Residents of South Korea will soon be able to store a digital ID in an app on their mobile phone and use it to verify their identity across a wide range of use cases including accessing government services, healthcare, finance and transport... More
South Korea
Samsung Wallet to expand to 13 more countries
Samsung Wallet is to roll out in Bahrain, Denmark, Finland, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Norway, Oman, Qatar, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates, enabling users to store their digital payment, loyalty, membership and identity cards, digital keys, boarding passes and other credentials on their compatible Samsung Galaxy smartphone... More
Korean banks partner with airports for biometric traveller IDs
Passengers travelling on domestic flights from 14 airports in South Korea can now verify their identity with their hand when checking in for their flight if they register biometric data with one of nine Korean banks and financial institutions before they travel... More
NFC Forum reports surge in worldwide use of contactless NFC technology
More than eight in ten consumers have used “an NFC contactless card or mobile payment wallet” (85%) and contactless payment card usage has increased by 30% over the past two years, according to a survey of consumers in nine countries around the world that has been conducted for the NFC Forum... More
Korean subway lines to pilot ‘tagless’ Bluetooth fare payments
Passengers using two subway lines in South Korea will soon be able to test a ‘tagless’ fare payment system that enables them to pay for their tickets by walking through a ticketing gate without having to tap a contactless reader with their transit card or smartphone... More
Researchers develop edible tags for authenticating whisky and pharmaceuticals
Researchers at Purdue University in Indiana in the USA and the National Institute of Agricultural Sciences in South Korea have developed edible tags containing a 2D barcode that can be placed in bottles of whisky or pharmaceuticals, enabling consumers to authenticate a product by scanning the code with their smartphone... More
Korean buses roll out ‘tagless’ Bluetooth fare payments
Gyeonggi-do Province Transportation Bureau in South Korea has officially launched a ‘tagless’ fare payment system that uses Bluetooth technology to detect a Bluetooth signal from a passenger’s smartphone when they board and alight from the vehicle and then automatically charges their pre- or post-paid transit card for their fare... More
BIS finds consumers worldwide are switching to digital and contactless payments at ‘unprecedented rate’
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
South Korea pilots mobile driving licences
South Korea’s Ministry of the Interior and Safety and the Korean National Police Agency have begun trialling a mobile driving licence prior to a national rollout and as a first step towards the introduction of other state-issued digital ID documents... More
Hyundai to add support for Apple NFC car keys
Hyundai is to let Apple iPhone users lock, unlock and start their vehicles remotely using a digital key stored in their Wallet app... More
Korean researchers develop gate-free contactless smart ticketing solution
Researchers at the Korea Railroad Research Institute (KRRI) in Uiwang-si are developing a “smart gate-free system” that will enable passengers using public transport services to automatically pay their fares from their mobile device by walking across a “smart block” in the floor... More
More than half of Asia Pacific consumers make digital payments at least once a week
Nine in 10 consumers in the Asia Pacific region have used mobile payment apps at least once during the past 12 months, while more than half have used digital payment methods at least once a week and a sixth have made a digital payment for the first time since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic (15%), according to research published by Kaspersky... More
NFC digital car keys go live for Android users
Android users with a Samsung Galaxy 21 or Google Pixel 6 series smartphone can now lock, unlock and start compatible vehicles using an NFC digital car key stored on their mobile device... More
Samsung to roll out UWB and NFC digital car key in South Korea
Owners of a Samsung Galaxy S21 smartphone purchasing the new Genesis GV60 electric car in South Korea will be the first to be able to lock and unlock their vehicle from their mobile device using a digital key that supports both ultra wideband (UWB) and NFC technology... More
South Korea passes law to open up app store payments to competing payment services
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
Korean buses trial ‘tagless’ Bluetooth fare payments
Passengers travelling on three inter-regional bus routes in South Korea’s Gyeonggi-do province can now test a ‘tagless’ fare payment system that enables them to pay for their tickets without needing to tap an onboard contactless reader with their transit card or smartphone... More
ANA invites passengers with NFC phones to pilot IATA digital travel pass
All Nippon Airways (ANA) is to trial the International Air Transport Association (IATA) Travel Pass app, enabling passengers on selected flights between Japan and the US to verify their identity and their Covid-19 test results at check-in on their NFC-enabled smartphone... More
Samsung Pay to add support for local currencies in South Korea
Consumers in the South Korean province of Gyeonggi-do will soon be able to make mobile payments using local currencies issued by 28 cities and counties across the region using a local currency easy payment platform... More
Retail CBDC projects ‘particularly strong’ in emerging economies, PwC index shows
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
Octopus to let Hong Kong cardholders pay for transit fares in mainland China
Octopus users in Hong Kong will soon be able to pay for public transport fares in more than 300 cities in mainland China with a new physical transit card to be launched “by the end of this year or early next year”, according to a South China Morning Post (SCMP) report... More