Thousands of Canadian retailers already have the necessary equipment for mobile payments in place, and the Canadian Bankers Association (CBA), a trade body, introduced the voluntary guidelines as a way of setting open standards for secure transactions over smartphones, which will be used as "tap-and-go" credit or debit cards.

"The financial institutions have come together to create a reference model that lays out how mobile payments can be launched in Canada efficiently, with a high degree of security and a compelling customer experience," said Stephen Gardiner, managing director at consultancy Accen-ture PLC in Toronto. "These are all critical things to drive adoption," he said.

The banks must still reach agreement with credit card companies and telecoms before launching "mobile wallets." Several sources involved in those talks say discussions were in their final stages.