UnionPay takes mobile payment services fight to Alibaba and Tencent with integrated app — South China Morning Post — “UnionPay said the app could be linked to more than one bank account by different banks with all of their mobile payment services accepted and conducted via the platform… The country’s dominant bank card clearing service provider also launched a nationwide promotional campaign with aggressive discounts to attract consumers who have been increasingly using Alipay and Tenpay services for shopping.”
App
Google reports 12m Tez mobile payments users in India
Google for India: Building India-first products and features — Google — “Our India-first mobile payments app Tez has seen huge growth in its first 10 weeks. Tez has processed over 140m transactions from nearly 12 million active users. There are more than 525,000 merchants already on Tez, using it to take payments, pay their suppliers or transfer money to employees… In the coming weeks, Tez will start rolling out a customized experience to pay bills right in the app. More than 70 billers will be supported, including utilities and direct-to-home service providers.”
Target adds mobile payments, coupons and rewards to mobile app
Target launches Wallet in the Target app: A faster, easier way to pay and save — Target — “With Wallet, guests can pay using their Target REDcard and save with Cartwheel — all in a single scan of their phones at checkout… Wallet combines digital savings — Cartwheel offers and Weekly Ad coupons — with the 5% REDcard discount. And, coming soon, guests also will be able to store and redeem Target GiftCards with Wallet.”
Meet NFC World’s partners at Trustech
NFC World partners Antelop Solutions, Dejamobile, HID Global, NXP, Okey Co and STMicroelectronics will be at Trustech in Cannes, France from 28 to 30 November... More
Starling Bank integrates third party rewards into open banking platform
Starling and Yoyo Wallet: Enabling loyalty with open banking — Starling Bank — “With any other bank, in order to collect loyalty points you would have to manually pay using the Yoyo app using a QR code scanner. However we have created an experience together with Yoyo, using our APIs, which means you don’t need to use any separate apps to pay. You just need to securely connect your Yoyo account to your Starling account from the Yoyo app and allow Yoyo to view your Starling account transactions. You will then be able to collect loyalty points whenever you use your Starling card, Apple Pay or Fitbit Pay at a merchant partner.”
Issuers to adopt common QR code for payments in Singapore from 2018
Common Singapore QR code to be rolled out next year — Channel News Asia — “A common Singapore Quick Response Code (SG QR) will be rolled out and adopted by payment service providers in Singapore next year, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said on Monday… Payment services providers in Singapore have also committed to update their mobile payment apps for consumers to read the SG QR. The newly announced NETS QR will be part of SG QR as will other payment service providers such as Singtel Dash QR.”
UK supermarkets to test face recognition for proof-of-age at self-checkout tills
Supermarket self-service tills replace ID checks with facial recognition — The Telegraph — “The technology will be used to remove in-person age checks when customers are buying alcohol and other age restricted items… Using Yoti at a self service till would involve a QR code showing up on the checkout screen, which could be scanned by the app. The Yoti app would then scan the shopper’s face to confirm their identity, and would then connect to the till over the internet to verify the purchase.”
US Bank to use phone location data to authorize transactions
US Bank adds opt-in location services to mobile app, making life on the go more flexible during the holidays — US Bank — “US Bank has added location services to the US Bank Mobile App, offering US Bank Visa credit and debit card customers technology that uses their phones’ location to help verify whether their mobile devices and credit or debit card are in the same location. By using the mobile device’s location in the authorization decision, US Bank can help give consumers the confidence that their transactions will be approved, minimizing disruptions and further reducing the risk of fraud.”
Wells Fargo to offer mobile-first bank accounts
Wells Fargo announces a mobile-first banking experience to encourage financial health — Wells Fargo — “Combining personal finance management tools with Wells Fargo banking, the Greenhouse experience will help consumers pay bills on time, spend confidently, and start to build a savings cushion — all while providing personalized insights through artificial intelligence to help them stay on track. Greenhouse, a standalone mobile app, will be available in a limited, national pilot in the first quarter of 2018 and will launch for Apple iPhone users during the first half of 2018.”
Commbank adds Face ID to mobile banking app
The new face of banking — Commonwealth Bank of Australia — “From today, iPhone X users will be able to use Face ID to securely log in to the CommBank app. ‘Our customers use secure fingerprint logins on the CommBank app about 30m times a month,’ said Pete Steel, Commonwealth Bank executive general manager of digital. ‘Extending that functionality to Face ID is part of our ongoing work to provide a better banking experience to our customers through simple, easy and secure features.'”
Android Pay to let users track all their card purchases?
Android Pay appears to be testing the ability to see all card purchases, even those not done on your phone — 9to5Google — “The Android Pay app appears to be testing out a new feature for ‘full purchase history’. In short, this new feature pulls your entire transaction history from your card and displays it right alongside Android Pay purchases. This new setting on Android Pay appears to only work for specific cards, though. In this first case, it works with an American Express Cash card.”
Taxi hailing app Grab targets Asian mobile payment market
Grab starts mobile wallet service at hawker stalls in Singapore — Bloomberg — “Grab will enable its four million users in the city-state to scan a quick response, or QR, code to pay for local dishes such as chicken rice and prawn noodles at hawker stands around the country. Grab plans to increase the number of small merchants accepting GrabPay from 25 to 1,000 by the end of December… The five-year-old startup plans to roll out mobile wallet services across the region next year, according to co-founder Tan Hooi Ling.”
Indian mobile wallet giant Paytm plans expansion to US, Japan and Europe
India’s top payment app has eyes on US market — Wall Street Journal — “India’s largest mobile payment app — backed by the likes of China’s Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp — has its eye on the US, its founder said. Speaking at The Wall Street Journal’s D.Live Singapore event, Paytm founder and chief executive Vijay Shekhar Sharma said his aim is to expand into developed markets, also including Japan and Europe.”
Bancontact adds NFC payments to mobile app
Bancontact rolls out contactless smartphone payments to the general public — Bancontact — “Belgians already make more than one million payments each month using the Bancontact app. And Bancontact has now also activated its app for contactless payments… You can use any ordinary bank card in the Bancontact app to pay contactlessly. Which means you don’t have to register a special contactless card in the app.”
Google reports 7.5m users of its Tez audio QR mobile payments app
Edited transcript of Alphabet earnings conference call — Yahoo Finance — “To help millions of people, we are building products specifically designed for local markets in Asia. In India last month, we launched Tez, a mobile payments and commerce app that already has more than 7.5 million users who have made more than 30m transactions. I’m really excited about the potential this brings for India’s mostly cash-based economy.”
Amazon Key to let delivery drivers and service providers into homes
Introducing Amazon Key, a new level of delivery convenience for Prime members — Amazon — “Available initially in 37 cities across the United States, Amazon’s innovative new service enables in-home delivery at no extra cost. Amazon Key also allows customers to grant secure home access for guests and, coming soon, tens of thousands of service providers, such as Merry Maids, Rover and professional services from Amazon Home Services. Amazon Key includes the Amazon Key app, a smart lock and the company’s newest device, Amazon Cloud Cam, an intelligent indoor security camera.”
Amazon puts new focus on its Amazon Coins virtual currency
Amazon debuts a new Appstore app with better discovery, focus on Amazon Coins — Techcrunch — “Introduced in 2013, the Amazon Coins platform represents a different means of encouraging consumers to pay for apps and in-app purchases. Instead of seeing a dollar amount associated with their purchase, app developers show the purchase amount as coins… The idea is that the more Coins you purchase, the more you’ll save on the purchase amount. For example, 100 Amazon Coins are worth $100, but when you buy them in larger bundles, they cost less. With the highest package, customers can save up to 22% on their Coin purchases.”
Chase lets customers use their mobile phone to open a bank account
JPMorgan reaches beyond its branches with new mobile account app — Reuters — “The app, named Finn by Chase, allows people to use a phone to open a bank account, make deposits, issue checks, track spending and set up savings plans, bank officials told Reuters last week. Finn debit cards will come by mail for access to cash from 29,000 ATMs.”
Esso lets UK drivers pay at the pump with their mobile phone
Esso App promises to increase sales by decreasing footfall — Better Retailing — “Esso is rolling out a mobile payments Esso App that allows drivers to pay for their fuel without getting out of their car… The technology works through the existing Epos system, and Esso says it is supporting traders in part funding the £1,000 (US$1,329) cost of installing the system… The technology is “significantly cheaper” than pay at pump terminals, which cost approximately £10,000 (US$13,292) per pump… The Esso App also allows forecourt traders to send tailored promotions to app users on their phones while they fill up.”
Bank of America reports $4bn in P2P payments
A big bank Is catching up to PayPal and Square — Barron’s — “Bank of America released its third quarter earnings on Friday morning and executives spoke confidently about Zelle, the payments platform used by several big banks. The total number of peer-to-peer payments made over the Zelle network by Bank of America customers jumped 68% on a year-over-year basis to 13.6m, and the total payment volume jumped 40% to US$4bn, the bank said. Earlier this year, Bank of America integrated Zelle into its mobile app.”