The average number of digital payments made for purchases from vending machines in the US grew steadily during 2019, finally exceeded those made with cash in April 2020 and continued to increase over the course of 2020, a new study shows... More
USA
US credit union to let customers authenticate banking transactions with mobile driving licence
Utah Community Credit Union (UCCU) is to become the first financial institution in the US state to let its customers use Utah’s mobile driving licence (mDL) as a legal form of identification for all banking transactions... More
Survey: more than six in ten US consumers say they would pay for a biometric card
Some 65.5% of US consumers would pay for a biometric credit card that has a built-in fingerprint reader for authenticating payments, according to a survey of American credit card users... More
Resorts World brings mobile payments to Las Vegas gaming tables
Gamblers at Resorts World Las Vegas in Nevada in the US will soon be able to purchase gambling chips for table games including blackjack, baccarat and roulette, as well as place contactless cashless bets at slot machines, directly from a digital wallet on their mobile phone... More
Virgin Hotels lets guests check in with mobile ID
Guests staying at Virgin Hotels in four US cities can now securely verify their identity, check in and receive a mobile room key via an app on their iOS or Android device before arriving at their hotel... More
Visa brings Tap to Phone payments to the US
Retailers and other small business owners in six US cities will soon be able to accept contactless payments on an Android NFC smartphone using Visa’s software-only Tap to Phone solution... More
Coca-Cola gives away mobile wallet credits for ‘free Cokes’ in US restaurants
Consumers in the US can now receive a US$2.50 credit to their mobile wallet that they can use to buy a Coca-Cola beverage at any restaurant that accepts card payments... More
Timex launches wearable payments with Chase, Visa and Tappy
PARTNER NEWS: Timex Group has officially launched a range of watches and watch straps that let the wearer make tokenized payments at any merchant equipped to accept Visa contactless payments... More
Hyundai to let US electric vehicle drivers make payments from their car
Motorists purchasing Hyundai’s Ioniq 5 crossover utility vehicle (CUV) in North America will be able to pay for electric vehicle (EV) charging, parking, food and beverages directly from the fully electric car’s infotainment screen... More
CTA lets Android users tap and pay for transit fares in Chicago
Passengers on public transportation services in Chicago in the US can now use an Android NFC smartphone to make tap-and-go fare payments by uploading the Chicago Transit Authority’s (CTA) virtual Ventra transit card to Google Pay... More
Nearly 90% of card present payments globally were made using EMV chip cards in 2020
Almost nine in 10 card present transactions conducted globally (86.1%) were made using EMV chip-enabled payment cards between January and December 2020, according to standards body EMVCo... More
Clipper rolls out support for Google Pay for transit fares in San Francisco Bay Area
Android users can now upload their Clipper transit card to Google Pay, reload their card balance and pay for their fares on 24 transit systems across the San Francisco Bay Area of the USA with their smartphone... More
Wine company uses NFC to tackle counterfeiting and enhance customer experience
Customers purchasing wine from the Boisset Collection can now authenticate their purchase and gain access to tasting notes, information about the wine’s origin, stories and videos by tapping an NFC tag embedded in the bottle’s label with their 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
California begins state-wide rollout of fare capped open loop contactless ticketing
Passengers using Monterey-Salinas Transit (MST) buses are the first in the state of California, USA, to be able to pay their fares with their bank card or payment-enabled mobile device using a fare-capped open loop contactless ticketing system... More
European banks invest €30m in EU rival to Visa and Mastercard
The banks and other institutions backing the development of a unified payment systems for merchants and consumers across Europe have so far invested €30m in the European Payments Initiative, EPI chair Joachim Schmalzl has revealed... More
Google Pay to add transit payments to home screen
Google Pay users in the US will soon be able to access mobile transit ticketing services including fare payments and transit card management directly from the app’s home screen on their smartphone or other mobile device... 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
Amazon expands pay by palm technology to Whole Foods Market store
Customers at a Whole Foods Market store in Seattle in the USA can now gain access to the supermarket and pay for their purchases using Amazon’s contactless palm scanning device... More
Apple lets US families build credit by sharing Apple Card accounts
Apple Card users in the US will soon be able to add other family members to their card account and allow them to build their credit ratings together, as well as jointly track purchases and manage spending... More