Passengers travelling on Taipei’s Danhai Light Rail service over the next three months will receive a 50% discount on the usual fare when they choose to pay with their mobile phone, operator New Taipei Metro Corporation (NTMC) has announced... More
Apple
Metrolinx to let iPhone users top up Presto transit cards via NFC
Apple iPhone users in Toronto, Ottawa and Hamilton will soon be able to use their Presto app to top up their transit card via NFC... More
Garmin lets Japanese commuters add Suica transit cards to smart wearables
Garmin smartwatch owners in Japan can now add their Suica transit card to their wearable device and use it to pay for public transportation and at stores that accept Suica payments... More
Leaked images show how Apple Pay QR codes may look
Apple is preparing to introduce its own QR codes later this year, leaked files shared with former Techcrunch reporter Josh Constine suggest... More
Transact rolls out Android NFC student IDs at 16 US universities
Campus card solutions provider Transact has rolled out support for Android NFC student IDs, integrated with Google Pay, to 16 US universities... More
BYD to offer NFC keys as standard on all new cars
Four in five vehicles shipped by Chinese car maker BYD in 2019 included support for NFC keys “and the percentage is expected to top 95% in 2021,” automobile industry publication Gasgoo reports... More
Australia records sharp increase in NFC mobile payments adoption
A total of 10.8% of Australians are now using Apple Pay, Google Pay or Samsung Pay, up from 7.1% a year ago, a new report from market researchers Roy Morgan has found... More
Car Connectivity Consortium unveils NFC digital key specification
The Car Connectivity Consortium has announced the completion of an NFC-based digital key specification designed to deliver “a standardized ecosystem that enables mobile devices to store, authenticate, and share digital keys for vehicles in a secure, privacy-preserving way that works everywhere”... More
Blackhawk Network lets UK consumers make digital gift card payments in stores
PARTNER NEWS: Blackhawk Network subsidiary One4all is using Dejamobile’s ReadyToTap Gifts & Rewards solution to make it possible for UK consumers and businesses to send a digital gift card directly to a recipient’s mobile phone — and for the recipient to then use it to make payments online and at contactless terminals in stores... More
Westpac goes live with Apple Pay
Westpac switches on Apple Pay for customers — Westpac — “Apple Pay is now available for Westpac customers with an eligible Mastercard debit or credit card, or eftpos Handycard… Debit card holders can now choose the payment option linked to their card when they pay with Apple Pay, including ‘Mastercard Debit’, ‘eftpos CHQ’ and ‘eftpos SAV’.”
Mobile payment overtakes contactless cards for young Irish consumers
Impact of Covid-19 on spending behaviour revealed as more Irish consumers using contactless and digital wallets — AIB — “Digital wallet (Apple Pay and Google Pay) spend now accounts for 37% of all in-store transactions by those who are under 25… Contactless using a debit card is the most popular choice of in-store payment method among all age cohorts, except those under 25 where it accounts for 28% of spend.”
Google to add support for Bluetooth mobile payments?
Leaked screenshots of a new Google Pay debit card, to be issued by banks partnering with the search engine giant for its planned move into the US banking market, include mention of an option to use a digital version of the card “for Bluetooth mobile payments”... More
Apple Pay Express Transit payments roll out to 275 cities across China
Commuters in 275 Chinese cities can now add their T-Union public transportation card to their iPhone or Apple Watch and then use their smartphone or wearable to tap in and out of bus and subway services without the need to first validate the transaction using Face ID, Touch ID or a passcode... More
Commonwealth Bank reports surge in digital wallet transactions
Digital wallet transactions grew 17% in March 2020, outpacing the average monthly compound growth rate of 6.7% over the past six months, Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) reports... More
New Zealand raises contactless limit by 150%
New Zealand is to progressively roll out a temporary increase in the country’s contactless transaction limit “over the coming days and weeks” — but customers of two banks will miss out “due to technology constraints” unless they order a new card or make use of mobile payments... More
RBC speeds up bank account opening with NFC passport reading
Royal Bank of Canada has added new features to its mobile app that make it quicker and easier for customers opening a new bank account at a branch to prove their identity... More
OEM Pay transaction volumes to exceed $1tn a year by 2024
Consumers will use payments services provided by smartphone makers and other original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to make transactions valued at more than US$1tn a year by 2024, up from US$333bn in 2020, according to Juniper Research... More
Wells Fargo offers $5 credit to customers who use their smartphone to make an ATM withdrawal
Wells Fargo is running a promotion that lets selected cardholders receive a US$5 credit when they use their smartphone to make a cash withdrawal at one of the US bank’s contactless ATMs... More
TfL signs £2m payments promotion deal with Google Pay
Google has agreed to pay Transport for London (TfL) £2m (US$2.56m) for the right to place Google Pay branding on all of London Underground’s 5,686 tap in/out card readers for a year... More
Santa Clara University rolls out iPhone NFC student IDs
Students, faculty and staff at Santa Clara University in the US can now add their Access student ID card to Apple Wallet and use their iPhone and Apple Watch to access buildings, attend athletic events, purchase meals and check out books from the library, the Silicon Valley-based university has announced... More