilot Results and Future Outlook
Since its launch in Q3 2025, the pilot application was downloaded by more than 15% of users within six months, and approximately 20% of contactless payments were processed through it. The UpKarta app proved successful as a temporary solution for introducing mobile payments and verifying user interest in this payment method.
As Štefan Kováč from Up Déjeuner notes:
“The UpKarta application on both Android and iOS platforms represented an important milestone in the digitalization of our clients’ benefit policies, while also enabling the introduction of environmentally friendly, plastic-free solutions. The positive response from our users and the growing adoption of the app confirm we are heading in the right direction and open up space for further innovation. Integrating Switchio payments from Monet+ directly into our BENEFIA mobile app delivers a highly attractive user experience”.
The integration of contactless payments into the BENEFIA mobile application represents a key step in the evolution of Up Déjeuner’s digital services and significantly expands the capabilities of the BENEFIA platform.