Metro Bank in the UK is now offering support for Android Pay... More
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India’s Mobikwik aims to triple user base in 2017
Indian mobile wallet MobiKwik is to invest Rs 3bn (US$45m) to triple its user base and raise the total volume of transactions on its platform to $10bn in 2017, The Times of India reports... More
US banks launch money-transfer app
Nineteen US banks have launched Zelle, the mobile P2P money transfer service unveiled last October to compete with the likes of Venmo, allowing users to send money directly to each other’s bank accounts within minutes... More
UK bank tests voice commands with Google Home
Starling Bank, a UK mobile-only bank, is testing an integration of its API with Google Home, the voice-activated speaker powered by Google Assistant... More
STMicroelectronics announces new NFC devices for contactless payments and IoT
PARTNER NEWS: STMicroelectronics has released a new set of NFC devices for contactless payments and data exchange, including the ST21NFCD NFC controller and ST54 Systems in Packages containing the controller and an embedded Secure Element (eSE)... More
Apple and Samsung boost Russian interest in virtual cards
The launch of Apple Pay and Samsung Pay in Russia helped to produce a fivefold increase in the number of consumers using online payment service Yandex.Money to pay for goods and services in 2016, Vedemosti reports... More
Ant Financial invests in Korea and Philippines
Alipay parent company Ant Financial is to invest US$200m in South Korean mobile finance platform Kakao Pay to “expand its online and offline payment coverage”... More
Swiss region pilots own local blockchain-based cryptocurrency
A pilot test of a cryptocurrency based on blockchain technology has taken place in the canton of Ticino, Switzerland... More
Google Home owners get voice commands for grocery shopping
Owners of the Google Home speaker powered by Google Assistant can now buy groceries using voice commands... More
New iPhone to feature 3D laser facial recognition scanner?
Apple’s iPhone 7S, 7S Plus and 8 will come with a 3D laser scanner for facial recognition later this year to replace the Touch ID fingerprint scanner, JPMorgan analyst Rod Hall has told MacRumors... More
Amazon and Google to add phone calls for virtual assistants?
Consumers with Amazon Echo or Google Home could use the virtual assistant devices to make or receive phone calls later this year, the Wall Street Journal reports... More
Paytm expects up to 30% fall in offline customers
Indian mobile wallet Paytm “expects to lose 20-30%” of customers making offline payments using QR codes, OTP or mobile-to-mobile transfers when the Reserve Bank of India removes cash withdrawal limits on March 13, The Financial Express reports... More
Smart home owners can ask Alexa to unlock front door
Homeowners with smart home company August’s Smart Lock system are now able to ask an Amazon Alexa-enabled device to unlock their front door using their voice and a secure voice PIN of four to 12 digits... More
Mobile payments service for children to begin beta trials
Beta tests of the Virtual Piggy mobile payments platform for children, which “offers the ability for children to learn how to use the payment tools of the digital economy” with parental controls built in, will begin in April... More
What’s New in Payments: Leading international innovators explain the latest payments trends and technologies in free special report
Senior executives from Starbucks, Pizza Hut, Barclaycard, Swatch and CaixaBank are among 12 leading payments innovators who have contributed to What’s New in Payments, a 104-page special report that is now available to download free of charge from the NFC World Knowledge Centre... More
Citi and Wells Fargo cards ‘not supported’ by Android Wear
Credit cards provided by US banks Citi and Wells Fargo are not supported by Android Wear 2.0, Google’s new version of its wearables operating system which brings host card emulation (HCE) based NFC payments to smartwatches... More
Schiphol Airport tests facial recognition to speed up boarding
Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport has begun a three-month trial of facial recognition technology at one of its boarding gates... More
Google unveils Android Wear 2.0 and new watch with support for NFC mobile payments
Google has officially unveiled Android Wear 2.0, the new version of its operating system for smartwatches, and two new watches from LG — one of which comes with NFC to support HCE mobile payments using Android Pay... More
Bluetooth bus ticketing trial lets passengers travel without buying a ticket
Bus passengers in northern England are trialling a mobile ticketing system that works with Bluetooth beacons placed on buses and at bus stops, and a smartphone app that tracks the user’s journey and then charges them the best-value price over the course of a day or week... More
India Budget: New measures to promote mobile payments
The Indian government has unveiled new measures to promote a digital economy during its 2017 Budget speech, including “the imminent launch of Aadhaar Pay, a merchant version of the Aadhaar-enabled payment system”, The Times of India reports... More