UK bank Halifax is investigating how Bionym’s Nymi Band, a device that uses the wearer’s unique cardiac rhythm to authenticate their identity, could be used to reduce the need for customers to remember their passwords... More
United Kingdom
All smiles as UK shoppers use contactless to give to charity
UK shoppers have been able to make contactless donations to a national charity via 10 larger-than-life statues of famous comedians placed in cities across the country... More
TfL tests guide beacons for the blind
Transport for London (TfL) is testing the use of Bluetooth beacons that work with a mobile app to provide guidance to visually impaired passengers travelling on the London Underground... More
Qkr! payments at Wagamama
Diners at UK restaurant chain Wagamama can now pay for their meals at their tables using MasterCard’s Qkr... More
PayPal readies contactless reader
PayPal is preparing to launch a new version of its PayPal Here card reader that can handle transactions with contactless cards and NFC devices... More
Bank of England ponders own digital currency
The Bank of England is consulting external experts on research designed to help set future policy which includes considering the effects of issuing its own Bitcoin-like digital currency... More
Barclays to allow Twitter payments
Barclays will be the first British bank to allow people to send payments using just the recipient’s Twitter username... More
MasterCard reports on HCE payments tests in 15 countries
MasterCard is currently conducting more than 25 host card emulation (HCE) projects in 15 countries, the payments network has announced, with multiple issuers now moving close to commercial deployments... More
HSBC to introduce HCE NFC payments on Android phones?
There are signs that global bank HSBC could be preparing to roll out host card emulation (HCE) based NFC payments on Android devices in the UK, after an NFC World reader spotted that the HSBC mobile banking app now shows as an option under the “Tap & pay” menu in Android’s settings... More
Lloyds Bank to push customer rewards to mobile phones and smartwatches
Lloyds Bank is to start sending push notifications about special deals with selected retailers to customers’ smartwatches and smartphones... More
Shell UK picks PayPal for mobile payments at the pump
Oil and gas company Shell has partnered with PayPal to roll out mobile payments at the pump across the “vast majority” of its 1,000 service stations in the UK... More
UK to increase contactless transaction limit by 50%
The spending limit for contactless transactions is to be increased from £20 (US$30) to £30 (US$46) in September 2015, The UK Cards Association has told NFC World. The move follows the news last week that contactless card usage surged in the UK in 2014 to 319.2m transactions with total spend more than trebling to a record £2.32bn. More
Bluetooth beacons could be just the ticket for UK rail passengers
UK rail passengers could soon have their tickets verified automatically as they walk through fare gates at a station, using a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)-enabled mobile ticketing app due to be built by Bytemark... More
Generation Z prefers biometrics to passwords
Three quarters (76%) of the UK’s “Generation Z” consumers — aged between 16 and 24 — say they would feel comfortable making a payment using biometric security, a survey conducted by Opinion Matters for Visa Europe has revealed, and 69% believe it would make their lives faster and easier... More
Contactless card payments treble in Britain in 2014
Ten contactless transactions took place in the UK every second in 2014, The UK Cards Association has revealed, and total spending on contactless cards more than trebled to reach a record £2.32bn... More
Gmail sends money in the UK
Google is expanding availability of its Send Money in Gmail service, enabling users in the UK to send money to friends and family from within their Gmail account... More
NFC pioneer Proxama cuts jobs ahead of trading update
UK-based mobile marketing and NFC pioneer Proxama has announced a round of redundancies at its Norwich headquarters with up to 21 people believed to be at risk of losing their jobs... More
Cancer Research brings contactless donations to shop windows
Cancer Research UK is to install contactless technology in four of its shop windows, enabling passersby to make a £2 donation to the charity by simply tapping their contactless card to a POS terminal placed on the other side of the glass... More
Young Brits ready to ditch PINs for biometrics
Three quarters of British consumers aged 16 to 24 (76%) say they would feel comfortable using biometric security when making a payment, with more than half keen to see facial recognition, fingerprints and retina scans replace passwords and PIN codes altogether... More
Glasgow to get NFC bus shelters
Glasgow City Council-owned bus shelters around the Scottish city will be fitted with NFC tags and QR codes to allow people to engage with advertisers by accessing interactive content such as vouchers, games and videos using their smartphones... More