Passengers who use their Opal transit card to pay for transport fares in the Australian state of New South Wales are to take part in a pilot of a digital version of the card which is set to go live before the end of this year... More
Mastercard
TreeCard launches wooden contactless debit card
Consumers in the USA and “a number of EU markets” can now apply for a debit card made from wood that also comes in a digital form and can be used to make contactless and mobile payments as well as cash withdrawals from banks and ATMs... 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
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
Adelaide Metro pilots contactless bank card and digital wallet payments for tram ticketing
Passengers on Adelaide Metro’s tram network can now make contactless fare payments with their credit or debit card or their tap-and-pay digital wallet without needing a metroCARD transit card or using cash... More
Wearable payments specialist Tappy opens NFCW Expo showcase
NFCW EXPO: Canada-based Tappy Technologies’ showcase in the NFCW Expo is now open, featuring panel discussions exploring the future of wearable payments and a product demo of the tokenized payments technology that forms the backbone of Timex Pay... More
Titan and SBI pick Tappy wearable payments technology for India’s first contactless payment watches
PARTNER NEWS: Watch brand Titan has partnered with State Bank of India (SBI) for the launch of a range of watches that makes use of Canada-based Tappy Tech’s wearable payments technology to let consumers make contactless transactions at POS terminals across India... More
Malaysian bank rolls out contactless card acceptance on standard NFC phones
Merchants in Malaysia can now use a tap-to-phone payment acceptance service from Hong Leong Bank (HLB) to accept contactless card payments on a standard NFC Android mobile device... More
Jersey promotes consumer spending at local businesses with prepaid stimulus card
Residents of the island of Jersey can now make contactless payments to local businesses using a prepaid card that is being sent to all eligible citizens as part of a fiscal stimulus package designed to alleviate the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic... More
Dunkin’ to pilot checkout-free store in California
Customers of US coffee chain Dunkin’ in California will soon be able to walk into a store, pick up a coffee and pay for it from their mobile phone without having to pre-order, interact with staff, wait to pay at a checkout or scan goods at a kiosk... More
European Commission opens preliminary investigation into Visa’s staged digital wallet rules
The European Commission has opened a preliminary investigation into Visa’s rules regarding staged digital wallets, the payments network has revealed in a note added to its latest quarterly filing... More
ING and Albert Heijn to pilot online payments service that tokenizes customers’ bank account details
Dutch bank ING and supermarket giant Albert Heijn are to pilot a tokenized payments service which enables customers to pay for online purchases from their bank accounts without needing to provide retailers with account credentials... More
Reliance Jio pilots NFC and QR payments in India
Indian telecommunications giant Reliance Jio has begun piloting Jio Pay, a new UPI-enabled payments service which includes support for both NFC and QR mobile payments... More
Samsung launches digital-first payment card in the UK
Samsung has announced the availability of a digital-first Samsung Pay Card designed to give customers in the UK “a better banking experience through their Samsung smartphone and smartwatch, whilst gaining the rewards they want along the way”... More
Turin rolls out contactless payments on bus and subway services
Travellers using the subway and selected bus services in the Italian city of Turin can now pay for their rides by tapping on and off public transportation using a Visa or Mastercard contactless card or their NFC phone... More
Card networks begin global Click to Pay rollout
American Express, Discover, Mastercard and Visa have announced that “they are each beginning technical preparations for global expansion” of Click to Pay, the single buy button solution for online merchants based on the EMVCo Secure Remote Commerce (SRC) standard... More
Central bank blocks WhatsApp payments in Brazil
Brazil’s central bank has “ordered Visa and Mastercard to suspend the start of activities or immediately stop using the WhatsApp application to initiate payments and transfers”... More
Xiaomi picks NXP’s mWallet 2Go to add payments to Mi Smart Band 4
PARTNER NEWS: Xiaomi is to use NXP’s mWallet 2Go technology to let consumers across Europe make payments using its low-cost Mi Smart Band 4 wearable... More
Facebook picks Brazil for first commercial rollout of WhatsApp payments
WhatsApp users in Brazil can now make payments to local merchants and send money to friends and contacts “without leaving their chat”... More
DCBank backs ‘reverse ATMs’ that turn cash into prepaid Mastercards
Canada’s DCBank has partnered with technology supplier XTM to provide shopping malls and entertainment venues with ‘reverse ATMs’ that let customers instantly convert their physical money into a prepaid Mastercard they can then use to make payments at cashless points of sale... More