This brief focuses on mobile wallet models that use host card emulation (HCE). HCE supports the ability for a mobile wallet app to communicate through the NFC controller to a contactless NFC-enabled POS terminal/reader to pass payment card credentials (or payment token), eliminating the need for a physical SE managed by the mobile network operator. This brief explains how HCE works, using Google Android Pay for context, and discusses HCE security risks and mitigations, as well as some implementations in Canada and other countries. While the current mobile payments market supports both NFC/SE-based and HCE/cloud-based mobile payment platforms, it is too soon to predict if HCE will prove to be a viable alternative to the SE/NFC model and whether one model will prevail, or if both can co-exist to address different payment needs.