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This comes as mobile payments are expected to grow exponentially. Research firm Gartner Inc. estimates that the value of mobile payment transactions will grow 35% annually to reach US$721-billion by 2017. More than 450 million people will be using their mobile device for payments by 2017, Gartner added in a forecast last year.

It’s a lucrative space that Apple Inc. chief executive Tim Cook has also signalled an interest in, calling it a “really interesting area.”

“We already have people using Touch ID to buy things across our store, so it’s an area of interest to us,” he told the Wall Street Journal in January.

“And it’s an area where nobody has figured it out yet. I realize that there are some companies playing in it, but you still have a wallet in your back pocket and I do too which probably means it hasn’t been figured out just yet.”

EnStream will use BlackBerry’s infrastructure to secure data so customers can use their smartphones for payments via near-field communication technology. Financial institutions on board include Royal Bank of Canada, TD Bank, CIBC and Desjardins, the company said Thursday.

BlackBerry has already dabbled with mobile payments and said Thursday it is an “area of focus”. Last year, it launched a pilot project called BBM Money in Indonesia, allowing users to transfer funds and do other financial transactions.

The program is poised to spread to other countries. BlackBerry’s senior director of BBM Business Development, David Proulx, told Recode.net in March that he expects the company to expand BBM Money to more locations and add more services this year. One area of keen interest is international transfers, Mr. Proulx added.