The National Bank of Iraq is to pilot biometric payment cards that will allow users to authenticate contactless transactions with their fingerprints... More
Cashless
Dubai merchants to let customers make payments with face biometrics
Consumers in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates will soon be able to make contactless payments with their face at branches of Costa Coffee, drinks retailer MMI, grocery chain Géant, the Cove Beach at Caesars Palace beach club and the Coca-Cola Arena Dubai... More
European Commission requests payments industry input on digital euro
The European Commission has launched a targeted consultation on the expected impact of a digital euro on key industries, institutions, consumers, merchants and other stakeholders in international trade... More
Uber to integrate train, coach and plane tickets into UK app
Uber is to enable users in the UK to purchase train, coach and plane tickets for long-distance journeys within its mobile app as part of a plan to create a ‘superapp’ that offers “a one-stop shop for travel”... More
Apple Pay goes live in Moldova
Apple Pay has launched in Moldova with support for Mastercard and Visa cards issued by Maib, Moldindconbank and Victoriabank... More
Qatar to roll out contactless fare payments across metro, bus, tram and taxi services
Qatar’s Ministry of Transport and Communications is to roll out an automated fare collection system as part of its Sila multimodal public transportation project that will enable passengers to make contactless payments for metro, bus, tram and taxi journeys with their debit or credit card, their Sila transit card or from their mobile device... More
Contactless P2P payments to drive adoption of digital euro, central bank survey finds
European consumers consider the ability to make instant contactless payments, including person-to-person transfers, to be a priority and “a very important selling point” for a digital euro, according to European Central Bank (ECB) research... More
Apple to enter payment processing market?
Apple has launched a project to develop its own payment processing technology and infrastructure for future financial products and services including buy now, pay later instalment payments for Apple Pay, credit checking and risk assessment, according to media reports... More
Qatar and the Philippines move towards developing CBDCs
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is to launch a central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot project “in the near term” and the Qatar Central Bank (QCB) is also exploring the possible development of a CBDC in line with its wider payment digitisation plans... More
Automated kiosk lets customers order contactless burgers in New Jersey
Consumers in Newark, New Jersey, in the US can now purchase “contactless burgers” that have been cooked by a robot from an automated kiosk in the Newport Centre shopping mall... More
Bangladesh switches on support for contactless debit and prepaid cards
The central bank of Bangladesh has announced that it has added approval for contactless debit and prepaid card payments in a circular that also sets a PIN-free transaction limit of Tk3,000 (US$35) and requires card issuers to notify customers of each transaction via SMS... More
Hindu temples pilot contactless payments in India
Devotees will soon be able to make contactless offerings and other charitable payments at some 536 Hindu temples across India using a QR code-based payment system being piloted by the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department... More
MBTA to add open loop contactless ticketing and digital transit card
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) in the US is to expand its fare payments system to enable passengers to pay for their journeys with a contactless credit card, mobile wallet or a digital version of their CharlieCard transit card... More
Banks develop interoperable platform for cross-border CBDC transactions
The Bank of International Settlements and the central banks of Australia, Malaysia and Singapore have completed a joint project to develop a shared platform that could facilitate direct cross-border transactions between institutions using different central bank digital currencies (CBDCs)... More
Houston to expand mobile ticketing options
The Metropolitan Transit Authority in Houston, Texas, in the USA is planning to enable passengers on its bus and light rail services to pay their fares with their mobile device as well as with a contactless transit card or via its mobile ticketing app when it upgrades its fare collection system... More
RTC adds support for contactless EMV card fare payments
Passengers on Regional Transport Commission of Southern Nevada (RTC) buses in the Las Vegas valley area of the USA can now make contactless fare payments by tapping their EMV payment card on an onboard validator... More
Iraqi bank to pilot biometric payment cards
Customers of Al-Mansour Bank in Iraq will be among the first in the country to be able to trial biometric payment cards that allow them to authenticate contactless payments with their fingerprints... More
Bank of Ghana lays out core design principles for CBDC pilot
The Bank of Ghana (BOG) is to pilot a two-tier token-based retail central bank digital currency (CBDC) that can be used with either a digital wallet app managed by a financial institution or a physical hardware wallet such as a contactless smart card that can be used offline and by unbanked consumers... More
First National Bank reports ‘surge’ in contactless payments from smart devices in South Africa
The total transaction values of contactless payments made using a smart device processed by retail and commercial clients of South Africa’s First National Bank (FNB) has increased from R640m (US$43m) in 2020 to “in excess” of R4.2bn (US$3bn) in 2021, the bank reports... More
China updates digital yuan wallet app for Apple users
China has issued an update to the pilot version of its digital yuan wallet app for Apple users that is “adapted to the iOS 15.4 system changes” released this week, and has uncovered an attempt to use the central bank digital currency (CBDC) in a fraud and money laundering case, according to local media reports... More