Visa is to acquire Plaid for US$5.3bn, in a move that CEO Al Kelly says “will put us at the epicentre of the fintech world, expanding our total addressable market and accelerating our long-term revenue growth trajectory”... More
Visa has unveiled Tap to Phone, a new software-only solution that enables merchants to accept contactless payments on Android NFC mobile phones, without the need for any additional hardware... More
A new privacy controls section now lets users of Samsung Pay in the US opt to prevent the company from selling their data to “Samsung Pay Partners”, XDA Developers reports... More
A survey of more than 150,000 Chinese digital payment users has found that two-thirds have come across deceptive QR codes and 40.8% have had their codes surreptitiously forwarded to other people in the past year... More
Biometric cards equipped with built-in fingerprint sensors have the potential to make payments both safer and easier, but the technology is still new and there are critical elements that need to be put in place to ensure widespread adoption, NXP explains in a white paper now available to download from the NFCW Knowledge Centre... More
PARTNER NEWS: NFCW readers are invited to join Dejamobile and speakers from Arion Bank, Crédit Agricole, GVS, Stocard, Tribe Payments and Valitor for two digital payments workshops taking place at the Paris Fintech Forum on the morning of 28 January 2020. More
Mutual Trust Bank has announced it is to be the first bank in Bangladesh to go live with Bangla QR, an interoperable QR payments system backed by the country’s central bank... More
WeChat Pay operator Tencent is working with China UnionPay on the adoption of a common QR code that will allow merchants to use the same code to accept payments from both companies’ mobile payment services, Caixin Global reports... More
Merchants in Malaysia can now use an off-the-shelf Android NFC smartphone and an app developed by CIMB Bank to accept debit card payments valued at up to RM250 (US$61.08) — with no additional hardware required. More
The Central Bank of The Bahamas has begun pilot testing a digital version of the Bahamian dollar that uses QR codes to let users make payments and transfer funds using their smartphones... More
Drivers pulling into any of more than 11,500 Exxon and Mobil gas stations across the US will be able to pay for their fuel from their vehicles from later this year, by simply saying “Alexa, pay for gas”... More
Canadian neobank Koho has introduced a limited edition metal card that includes both contact and contactless functionality... More
Westpac, the last of the major Australian banks to hold out against the introduction of Apple Pay, has switched on support for the mobile payments service for customers of three of its smaller brands and has announced it will roll out support to its main customer base by June 2020. More
Customers of Deutsche Bank in Spain can now apply for a card that replaces the traditional, printed CVV number with a small screen integrated into the back of the card that displays a new CVV every four hours... More
EBA Clearing delivers specifications for a pan-European request to pay infrastructure solution — EBA Clearing — “A pan-European request to pay approach is seen as the missing piece of the puzzle for market players to create innovative payment products and services for their customers that leverage real-time messaging, the SEPA schemes and existing cost-efficient payment infrastructures, and that can be used across Europe.”
Riksbank develops an e-krona in a test environment — Riksbank — “During the first year of the e-krona pilot project, a technical platform will be developed with a user interface that enables, for instance, payment with the e-krona from a mobile phone, a card and a watch. The platform will also contain simulations of payment service providers, retail outlets and other parts of the Swedish payment system.”
Contactless point of sale installed base to exceed 161m by 2024 — Juniper Research — “New data from Juniper Research forecasts that the installed base of contactless-enabled POS (Point of Sale) devices will exceed 161m by 2024; growing from 78m in 2019. Contactless POS devices will then be 94% of all POS devices in use.”
QR code scams rise in China, putting e-payment security in spotlight — South China Morning Post — “By replacing legitimate merchants’ codes with malevolent copies, fraudsters can gain access to consumers’ data and even raid their bank accounts… According to one senior official and technology expert, almost a quarter of Trojans — malicious programs disguised as benign software – and other viruses are transmitted though QR codes.”
Retailers don’t like paying the fees for your Apple Card — Bloomberg — “The card, marketed by Apple and backed by Goldman Sachs Group Inc, is designated ‘elite’, which allows it to levy significantly higher interchange fees on each swipe or tap… The cards have long irked retailers. They have no choice but to pay the higher fees for elite plastic if they want to accept any of a network’s credit cards.”
Savings banks introduce Apple Pay — Der Spiegel (translation) — “After much hesitation, the savings banks and additional German banks are now offering the Apple Pay mobile payment service… 371 out of a total of 379 German savings banks have now introduced the digital payment service. More than 50 million people can use the service immediately.”
