We've long suggested  banks need to get more aggressive when it comes to controlling the development of mobile payments technologies in the United States. For the most part, they seem to be less of a determining factor than the phone companies or handset makers. But Bank of America and Visa have raised some brows when they announced they will launch their own trial in the New York area.

While other banks are participating in various trials, Bank of America's trial is notable for the use of microSD cards that can handle payments. All participants will be required to simply insert the card into smartphones. The card was developed by Visa and DeviceFidelity, and works with many phones, including the iPhone. This allows banks and others to develop services that don't depend on phone companies adding some sort of NFC chip set to their phones, which won't happen for four or five years.

Of course there are other ways around this. Some pilots are using adhesive strips that can be attached to the phone. Bling Nation has started some interesting trials with small banks using such stickers. And two small Texas banks have just jumped into the fray.

It's still hard to handicap who will ultimately win this derby. But you could argue that the big card companies have the most at stake. Their fee structure with retailers is their biggest asset right now, and they'll seek to protect that. As for banks, perhaps more big ones will follow Bank of America's lead and jump out of the phone companies' shadows, which of course have launched their own massive trial.  

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