The South Korean parliament has passed a bill that will require companies such as Apple and Google to allow the use of payment services other than their own proprietary systems for the purchase of digital goods within their app stores... More
- Apple Pay users in the US to get buy now pay later option with iOS 16
- BIS reports on CBDCs in emerging markets
- Moroccan bank launches biometric payment card
- US digital bank introduces contactless payments rings
- Riksbank completes digital currency payments pilot
Google Pay adds support for contactless payments on Wear OS watches in 16 more countries
Owners of a smartwatch running Google’s Wear OS operating system will soon be able to use it to make contactless payments using Google Pay in 16 additional countries... More
Tapster launches passive payments ring with Fidesmo
EXHIBITOR NEWS: Contactless wearables brand Tapster has launched a ring that uses the Fidesmo Pay platform to enable the wearer to make tokenized contactless payments... More
UK to increase contactless transaction limit to £100 from October
The UK will begin rolling out a new £100 (US$137) spending limit for contactless payments from 15 October 2021, UK Finance has announced. More
Apple Pay used for more than 90% of US mobile wallet debit transactions in 2020
The number of debit transactions completed using a mobile wallet in the US rose by 51% year-on-year to approximately 2bn in 2020, with “a noteworthy” 92% of those transactions being made with Apple Pay and just 5% with Google Pay and 3% with Samsung Pay, according to research published in the 2021 Debit Issuer Study... More
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Chip shortages could prevent 1bn payment cards being issued, ABI Research predicts
Disruption in global chip supply is threatening the issuance of up to 1bn payment cards over the next 18 months, with 347m cards at risk of not being issued in the second half of 2021 and up to 740m in 2022 because of “significant chip shortages”, according to an ABI Research forecast. More
Amazon offers US$10 credit to customers who pay by palm
Amazon is promoting its Amazon One in-store biometric access and payments system by offering customers US$10 credit when they register their palm to gain access to and make payments in stores equipped with the company’s contactless palm scanning technology... More
Turkish taxis drivers get contactless payments acceptance on NFC Android phones
Taxi drivers in Turkey can now accept contactless payments on their NFC Android smartphone without needing a separate point of sale (POS) terminal or any other additional hardware... More
Unspent stored value on Starbucks prepaid cards nears US$1.63bn
Starbucks customers have accumulated a total unspent balance of US$1.628bn on the company’s prepaid physical and digital reward and gift cards, the coffee giant’s 2021 Q3 earnings call has revealed... More
Australian public hearing considers case for regulatory controls to ensure payment apps get access to smartphone NFC technology
An Australian parliamentary committee has held a public hearing at which it heard evidence from representatives of leading Australian banks, payment services providers and other financial bodies on regulatory issues including whether companies such as Apple should be mandated to allow third-party payment apps access to a smartphone’s NFC chip. More
Estonia’s central bank tests blockchain-powered digital euro solution
Eesti Pank, the central bank of Estonia, has tested a blockchain-powered technical solution for the use of a digital euro central bank digital currency (CBDC) that it says is capable of handling more than 300,000 simultaneous payments a second and enables payees to receive a payment in less than two seconds. More
Oman to make it mandatory for all merchants to accept cashless payments
All merchants and other commercial enterprises across the Sultanate of Oman will be obligated to offer customers the option of making cashless payments for goods and services from 1 January 2022... More
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Juniper forecasts contactless card transactions will total US$2.5tn globally in 2021
The total value of contactless card transactions worldwide will reach US$2.5tn in 2021, up from US$1.7tn in 2020, Juniper Research predicts. The researchers also forecast that card payments will retain “the majority share of overall contactless transaction values at 79% in 2021”. More
Polish mobile payments service lets users make NFC payments direct from bank account
Consumers in Poland will soon be able to use their Android NFC device to make tokenized contactless payments at the point of sale (POS) directly from their bank account via their mobile banking app without needing a debit or credit card... More
Swiss mobile payments provider to roll out cross-border payments in 2022
Swiss consumers with a Twint digital wallet will be able to make digital payments with their credit card or directly from their bank account in other European countries from 2022, the Swiss mobile payments service says... More
Japanese university trials face payments for users wearing a mask
Students and staff at Kindai University in the Japanese city of Osaka are testing a biometric payments service that enables them to authenticate payments with their face even when they are wearing a mask... More
People’s Bank of China issues digital yuan trial progress report
Nearly 21m (20.87m) personal and 3.51m corporate digital yuan wallets have so far been issued during China’s ongoing trials of its central bank digital currency (CBDC), the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) has revealed. More
European Central Bank officially launches digital euro project
The European Central Bank (ECB) has officially launched its digital euro project with a two-year investigation into key issues regarding the design, distribution and use of a central bank digital currency (CBDC). More
Google lets US Android users make in-store NFC payments from their Google Pay balance
Google Pay users with an NFC-enabled Android smartphone in the US can now request a virtual debit card that allows them to make in-store contactless payments directly from their Google Pay balance. More
China to launch digital yuan nationwide after 2022 Winter Olympics?
China could be ready to officially launch the digital yuan as a fully operational central bank digital currency (CBDC) after the Beijing Winter Olympics in early 2022, according to reports in the Chinese media... More