Customers of India’s IndusInd Bank can now apply for Nexxt, a bank card that features three built-in buttons which the cardholder can use to choose between charging a purchase to their credit card account, taking out a loan or paying for the item with their reward points balance... More
Start spending immediately after signup with Google Pay — Monzo — “If you sign up to Monzo today on a compatible Android phone, you’ll be able to add your Monzo card to Google Pay immediately, without waiting for the physical card to arrive in the post… We’re also bringing ‘in-app provisioning’ to Google Pay, which means you can add your Monzo card to Google Pay from the Account tab with just a couple of taps. No need to go to the Google Pay app to initially add your card.”
Australian airline Qantas has begun testing a new service that lets passengers pre-enrol at home for its facial recognition-based digital boarding service by using the NFC functionality in their Android mobile phone to capture the photo stored in their passport’s security chip... More
Swiss watchdog investigates banks over alleged payments system boycott — Reuters — “Switzerland’s competition watchdog has raided the offices of financial companies, including Credit Suisse and UBS, to investigate a suspected boycott of mobile payment solutions such as Apple Pay and Samsung Pay… ‘There is the suspicion that the companies agreed not to make their credit cards available for use with Apple Pay and Samsung Pay, in order to favor the Swiss solution Twint,’ competition commission Weko said.”
Walmart is expanding its Check Out with Me service to all its 3,000+ Supercenters across the US “just in time for the holidays”... More
Belgian bank KBC is inviting customers to take part in a year-long wearable payments pilot, with each being offered the choice of testing an NFC-enabled ring, keyfob, wristband or watch... More
Deutsche Bank has launched Yunar, a wholly-owned subsidiary startup that is taking a loyalty-first approach to building out a fully featured mobile wallet by initially offering a simple way to manage up to 200 loyalty points schemes — and then gradually adding a range of mobile payments and banking services as adoption takes off... More
Chase, the largest credit card issuer in the US, is to begin issuing contactless Visa credit cards to “millions” of customers during the first half of 2019... More
UK regional transportation operator Network West Midlands is piloting a new service that lets its Swift transit card holders store their cards in Google Pay, enabling Android NFC phone owners to tap on to West Midlands Metro trams without needing to first open an app or select their Swift card... More
PNC Bank is piloting dynamic CVV cards that use an e-ink screen on the reverse of the card to display a continuously updated three-digit CVV security code... More
Google Pay is now available in the United Arab Emirates — 9to5Google — “While not officially announced, the United Arab Emirates was added to various Google Pay support pages today, indicating its imminent availability… It is only available through a handful of banks for now… EIB, ENBD, Mashreq, Standard Chartered.”
Italy’s Intesa Sanpaolo bank has announced Europe’s first pilot test of a contactless biometric payment card... More
Los Angeles Football Club fans attending matches at the Major League Soccer club’s Banc of California stadium are now able to use Apple’s new Express Card NFC functionality to gain access to the venue by simply tapping their iPhone or Apple Watch at entry turnstiles equipped with contactless readers... More
Walmart-owned Sam’s Club is opening a new store in Dallas, Texas that will double as both a technology lab and a live retail store, enabling both customers and staff to test and make use of the latest developments in retail and payments technology... More
US discount store giant Target is equipping staff across its 1,800+ shops with mobile POS terminals “that’ll let you skip those Black Friday lines.”... More
Convenience store giant 7-Eleven is piloting a mobile self-checkout service in 14 stores in the Dallas area, just two months after it began accepting contactless and mobile payments across its 8,000+ US stores... More
Google Pay is now live in Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland, with support from Jyske Bank, Nordea and Revolut in Denmark, Nordea, Revolut, Monobank, Storebrand Bank and Sparebanken Sør in Norway, Nordea, Revolut, Länsförsäkringar Bank and Sodexo in Sweden and Nordea, Revolut and Edenred in Finland... More
Apple Pay will go live in Belgium this month, local news service De Tijd reports, eighteen months after Google Pay launched in the country... More
“The US market is poised for significant contactless growth over the coming year,” Visa CEO Alfred F Kelly has told analysts... More
Apple Pay will launch in Germany “soon”, the iPhone maker has revealed, with support from American Express, Mastercard, Visa, Maestro, Boon, Bunq, Comdirect, Deutsche Bank, Edenred, Fidor Bank, Hanseatic Bank, HypoVereinsbank (HVB), N26, O2 Banking and VimPay... More