Continental, Avis turn phones into rental car keys — Roadshow — “Using a smart device, renters will be able to lock, unlock and even start their rental car without needing to hunt down a physical key or key fob… For now, the pilot program is limited to a single market — the Kansas City area. But, if all goes according to plan, it’s likely to roll out to additional markets in the future.”
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Trimet to roll out world’s first integration of transit ticketing card with Android Pay
Portland-Vancouver’s Hop Fastpass partners with Google, becoming the first virtual transit fare card available within Android Pay globally — TriMet — “TriMet and Google are teaming up for a first — making Hop Fastpass the first virtual transit card available in Android Pay starting early next year… In December 2017, a select group of TriMet, C-Tran, and Portland Streetcar beta testers will be able to load a virtual Hop card into Android Pay — giving them the ability to tap their phones to pay for their fares and receive all the benefits of a physical Hop card.”
Kroger grocery stores to accept Chase Pay mobile payments
Kroger and Chase Pay announce mobile payment partnership — Kroger — “The Kroger Co is teaming up with Chase Pay — the digital engagement wallet from JPMorgan Chase & Co — to offer mobile payments starting with select retail markets and ecommerce programs in 2018… Through the partnership, Chase’s 65 million customers will have an opportunity to use Chase Pay at Kroger for online and in-lane purchases.”
Consumers to make 500bn card payments in 2022
Global card payments set to rise by more than half to 500bn by 2022 — RBR — “We have observed impressive growth in card usage across the globe. In developing markets, rising levels of card acceptance and consumers’ growing familiarity with using cards rather than cash as a payment tool, have contributed to high growth. Meanwhile, consumer usage of contactless technology for ever smaller amounts is bolstering growth in more mature markets.”
Atos offers to acquire Gemalto for €4.3bn
Atos proposes to acquire Gemalto to create a global leader in cybersecurity, digital technologies and services — Atos — “Atos, a global leader in digital transformation, announces that it has made a formal proposal to acquire Gemalto by way of a public offer for all of Gemalto issued and outstanding shares.”
Men’s Health gives positive review to Gymkit with NFC
Apple’s GymKit launches today, promises additional, super accurate gym data — Men’s Health — “A quick boink of the watch near the near field communication port and one tap of the Watch to confirm you want to workout, you’re off. Adjust the pitch of the treadmill and you’ll see your feet climbed rise on the Watch. The real-time, two-way data exchange is impressive, and your equipment workout data will get logged directly into Apple’s Health app, so you can deploy it later as you deem fit.”
First US gym adds support for Apple Watch NFC pairing with exercise machines
Apple Watch GymKit syncing arrives in exactly one US gym — Engadget — “GymKit syncing on the Apple Watch technically arrived with watchOS 4.1, but there’s been one main obstacle to using it: Actually finding a gym that supports it. Only one fitness center each in Australia and the UK have enabled it so far… One solitary gym in New York City, Life Time Athletic at Sky, now has 13 GymKit-capable machines (including treadmills, bikes, ellipticals and stair steppers) that will pair with your smartwatch.”
Australian banks ordered to cut contactless transaction fees
‘Let shoppers choose Eftpos’: Banks ordered to overhaul paywave systems by April — news.com.au — “Australia’s banks have been given a deadline of April next year to reduce fees charged on tap-and-go payments by giving customers the option of choosing Eftpos instead of credit… ‘It’s estimated that processing tap-and-go transactions through credit cards instead of Eftpos costs businesses A$290 [US$220m] million a year.'”
GfK: Promoting the security of mobile payments could be the key to wider adoption
What’s really holding back in-store mobile payments? — GfK — “While security is often buried in promotional content to some degree, elevating this message to the first position could be a key to quicker adoption. The message of ‘the safest way to pay’ may be the path forward for mobile payments.”
AmEx drops signature requirement for transactions in US stores
AmEx joins Mastercard and Discover in dumping signature requirement — Bloomberg — “AmEx will no longer require customers to sign at checkout for credit- or debit-card purchases beginning in April 2018… Mastercard and Discover dropped the requirement this year, leaving Visa Inc as the only large US payments network that hasn’t rescinded its policy.”
UnionPay details its mobile payment app for China’s banks
Unified app of China’s banking industry, ‘Mobile QuickPass’ officially launches today — China UnionPay — “The ‘Mobile QuickPass’ app is a unified mobile payment portal jointly developed and maintained by commercial banks and UnionPay, under the guidance of the People’s Bank of China. Customers are able to link their bank cards to the app, manage different bank accounts, and enjoy the mobile payment services and benefits offered by each bank. The services offered by this app also include UnionPay QR code payment, signing up for various mobile payment solutions, comprehensive credit card services, P2P real-time transfer and payment services in various scenarios.”
Australian merchants to accept payments on their mobile phones — with no additional hardware required
CBA launches hardware-less payments app for SMBs — The Australian Financial Review — “Commonwealth Bank will bring a new mobile payments technology to market in Australia that enables small businesses to accept credit card payments of up to A$100 on their Samsung devices, without any other hardware…. A pilot program is expected to kick off in early 2018, with the smartphone payments platform to be rolled out commercially by mid next year.”
Samsung integrates Hong Kong’s Octopus card into Samsung Pay
Samsung teams up with Octopus to launch exclusively the first “Smart Octopus” in Samsung Pay — Octopus Holdings — “Smart Octopus in Samsung Pay will enable NFC payment at all Octopus acceptance points, covering public transport as well as over 21,000 retail outlets, online shopping, recreational facilities, vending machines, self-service kiosks; plus the use of parking and access control facilities at residential or commercial premises.”
China UnionPay launches mobile wallet app
UnionPay takes mobile payment services fight to Alibaba and Tencent with integrated app — South China Morning Post — “UnionPay said the app could be linked to more than one bank account by different banks with all of their mobile payment services accepted and conducted via the platform… The country’s dominant bank card clearing service provider also launched a nationwide promotional campaign with aggressive discounts to attract consumers who have been increasingly using Alipay and Tenpay services for shopping.”
Alipay pushes into Hong Kong, India, Thailand and the Philippines with Christmas shopping festival
Alipay to hold online 24-hour Christmas shopping festival as part of expansion push — South China Morning Post — “The event will take place in Hong Kong, India, Thailand and the Philippines with Alipay partners in each location: Hutchison in Hong Kong, Paytm in India, Truemoney in Thailand and GCash in the Philippines… As part of the December event, the AlipayHK joint venture has partnered with more than 8,000 bricks-and-mortar stores to offer exclusive gifts, discounts and rewards.”
Samsung Pay sets its sights on becoming a full service banking wallet
Samsung Pay expanding into mobile banking service — Korea Bizwire — “Samsung Electronics Co’s mobile payment system is moving to expand into the banking sector to offer more diverse services to users… ‘The mobile payment is being developed so that it will one day fully replace a person’s purse or wallet,’ a Samsung executive said.”
Visa to add sounds, animations and haptic feedback to transaction confirmations
See, hear and feel the evolution of Visa through sensory branding — Visa — “These new sound, animation and haptic (vibration) cues will help signify completed transactions in digital and physical retail environments when you pay with Visa… Visa’s sensory branding will be available as a software development kit (SDK) on the Visa Developer Platform, and through the Visa Ready program for deeper integration requirements, in 2018.”
Japanese bank to combine fingerprint and vein verification for cardless transactions at ATMs and teller windows
Mofiria provides Aeon Bank with new hybrid biometric device — Mofiria — “Aeon Bank Ltd, a Japanese new style bank, has announced that they have introduced a whole new biometrics authentication system to their ATMs and teller windows, which allows the customers to do any bank transactions without using a bank card nor entering PIN number… Aeon Bank has introduced this system to five branches for the proof of concept and they have a plan to introduce it to all branches by October 2018.”
Apple publishes video guide to using Apple Pay Cash
Apple Pay — How to send and receive money on iPhone — Apple — “Now you can easily send and receive money with Apple Pay right in Messages. Just select who you want to pay, the amount, then approve. The money arrives instantly and securely in the Wallet app.”
Visa publishes future of security roadmap
Biometrics centrepiece of new Visa security roadmap — ZDNet — “The financial services giant has launched its 2020 and beyond roadmap first in Australia, focusing initially on biometrics for payment authorisation, ‘3-D Secure’ fraud detection, and pushing the use of tokenisation.”