Bank of America and Visa are to start testing mobile contactless payments technology next month in New York, reports Reuters

The pilot - to run until the end of the year - will see New York-area employees and customers make low value purchases by tapping their mobile handsets against specially equipped readers at point of sales.

To turn mobile phones into payment devices, the trial participants will install chips from Visa and its technology partners, Reuters reports. Visa formed a partnership with DeviceFidelity, a provider of a microSD-based contactless system, in February.

 Visa is also working with US Bancorp in a similar pilot that will begin this October, Reuters reports.