While Alipay and WeChat Pay have by far the largest number of mobile payments users in China overall, younger and more affluent consumers are more likely to use less well known services such as Du Xiaoman Pay and QQ Wallet, an in-depth market analysis by S&P Global has found... More
- Apple Pay users in the US to get buy now pay later option with iOS 16
- BIS reports on CBDCs in emerging markets
- Moroccan bank launches biometric payment card
- US digital bank introduces contactless payments rings
- Riksbank completes digital currency payments pilot
Digital wallet user base to increase to 4bn by 2024
The number of digital wallet users globally will increase from 2.3bn in 2019 to 4bn in 2024 and global non-cash transactions will grow to nearly 1.1tn in 2023 from 708.5bn in 2019, according to the World Payments Report 2020... More
ECB launches feasibility study into instant cross-currency merchant payments in Europe
Swedish consumers could be able to make and receive low-cost instant cross-currency transactions to and from any euro area country via the Target Instant Payment Settlement (TIPS) platform once the Swedish kronor joins the platform in May 2022... More
PBOC reports results of central bank digital currency pilot
More than 113,000 Chinese consumers have now used a digital wallet supporting “multiple payment methods, including barcode, facial recognition and tap-and-go transactions” to conduct a transaction using China’s new central bank digital currency, the People’s Bank of China has revealed. More
Venmo combines contactless and QR payments on a single credit card
Users of PayPal-owned P2P payments app Venmo can now apply for a credit card that includes both a contactless payments chip and a printed QR code that they can use to receive P2P payments and share bills with friends... More
Keep up to date: Get NFCW's headlines by email every Wednesday
Walmart redesigns its stores for contactless shopping
US retail giant Walmart has unveiled a new store design that leverages mobile wayfinding and self-checkout kiosks to create “a digitally enabled shopping experience”... More
European Central Bank sets out case for a digital euro
The introduction of a digital euro “would support Europe’s drive towards continued innovation”, “strengthen the international role of the euro” and provide consumers with “free access to a simple, universally accepted, risk-free and trusted means of payment”, according to a new report published by the European Central Bank (ECB)... More
BCG reports on the mobile payments market in Africa
Kenya and Ghana have the highest rates of mobile payment use in the world after China and, ultimately, there could be as many as 850 million mobile payment users in Africa conducting transactions worth US$2.5tn to US$3tn a year, according to a report from the Boston Consulting Group (BCG)... More
Pizzahacker rolls out QR self-serve ordering
Diners at the Pizzahacker restaurant in Mill Valley, California, can now use a self-serve feature to place their order on their mobile device by scanning a QR code and selecting what they want to eat and drink on the restaurant’s mobile-enabled ordering page... More
Mastercard to add merchant logos to transaction records
Mastercard users will soon be able to more easily identify and verify whether payments recorded on their online statements are legitimate as the card issuer starts linking merchant logos to any transactions a user has made with participating companies... More
IDC: One in two wearables to include contactless payments support
Global shipments of wearable devices will reach a total of 396m units this year and increase to 637.1m in 2024, with the proportion of those offering support for contactless payments set to rise to nearly 50% by the end of the year, International Data Corp (IDC) predicts. More
UOB lets customers use its mobile banking app to link debit and credit cards to third-party apps
Customers of Singapore’s United Overseas Bank (UOB) can now use its UOB Mighty mobile banking app to add their debit and credit card details directly to third-party apps, avoiding the need to separately enter their card details and providing an additional reason for customers to engage with their banking app... More
Keep up to date: Get NFCW's headlines by email every Wednesday
PSCU reports 70% increase in US mobile debit card transactions
The weekly volume of mobile wallet debit card transactions in the USA has increased by 70.3% compared with this time last year, while weekly mobile wallet credit card transactions have grown by 50.4% over the same period, according to the PSCU’s latest Tracking Transaction Trends report. More
Google Pay adds bill splitting, movie bookings and scratchcard rewards in Singapore
Google Pay users in Singapore can now divide bill payments between groups of family and friends, book cinema tickets and receive rewards via virtual scratchcards... More
Strong customer authentication requirements could cost European retailers €100bn in lost sales
The introduction of the 3D Secure 2.0 (3DS2) protocol for strong customer authentication (SCA) could cost European retailers more than €100bn (US$116.7bn) in online sales in 2021, payments consultancy CMSPI predicts. More
Edenred adds Apple Pay for UK prepaid cardholders
Holders of Edenred prepaid incentive and rewards cards in the UK can now add their card to Apply Pay and make mobile and online payments for food, fuel, transport, parking and corporate transactions with their iPhone, Apple Watch or other Apple Pay-enabled device... More
Amazon lets customers pay with their palm at two US retail stores
Customers shopping at two Amazon Go outlets in Seattle, USA, can now gain access to the convenience stores and pay for their purchases by simply placing their palm over a contactless palm scanning device installed at the entrance... More
Samsung lets German customers link any bank account to Samsung Pay
Samsung device owners in Germany can now link a personal account at “almost any” German bank to Samsung Pay and then use a virtual Visa debit card to make mobile payments in-store... More
One in five Japanese consumers to make mobile payments in stores this year
The number of people in Japan who use their smartphone to make mobile payments at the point of sale will reach 23.9 million — 21.5% of the population — by the end of this year, up from 19.1 million in 2019, according to an eMarketer forecast... More
Juniper forecasts “dramatic growth” in in-vehicle payments for fuel, parking and ecommerce
The transaction value of in-vehicle payments made using embedded onboard systems will rise from US$543m in 2020 to $86bn in 2025, driven by fuel, parking, food, drink and other ecommerce purchases, Juniper Research predicts. More