More than nine in ten public transport users worldwide expect transit services to offer contactless fare payment options (91%) and just under half prefer to make contactless payments for their transit fares (45%), according to Visa’s 2022 Future of Urban mobility survey... 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
The total transaction values of contactless payments made using a smart device processed by retail and commercial clients of South Africa’s First National Bank (FNB) has increased from R640m (US$43m) in 2020 to “in excess” of R4.2bn (US$3bn) in 2021, the bank reports... 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
Customers in Woolworths stores in Cape Town and Johannesburg can now browse, virtually test and order beauty products for home delivery by tapping in-store NFC tags with their mobile phone... More
More than four fifths of consumers (81%) worldwide are ready to use a biometric payment card and authenticate payments with their fingerprint rather than a PIN code, according to a survey commissioned by a biometric technology provider... More
Projects to develop a retail central bank digital currency (CBDC) for use by consumers and businesses are “more advanced” and “particularly strong” in emerging economies, according to analysis by global consultancy firm PwC... More
Apple Pay has rolled out in South Africa with support for Visa cards issued by Absa and Discovery Bank and for Visa, Mastercard and American Express cards issued by Nedbank... More
Customers of the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) with a compatible smartphone can now add their UnionPay International (UPI) virtual card to a Huawei Pay digital wallet and use it to make NFC or QR code-enabled mobile payments... More
Owners of Samsung’s new Galaxy S21 smartphones in the USA will not be able to make payments using Samsung Pay’s magnetic secure transmission (MST) technology... More
Consumers in South Africa with compatible smartphones can now use Huawei Pay to make mobile payments by scanning QR codes compatible with the Zapper scan-to-pay payments platform... More
Merchants in more than 15 countries around the world are now able to use Android NFC smartphones and tablets to accept contactless payments with no additional hardware required, Visa has announced... More
South Africa’s Nedbank has become the first bank in Africa to enable merchants to accept contactless payments on standard NFC phones... More
Data on the latest adoption rates for contactless transactions, tokenization, transit payments and secure remote commerce has been made available by Visa CEO Al Kelly — along with details of the revenue model to be used by Plaid, which Visa is to acquire for $5.3bn... More
Gautrain, the commuter rail service that connects the South African cities of Johannesburg and Pretoria, is to let passengers use their contactless bank cards to pay for their journeys by tapping on and off the service from 31 October... More
Five-currency basket: Brics countries create a single payment service — Izvestia (translation) — “One of the likely scenarios for the project is the creation of a special online wallet that will unite the payment systems of all the Brics countries… The common wallet will work in the same way as existing payment services, such as Apple Pay or Samsung Pay. To this end, a separate cloud platform will be created that will connect the national payment systems of the five countries.”
Absa to give clients early access to Samsung Pay — TechCentral — “Absa, in association with Samsung South Africa, will soon be offering its customers early access to Samsung Pay before the service is commercially launched in South Africa,” the bank said. “The partnership with Samsung Pay will give Absa customers even more choice on how they can make payments.”
Banking services now more accessible with Shoprite Money — Shoprite — “This new service will enable customers to deposit, withdraw or send money as well as buy groceries at any of the till points in all Shoprite, Checkers, Checkers Hyper or Usave stores across South Africa… Shoprite Money is set to roll out in multiple countries in Africa over the next 12 to 18 months, which will hold additional benefits for customers including seamless and cost effective cross-border remittance.”
Biometric ATMs extend banking services — IT-Online — “The TouchPoint validates a customer’s identity by scanning a fingerprint placed on the biometric reader and it can detect false fingerprints to prevent fraud. The identity of the customer is then verified with the Department of Home Affairs to ensure the self-service account opening complies with the relevant laws.”
Samsung Pay launch date for South Africa — MyBroadband — “Samsung Pay will launch in South Africa around June 2018, the CEO of Samsung Electronics Africa, Sung Yoon, has announced. Speaking on the Expresso Show, Yoon said Samsung Pay will be available this winter, but then firmed up his statement to ‘around June’.
