The Electronic Transactions Association, a trade association of the global electronic payments industry, is launching its Mobile Payments Committee (view press release). The committee comprises representatives from companies in the mobile payments market, including AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon. The organisation aims to develop and implement industry wide solutions to policy and business issues surrounding the emergence of mobile payments.

The committee is chaired by Jackie Moran, Executive Director of Federal Relations for Verizon, and includes representatives from ETA member companies. The companies span the mobile commerce industry, and include credit card networks, processors, mobile network operators, developers, financial institutions and device manufacturers. Participating companies include Google, Isis, Verizon, Wells Fargo, Capital One, American Express, Discover, MasterCard, Visa, PayPal, VeriFone, Intuit, First Data, Panasonic and Neustar.

The committee aims to address the business relationships needed to foster innovation and achieve network interoperability, exploring the necessity of ‘best practices’, the education of legislators and regulators developing public policy and the education of merchants and consumers about the role of mobile payments. The committee will meet monthly, with the first meeting taking place this month. Its proposals will remain voluntary, but it will work with member companies to implement new solutions.