Moscow Metro is testing an upgrade to its FacePay face biometric fare payment service that lets passengers entitled to concessionary fares link their Muscovite personal social card to their biometric details so they no longer need to use the card itself to prove their eligibility for a reduced-price ticket... More
Moscow Metro is to pilot the use of Russia’s digital ruble for fare payments as part of the Central Bank of Russia’s real-world testing programme for the central bank digital currency (CBDC)... More
Russia could start testing the use of the digital ruble in real-world transactions as early as this month following the adoption of a law that ratifies the issuance and use of the central bank digital currency (CBDC) using a platform operated by the Central Bank of Russia... More
More than 320,000 passengers have now used Moscow Metro’s FacePay face biometrics service to pay for more than 67m trips, the transportation operator reports, up from 220,000 registered users and 32m journeys in January 2023... More
Apple users with accounts at two Russian banks will soon be able to attach an NFC payment sticker to the back of their iPhone that enables them to make contactless payments for goods and services with their smartphone... More
Passengers travelling on the Moscow Metro and Moscow Central Circle services in the Russian capital paid for a total of around 32m journeys using the network’s FacePay biometric contactless fare payment system and more than 220,000 new users registered to use FacePay during 2022, Moscow Metro reports... More
Moscow Metro’s Face Pay biometric contactless fare payment system has achieved “high satisfaction rates” with nearly nine in ten users saying they “appreciate the advantages of the technology and prefer this system to other payment methods” (88%), a survey reveals... More
More than one in two consumers worldwide prefer using a physical payment card to using cash or a digital wallet when making in-person purchases (53%), a survey has revealed... More
Providing a cash-like digital means of payment, increasing private digital payment services, supporting financial inclusion and achieving greater payment system efficiency are among the key motivations driving initiatives to develop central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) in emerging market economies around the world, according to a Bank for International Settlements (BIS) report... More
Apple Pay and Google Pay are suspending support for contactless mobile payments made using Mir cards issued by Russia’s National Payment Card System (NSPK)... More
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has called on Visa and Mastercard to stop servicing payments cards issued by Russian banks following the Russian invasion of Ukraine... More
Consumers in key markets around the world have switched from physical cash to digital and contactless payment methods at “a rate unprecedented” since the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) launched its Red Book of payment and settlement statistics in 2004, BIS says... More
The 12 Russian banks taking part in the first phase of the Central Bank of Russia’s digital ruble pilot scheme have started or are ready to start trialling the central bank digital currency (CBDC) across a range of payment types... More
Public transport users in the Russian city of Tula are the first outside Moscow to be able to top up their prepaid Troika transit card from their smartphone using the My Troika app... More
One in four consumers globally expect to switch to making cashless payments only within the next two years (25%), while one in two say it will happen in the next 10 years (53%) and 16% say they already solely make digital payments, a survey of consumers and merchants in nine markets worldwide has found... More
Apple Pay is now available in 60 countries and regions worldwide, with support from nearly 9,000 partner banks, following the service’s expansion to nine new markets — including Colombia, Israel and Mexico — during 2021, Apple reports... More
Moscow Metro has officially launched the digital version of its Troika transit card, enabling Android users to pay their fares on public transport services across the Russian capital by tapping their smartphone at a turnstile or validator... More
Mobile contactless payments now account for just over a third of all card transactions (34%) and just under a third of total card transaction value (31%) in Russia compared with 25% of transactions and 23% of transaction value in 2019-2020, according to MTS Bank research... More
Customers of Russia-based bank VTB can now use a digital debit or credit card to make contactless cash withdrawals from its ATMs using their iOS or Android device... More
Moscow Metro has officially launched its FacePay biometric ticketing system across the Russian capital’s entire metro network, enabling passengers to pay their fares at station turnstiles using face recognition technology... More
