What's New in Payments

UK banks to refund victims of push payments fraud

Scam victims to be refunded by banks — BBC — “Previously, banks only tended to reimburse people if there was an obvious fault in the way the payment was handled by the bank. Some £354m (US$446m) was lost in this fraud to individuals and businesses last year, but only £83m (US$105m) was refunded… Now anyone who has taken reasonable care, or has any element of vulnerability, is much more likely to receive a refund of the lost money.”



What's New in Payments

Church of England doubles donations with contactless collection plates

Church of England: Contactless collection payments trialled — BBC News — “Churches have reported a 97% increase in donations made at services trialling a digital collection box… Churchgoers picked a sum from four options decided by the Church, before using a card or smartphone to pay… Developers state the technology can support 500 transactions without the need for recharging, though a fixed table-top version of the system is also available — allowing congregations to donate before, during or after the service.”


Tencent uses face recognition to verify the age of mobile game players

Honour of Kings uses facial recognition to check ages — BBC — “The mobile app resembles League of Legends and pits players against each other in multiplayer online battles set in a fantasy world. Under pressure from local regulators, Tencent introduced restrictions in July 2017 to limit under-12s to one hour of gameplay a day and 13- to 18-year-olds to a maximum of two hours. Last month, the company added a real-name registration system to encourage players to keep to the rules.”


NFC World

UK government to use NFC to verify residency status of EU citizens after Brexit

Brexit: Three ‘simple’ questions for EU citizens to stay in UK — BBC — “Applicants with Android phones will be able to download an app which can read the chip in their passport to verify their identity — and they will be able to take a ‘selfie’ that can be checked against Home Office records, said Mr Javid. But he said there was an ‘an issue at the moment’ with Apple device users, who will not be able to make use of this app, and instead will have to send in their passport to prove their identity… The home secretary said he had raised the issue with Apple on a recent visit to Silicon Valley and the company was ‘looking at it actively’.”



What's New in Payments

Venezuela to create a new virtual currency

Venezuela unveils virtual currency amid economic crisis — BBC News — “Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has announced the creation of a new virtual currency in a bid to ease the country’s economic crisis. He said the Petro would be backed by Venezuela’s oil, gas, gold and diamond wealth… Mr Maduro said the new cryptocurrency would allow Venezuela ‘to advance in issues of monetary sovereignty, to make financial transactions and overcome the financial blockade.'”


What's New in Payments

Facebook expands Messenger P2P payments to the UK

Facebook Messenger payments comes to UK — BBC News — “Facebook has chosen the UK as the first country outside the US to get its Messenger payments service… David Marcus, who runs Messenger, says it is obvious from our messages that we need this. ‘More and more people are having conversations on Messenger about paying one another,’ he explains. ‘As a result it’s a very natural place for you to have the most frictionless and secure way of paying each other.'”


Transit Ticketing Today

How facial recognition could replace train tickets

How facial recognition could replace train tickets — BBC News — “A facial recognition system designed to replace the need for tickets on trains is being tested in the UK… An early version that uses two near-infrared lights to help a single camera determine texture and orientation of each pixel it captures was shown to BBC Click… Researchers told the programme that they believe it will successfully identify passengers without the need for them to stop walking and could replace ticket gates.”


TSB to roll out iris scanning tech

TSB to roll out iris scanning tech — BBC News — “Imagine logging onto your bank account just by glancing at your phone. That’s what some TSB customers will be able to do from September when the bank introduces iris recognition to its mobile banking app… Customers will need the latest Samsung Galaxy S8 to use the new way of accessing their TSB accounts.”