The PSR confirms how it will monitor and enforce new EU rules on access to payment systems — Payment Systems Regulator — “The PSR will monitor and enforce particular rules, covering requests by payment service providers (PSPs) to get access to payment systems. Under these rules, banks and payment system operators must treat the requests in an objective, proportionate and non-discriminatory way.”
United Kingdom
Financial Conduct Authority sets out PSD2 requirements for UK payment service providers
FCA finalises revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2) requirements — Financial Conduct Authority — “As well as promoting innovation, PSD2 aims to improve consumer protection, make payments safer and more secure, and drive down the costs of payment services….The FCA has published the PSD2 Policy Statement which explains the changes we are making to our proposals following consultation… The FCA has published its Approach Document alongside this – this is designed to help firms navigate the payment services and e-money regulatory requirements, including those set out in HM Treasury regulations.”
More than half of consumers in US, Canada and UK expect to abandon cash in next two years
Consumers to abandon cash by 2020 — Paysafe — “In Canada and the UK, contactless has paved the way for this new era of payments, with three out of five consumers regularly using it for purchases, 62% citing it as more convenient than cash, and 44% stating they preferred to shop in places that take contactless… However, it is America that is very much leading the way in new payment methods with nearly a third (31%) using mobile wallets and one in seven using cryptocurrencies.”
London’s commuters can now top up their travel cards by smartphone
New TfL app enables passengers to top up their Oyster card ‘on the go’ — Transport for London — “The new app, which was designed by TfL and developed by Cubic Transportation Systems, is free to download via the Apple App Store and Google Play Store and enables customers to use their smartphone to quickly add pay-as-you-go credit or Travelcards to their Oyster card. These can then be added after 30 minutes by simply touching the Oyster card on the yellow card reader at any Tube or rail station, tram stop or River Bus pier as part of a journey.”
Tesco unveils Tesco Pay+
Tesco unveils Tesco Pay+ — Tesco — “PayQwiq, the digital wallet app, is to be re-launched as Tesco Pay+… The journey of our digital wallet has been an exciting one and we’ve learned a great deal about our customers and how they shop in that time. We believe that Tesco Pay+ is going to help the customer journey, offering greater little helps, and we’re looking forward to revealing more in a few weeks’ time.”
New interactive technology to trace your food from field to fork
New interactive technology to trace your food from field to fork — Soil Association — “Using three types of labels and identifiers; barcode, QR code and NFC tags, shoppers simply scan or hover their smart phones to find out the unique journey behind their food. This includes information about its origin, ingredients, and any special attributes such as organic, gluten-free, dairy-free etc. Photos of the product’s creation, as well as farmer or producer profiles can be viewed too.”
Police chief says safer to keep contactless cap at £30
Police chief says safer to keep contactless cap at £30 — Evening Standard — “A poll last month found that more than half of retailers wanted the contactless limit increased… About 2.7p (US$0.04) in every £100 (US$129.70) that was spent was lost to contactless fraud last year.”
Barclaycard marks the 10th anniversary of introducing contactless payments to the UK
Barclaycard marks the 10th anniversary of introducing contactless payments to the UK — Barclaycard — “Ten years on, over £60bn (US$77.67bn) has been spent using contactless and more than half of eligible transactions up to the £30 (US$38.83) limit are now made using the technology… Nine in 10 eligible transactions in fast food outlets (91%) and pubs and bars (89%) are now made using contactless.”
The contactless revolution ten years on: Two-thirds of Brits now tap to pay
The contactless revolution ten years on: Two-thirds of Brits now tap to pay — Visa — “Two-thirds (66%) of Brits have used contactless cards to make a payment since they were introduced in September 2007… Just over a quarter (26%) of the country has used a mobile device to pay contactlessly in a shop, rising to 36% among contactless card users.”
Amazon brings its cash deposit service for the underbanked to the UK
Amazon brings its cash deposit service for the underbanked to the UK — Techcrunch — “Amazon has added the ability for UK users to pay for products and services on its ecommerce platform using cash. The service, called Amazon Top Up, lets shoppers load between £5 and £250 into their Amazon UK account in a single top-up transaction.”
Dogs aim to take Blue Cross canal walk donations
Dogs aim to take Blue Cross canal walk donations — Wiltshire Times — “Two specially-trained dogs are to take donations on a Blue Cross sponsored canal walk being held over the August bank holiday weekend. Nine-year-old black Labrador Pernod, and her four-year-old daughter, Doris, a yellow Labrador, will accept the contactless payments using a special vest.”
NFC mobile payments ‘shake off the novelty tag’ in the UK
British consumers used their mobile phones to spend more than £370m (US$477m) in stores equipped with contactless payments terminals during the first half of 2017, an increase of 336% on the amount spent during the first half of 2016, transaction data analysis conducted by payments processor Worldpay has found... More
Barclaycard pilots Alipay payments in eight retail stores across UK
Barclaycard pilots Alipay payments in eight retail stores across UK — Banking Technology — “The pilot will commence on 14 August 2017 in eight retail stores across the UK, with Barclaycard providing the POS solution for payments via Alipay. The service will be available in CNY (‘offered at a competitive exchange rate,’ Barclaycard says).”
UK card expenditure statistics: June 2017
UK card expenditure statistics: June 2017 — UK Finance — “There were just under 1.4bn card payments in June, a monthly record and a 12% rise in the last 12 months. This is the highest annual rate of growth in the number of payments since June 2008, driven by a robust rise in online (+20%) and contactless (+143%) purchases… Contactless payments accounted for 34% of all card transactions, while online payments accounted for 13%.”
UK retailers call for higher contactless transaction limit
More than half of UK retailers that accept contactless payments would like to see the spending limit raised above the current £30 (US$40) cap, with 37% opting for £50 (US$66) and one in five hoping to see a £100 (US$132) ceiling, research released by Barclaycard ahead of the tenth anniversary of the launch of contactless payments in the UK reveals... More
How facial recognition could replace train tickets
How facial recognition could replace train tickets — BBC News — “A facial recognition system designed to replace the need for tickets on trains is being tested in the UK… An early version that uses two near-infrared lights to help a single camera determine texture and orientation of each pixel it captures was shown to BBC Click… Researchers told the programme that they believe it will successfully identify passengers without the need for them to stop walking and could replace ticket gates.”
Wearable ‘Teng’ generators harvest energy from body movement to charge mobiles
Consumers could soon be able to act as their own mobile phone power supply, researchers at the University of Surrey have announced, by simply wearing smart clothing that uses Triboelectric Nanogenerators (Tengs) to harvest and store the static charge generated by their movements... More
TfL makes it easier to top up Oyster cards while on the go
TfL makes it easier to top up Oyster cards while on the go — Transport for London — “Next month, the new TfL app will launch, allowing customers to top up their Oyster card with pay-as-you-go credit and buy Travelcards wherever they are… It will also allow customers to check how much credit they have on their Oyster card and also provide, for the first time, a ‘low balance’ alert direct on their mobile to help customers ensure they have enough pay-as-you-go credit before they travel.”
Santander pays 5% cashback when you pay by mobile phone
Santander pays 5% cashback when you pay by mobile phone — Which? — “Santander 123 Lite Current account customers can earn 5% cashback on all purchases using their debit cards via Apple Pay, Android Pay and Samsung Pay. The two-and-a-half month deal runs from 17 July to 30 September, with the bonus paid out by the end of November.”
Contactless travel card offers automatic repayments for delayed trains
Data collected when a contactless card is used to pay for a train journey is now being used to automatically compensate passengers when their train is delayed by 15 minutes or more, removing the need for travellers to manually file a request for a refund... More