South China city subway adopts facial recognition — Xinhua — “Instead of using tickets or swiping their smartphones, passengers can smile at a screen to unlock the electric gates in about half a second after completing a real-name registration on Guangzhou Metro’s official mini-program on WeChat, China’s popular social media platform, or on the ‘Guangzhou Metro’ mobile app. The fee will be deducted from the payment methods that subway riders previously register and validate through their mobile phones.”
China’s central bank has released further details of its forthcoming digital currency — including the news that citizens will be able to use it to exchange money and make payments in an NFC-like manner... More
A team of researchers from universities in the UK and China have developed a way to use standard machine embroidering equipment to add NFC capabilities to items of clothing so that the technology continues to work reliably even when the fabric is stretched out of shape by the wearer... More
The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) is preparing to launch a central bank-backed digital currency on 11 November, according to a Forbes report — and is to kickstart usage by distributing it to UnionPay, Tencent, Alibaba and several Chinese banks in time for consumers to use it on Singles Day, the country’s busiest shopping day... More
China Eastern Airlines and China Southern Airlines are introducing NFC-enabled electronic baggage tags that let passengers check in their own luggage and then track its location on their mobile phones, China Daily reports... More
China’s central bank has completed a five-year project to develop a digital currency that can be processed at a speed which is fast enough for it to be used in a retail environment, a senior People’s Bank of China (PBOC) official has revealed... More
Chinese buyers of premium wines are now able to verify the authenticity of their purchase using the Wine Traceability Platform (WTP), a blockchain-based NFC service designed to protect Chinese consumers against the growing problem of fake wines... More
As China turns towards facial recognition payments, are QR codes on their way out? — South China Morning Post — “As the familiar square mosaic gains greater popularity outside China, the tech giants that helped to drive its adoption are already moving away from the app-based payment method to something even more portable: your face.”
100 million transit riders are paying with WeChat mini-program: Tencent — Caixin Global — “Ride Code allows subway and bus riders to pay for transit fares with QR codes directly upon boarding in various Chinese cities. At subway stations, that means showing your barcode at the turnstile. Riders do not need to visit ticket kiosks as the fare is deducted from their WeChat Pay wallet.”
Beijing subway experimenting with facial recognition for fare payment — ECNS — “The Beijing subway system is experimenting with facial recognition for passengers to pay their fares, and the technology might be applied to the entire system once the database is accurate enough, according to a report by Beijing Youth Daily… The Beijing subway system is likely to adopt the technology once the database proves to be 100% accurate, the report said.”
Huawei rolling out new products to enhance user stickiness — Hong Kong Economic Journal — “Huawei Pay, which was launched in Hong Kong on Monday, allows users to settle bills in more than 40,000 retail spots accepting the UnionPay contactless card payment… Earlier this year, Huawei Pay was launched outside China for the first time. In Russia, 66 banks are now supporting the technology. Both Huawei and Honor smartphones will carry the new service, which is compatible with 20 mobile devices, including several smartwatches.”
Central bank unveils plan on digital currency — China Daily — “The People’s Bank of China, the central bank, is organising market-oriented institutions to jointly research and develop a central bank digital currency and the programme has been approved by the State Council, the country’s Cabinet, Wang Xin, director of the PBOC Research Bureau, said at a seminar at Peking University.”
Alipay adds a beauty filter to its facial scan payment system to encourage more female users — Radii China — “The move came after Sina Weibo’s tech channel pointed to data that showed male adoption rates of facial scan payments on Alipay were higher than those for females. ‘Be honest, when you’re using the facial payment option, do you think you’re ugly?’ asked the account via a poll. After more than 40,000 people voted, the poll showed that over 60% felt the payment method made them look ugly and ‘not as pretty as when taking a normal photo’.”
Walmart customers in China will soon be able to scan QR codes on stickers attached to fresh meat, rice, mushrooms, cooking oil and other produce to acquire detailed product information including “the source of the scanned products and geographic location received by Walmart, logistics process, product inspection report, and many more data points”... More
Data ‘R’ Us: Alibaba, JD.com seek to lock in merchant loyalty with new services — Reuters — “One of the first firms to join an Alibaba Group Holding Ltd programme that provides years of consumer shopping history, snack food chain, Bestore Co Ltd plans to link facial recognition technology with the e-commerce giant’s account data by the year’s end. For customers opting to have their facial data in Bestore’s systems, that means shop assistants will be able to check on what food they like the moment they enter one of its stores.”
PARTNER NEWS: Expresspay Card, a joint venture between China UnionPay and Bank of China that offers China’s only open loop prepaid card, has partnered with Tappy Technologies and watch brand Saga Watch to offer cardholders a wearable payments option that will be accepted at any merchant equipped to accept China UnionPay contactless payments... More
One metro card to cover 260 cities in China — ECNS — “China’s nationwide public transit card, usable on both bus and subway routes, will cover 260 cities at prefecture level and above this year, according to the Ministry of Transport. That means a passenger holding one card can take buses or subways in any of the designated cities and enjoy local preferential policies, ensuring travel convenience.”
Chinese mobile device manufacturer Xiaomi has launched the Mi Band 4 NFC fitness tracker that supports contactless NFC payments and QR-based payments through AliPay and can be used as a key when combined with the company’s MI Smart Door Lock... More
China’s unmanned store boom ends as quickly as it began — Nikkei Asian Review — “Across China, shops once considered the future of retail have been shutting their doors for good… The Chinese IT companies that entered the market used technology to remove the need for workers but may have overlooked other parts of the equation.”
Six European mobile wallet providers — Bluecode (Austria), ePassi (Finland), Momo Pocket (Spain), Pagaqui (Portugal), Pivo (Finland) and Vipps (Norway) — have adopted a QR code format from Chinese payment provider Alipay to ensure digital payment interoperability and improve the international reach of customers’ wallets as well as boosting sales, participants have told NFCW... More
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