Seven European countries — Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Greece and Poland — have begun issuing the European Union’s Digital Covid Certificate one month ahead of the full 1 July rollout announced last week... More
Sweden’s central bank The Riksbank is to begin testing its e-krona central bank digital currency (CBDC) with external partners to assess how a digital krona would operate within a real world banking and payments infrastructure... More
The European Union is set to reveal plans for a digital wallet that will enable citizens in all 27 member states to store identity documents such as their driving licence, payment details and passwords and to access a range of private and public services with a single online ID, according to a report in the Financial Times... More
Portuguese supermarket chain Continente has opened its first autonomous cashierless store in Lisbon, enabling customers to use a QR code generated in the company’s Labs app to access the shop and automatically pay for their purchases from their mobile phone without needing to scan their goods or use a checkout... More
Customers of CaixaBank in Spain can now use the bank’s ATMs to access the same online digital banking services and features as those available to them on its mobile app and website... More
Apple is seeking to recruit a business development manager to research and form partnerships with “strategic alternative payment providers”, launch “new programs” and contribute to “business strategy and product roadmaps for the growth of Apple Pay and Wallet Services”, a job advertisement posted by the company reveals... More
Consumers in the Cologne-Bonn area of Germany will soon be able to receive digital receipts on their NFC smartphone for in-store purchases at merchants taking part in a pilot of a new digital receipt service being launched by the Sparkasse group of savings banks... More
Motorists purchasing Hyundai’s Ioniq 5 crossover utility vehicle (CUV) in North America will be able to pay for electric vehicle (EV) charging, parking, food and beverages directly from the fully electric car’s infotainment screen... More
Passengers on public transportation services in Chicago in the US can now use an Android NFC smartphone to make tap-and-go fare payments by uploading the Chicago Transit Authority’s (CTA) virtual Ventra transit card to Google Pay... More
Collectors and investors purchasing a limited edition “crypto stamp” issued by Austrian Post will soon be able to authenticate their purchase by scanning an NFC chip embedded in the packaging of the physical version of the postage stamp with their smartphone... More
Passengers travelling on UK train services are to get more contactless and digital ticketing options across the rail network and will be able to buy tickets and access fare and timetable information via a single integrated website, the UK government has announced... More
Almost nine in 10 card present transactions conducted globally (86.1%) were made using EMV chip-enabled payment cards between January and December 2020, according to standards body EMVCo... More
The European Union’s proposed digital Covid certificate that will enable EU residents to confirm that they have been vaccinated against Covid-19, received a negative test result or recovered from the illness is “well on track to be ready by the end of June”, according to the European Commission... More
The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has extended the deadline for the implementation of strong customer authentication (SCA) for online purchases by a further six months... More
PARTNER NEWS: Market Pay is enabling merchants to use a standard Android NFC smartphone or tablet to accept contactless payments at the point of sale without needing any additional hardware... More
Cyclists can now fit their bicycle with smart inner tubes that enable them to accurately measure their tyre pressures by scanning an NFC chip embedded near the valve with their smartphone... More
Ensuring that central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) are interoperable and integrated with existing payment infrastructures are among the key requirements for their successful implementation in cross border transactions, according to a joint paper published by Swift and Accenture... More
Customers of ABN Amro in the Netherlands can now use their Android devices to make payments with Google Pay from within the Dutch bank’s mobile app... More
Android users can now upload their Clipper transit card to Google Pay, reload their card balance and pay for their fares on 24 transit systems across the San Francisco Bay Area of the USA with their smartphone... More
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has seen the number of monthly digital wallet transactions increase by 90% from 36m in March 2020 to 68m in March this year, with the total value more than doubling from A$2.1bn (US$1.6bn) to A$1bn (US$0.8bn) in the same period... More