New York City has joined New Jersey, Philadelphia and San Francisco in passing legislation that makes it illegal for stores, restaurants and other retail outlets to not accept cash... More
New York City bans cashless stores
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China publishes face recognition payments guidelines
The Payment & Clearing Association of China (PCAC) has published a set of guidelines that regulate how payments providers making use of face recognition to process payments at the point of sale (POS) should manage the protection of consumer data... More
India requires banks to let cardholders opt in to contactless payments
Card issuers in India are to be required to ship all new cards to customers with contactless functionality switched off by default — and also provide cardholders with a range of easy ways to toggle their card’s contactless support on or off... More
Huawei Pay expands to Pakistan
Huawei starts its mobile wallet service Huawei Pay in Pakistan — Technology Times — “Huawei has launched its mobile wallet service Huawei Pay in Pakistan in cooperation with UnionPay International and National Bank of Pakistan, making it the fourth market where Huawei Pay has been made available, following China, Russia and Hong Kong.”
One million Brits now use open banking
The number of consumers using open banking has doubled in the past six months to more than one million, the UK’s Open Banking Implementation Entity (OBIE) reports, and there are now a total of 204 regulated service providers — up from 100 at the end of 2018... More
Venmo adds branded animated emojis to payment messages
US P2P payments app Venmo is adding support for a suite of custom-designed animated emojis that can be used “when paying, splitting and sharing payments” and include branded options from both Subway and Ikea... More
Central banks set up digital currency group
The Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan, the European Central Bank, the Sveriges Riksbank and the Swiss National Bank, together with the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), are to work together “to assess potential cases for central bank digital currencies”... More
Sberbank lets customers gift their loyalty points to friends and family
Russia’s Sberbank is launching an app for its Spasibo loyalty programme that will make it possible for customers to transfer their loyalty points to a friend or family member, either as a small gift or so they can “save up Spasibo points for a large purchase together”... More
Icici Bank lets customers withdraw cash with their mobile phones
Customers of India’s Icici Bank can now make a cash withdrawal at any of the bank’s 15,000 ATMs, using just their mobile phone... More
Metro do Porto to add support for contactless payments
Public transportation users in the Portuguese city of Porto will be able to begin using their bank card to tap on and off metro and tram services from the second quarter of 2020, Metro do Porto has announced... More
Shell lets Fiat Chrysler drivers pay for fuel from their vehicles
Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram drivers can now use Uconnect Market, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles’ new in-vehicle commerce platform, to pay for fuel at Shell-branded stations across the US... More
Port Authority to pilot mobile ticketing on Pittsburgh buses
Port Authority to begin testing pay-by-smartphone; rollout expected by the end of the year — Port Authority of Allegheny County — “Hardware is being installed so Port Authority employees and select stakeholders can begin testing the application and associated hardware… Public testing and the public release of the mobile application are expected to occur later this year.”
Amazon to test palm payments at the point-of-sale
Cash, plastic or hand? Amazon envisions paying with a wave — The Wall Street Journal — “The tech giant is creating checkout terminals that could be placed in bricks-and-mortar stores and allow shoppers to link their card information to their hands, according to people familiar with the matter. They could then pay for purchases with their palms, without having to pull out a card or phone.”
ITSO reports on the role of transit ticketing in mobility-as-a-service solutions
Integrating smart transit tickets into mobility-as-a-service (MaaS) solutions holds the promise of allowing consumers to easily plan and pay for journeys that make use of a full range of public transportation, bike, taxi, rideshare and other mobility options, UK ticketing standards body ITSO explains in a white paper now available to download from the NFCW Knowledge Centre.... More
India’s Icici Bank launches open banking portal
Icici Bank launches India’s largest API banking portal with nearly 250 APIs — Icici Bank — “The Icici Bank API Banking portal, which consists of 250 APIs, enables developers of prospective partner companies across the globe to seamlessly sign up on it, create an application, select the application, test it out and get the sample code. With this, businesses, fintechs, corporates and e-commerce start-ups can easily partner with the Bank and co- create innovative customer solutions in a frictionless manner, all from the convenience of a single portal.”
Malaysian government offers cash incentives to mobile payments users
Overwhelming response on first day of RM30 e-Tunai initiative — The Star — “The claims for the e-Tunai Rakyat initiative kicked off today with Touch ‘n Go eWallet, Boost and GrabPay selected to be the service providers for the project… Malaysians aged 18 and above and who earn less than RM100,000 (US$24,533) annually will be eligible to receive RM30 (US$7.36) each through any of the participating e-wallets.”
Indonesia begins EMV QR mobile payments rollout
Indonesia imposes standard QR code, fixed fees for e-wallets — Tech in Asia — “Indonesia’s central bank, Bank Indonesia (BI), officially imposed the QR code standardization called QRIS (Indonesian Standard QR Code) on January 1. This means that all mobile payment providers must replace their QR code with QRIS for easier transactions.”
Apple Pay users report double-charging issue on New York subway
Some NYC subway riders are accidentally getting double-charged because of Apple Pay — The Verge — “Some people have the Express Transit feature enabled, but are still using their MetroCard to pay for rides. While swiping their MetroCard, their iPhones are somehow coming into contact with the reader, either because they were holding it in their hands or through a pocket or purse, the MTA suspects.”
Caltrain to introduce mobile ticketing app
Caltrain launches new Caltrain mobile ticketing app — Caltrain — “On February 10, Caltrain will launch Caltrain Mobile, the rail agency’s official mobile ticketing application that allows riders to purchase and activate tickets from their smart phone devices… The app offers One-Way, Day Pass and Zone Upgrade digital tickets for adults and passengers who qualify for discounted fare.”
Visa to acquire Plaid in $5.3bn move into open banking and integrated payments
Visa is to acquire Plaid for US$5.3bn, in a move that CEO Al Kelly says “will put us at the epicentre of the fintech world, expanding our total addressable market and accelerating our long-term revenue growth trajectory”... More
