Countries with digitised and innovative economies are more likely to be developing central bank digital currency (CBDC) projects while those with a larger informal economy are tending to focus on creating retail CBDCs, a working paper published by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) reports... More
The Banco Central do Brasil has formed a study group to evaluate the benefits and challenges of issuing a central bank digital currency (CBDC) in the country... More
Public transport users in the Canadian city of Saskatoon will soon be able to plan their journeys, get real-time updates, pay their fares and connect their bus journeys to complementary door-to-destination transport options in a single app that combines mobile ticketing with Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS).... More
Indian telecommunications giant Reliance Jio has begun piloting Jio Pay, a new UPI-enabled payments service which includes support for both NFC and QR mobile payments... More
Spanish banking group BBVA is to pilot a service which will enable merchants to accept contactless payments on their Android smartphones without the need of additional hardware... More
Users of Singapore mobile network operator Singtel’s Dash mobile wallet can now earn reward points for each in-store and online payment and every overseas remittance they make using the service... More
The Central Bank of Azerbaijan has raised the limit for all contactless card transactions and contactless ATM withdrawals in the country from 50 manats (US$29.40) to 100 manats (US$58.80)... More
UMB Bank customers in the US can now opt to use their rewards points balance to pay for any in-store purchases they make with their UMB Visa debit or credit card... More
Bank customers in India will soon be able to book, pay for and receive railway e-tickets for use on their mobile device through their mobile banking app... More
The number of passengers using the Omny contactless payment service to pay for journeys on the New York City subway has risen by 168% since August 2019 and by 50% since May this year, New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) reports... More
Customers who rent upcycled denim clothing from Love Letter, the new rental-only collection from fashion brands Ganni and Levi’s, will be able to discover a garment’s history by tapping on an NFC-enabled patch on the clothes... More
Ukraine’s PrivatBank has begun to roll out biometric POS terminals for its facial recognition payments service FacePay24... More
One in three UK consumers (32%) are in favour of further raising the country’s current contactless spending limit from £45 (US$59), according to a YouGov survey... More
Kroger, the US supermarket chain that has previously held out against the introduction of NFC payments, has begun piloting NFC-based contactless payments in 61 of its QFC grocery stores in Oregon and Washington states... More
PayPal has signed a deal with CVS Pharmacy to roll out its new QR code-based payments technology across more than 8,000 of the US retailer’s stores nationwide... More
A survey of merchants and consumers in eight countries around the world has found that the Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in “a dramatic shift to digital commerce” with nearly half of consumers (48%) saying they would not now shop at a store that only offers payment methods that require contact with a cashier or a shared device... More
Retail outlets and restaurants in the California city of Pasadena have adopted a hands-free payments service which enables consumers to make purchases and earn loyalty rewards using facial recognition technology... More
Commuters across the US city of Dallas and surrounding areas can now pay for travel using a GoPass NFC card launched by Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) and Blackhawk Network... More
A five-page white paper that explains the advantages of NFC for in-home healthcare providers is now available to download from the NFC World+ Knowledge Centre... More
A 12-page guide to EMV and the business case for implementing an advanced EMV solution is now available to download from the NFC World+ Knowledge Centre... More
