Swedish firm Seamless is preparing to roll out its mobile payments solution SEQR in the UK, with the first merchants expected to begin using the service at the end of the summer... More
Archive: News in brief
$4bn mobile money transfer revenue by 2018
Revenue from mobile money transfer services will hit US$2bn this year, doubling to $4bn by 2018, Juniper Research says, citing Africa as the market leader... More
OceanFirst Bank adds Touch ID
OceanFirst Bank is working with digital banking provider Digital Insight to begin offering Touch ID functionality within its mobile banking app... More
India offers tax break for electronic payments?
Merchants in India accepting electronic payments could be offered a tax rebate, a government proposal suggests... More
Google files item pairing patent
A new Google patent details a system to allow the pairing of items such as keys or a wallet with a mobile device to alert a person when they are about to leave the house without one of the items... More
Beacons link in Cannes Lions contacts
Visitors to this year’s Cannes Lions event will be notified when one of their LinkedIn contacts is nearby or when they have signed up for the same sessions as a favourite via beacons installed by Eventbase... More
Kiev subway goes contactless
The Ukrainian capital of Kiev has become the fifth city in the world, after London, St Petersburg, Chicago and Bucharest, to allow fares to be paid with open loop contactless cards... More
Almost one in ten have made in-store mobile wallet payments
Some 8% of global mobile users have made an in-store mobile wallet payment either using NFC or via an app in the last six months, research from trade body Mobile Ecosystem Forum (MEF) and Wirecard has revealed... More
40 Adelaide venues install beacons
Forty bars and nightclubs across the Australian city of Adelaide have installed Bluetooth beacons to track visitor attendance and push offers to passers-by using a platform provided by startup Little Birdy... More
One in four US consumers would share DNA with their bank
One in four US consumers would consider sharing their DNA with their financial institution if it meant it would make authentication easier and their personal information more secure, research from Telstra reveals... More
Thinfilm gets $22m investment
Printed electronics specialist Thinfilm has closed a private placement in which “several” US investors have invested a total of US$22m... More
Google to acquire Tesco’s Clubcard division?
Google is reported to be considering acquiring the Tesco-owned loyalty agency that is responsible for the development of the supermarket giant’s Clubcard rewards scheme... More
Contactless plan for London taxis
A proposal from Transport for London (TfL) explores whether contactless payments “with cards and other payment methods” should be accepted in all taxis across the city... More
Twin Peaks offers mobile payments with MyCheck
US sports bar chain Twin Peaks will offer mobile payments through an integration with MyCheck at its locations in August... More
Hill climb cars to include beacons
Vehicles taking part in British motor sports event The Broadmoor Pikes Peak International Hill Climb (PPIHC) will send notifications about section times, racer profiles, course map details and videos to a visitor’s smartphone using beacons supplied by KS Technologies... More
China UnionPay to take NFC to Hong Kong
China UnionPay has invested an undisclosed sum in Jetco, the largest ATM network operator in Hong Kong and Macau... More
Boston Fed explores tokenization in the US
The Mobile Payments Industry Workgroup (MPIW) of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston has published a white paper providing an overview of the current US payment tokenization landscape for mobile and digital commerce... More
Barclays and Starbucks promote contactless in UK
Barclays customers can upgrade the size of their Starbucks coffee for free at participating locations in the UK when using their contactless card to pay until the end of June... More
Ricoh launches NFC camera
Electronics company Ricoh has launched the GR II digital compact camera, marking the first GR-series model to come equipped with NFC... More
Chile stadiums offer MasterCard Qkr! app
Visitors to Chile’s National, Estadio Monumental David Arellano and La Portada stadiums during the Copa America football tournament this month will be the first in Latin America to place orders and pay for food with their mobile phones using MasterCard’s Qkr... More