ScotRail is running a trial of pay-as-you-go rail ticketing which enables travellers to load money onto a smart card and use it as a ticket on the company’s trains. The best fare is deducted directly from the card when the traveller taps out of the station at the end of their journey. More
Johns Hopkins University (JHU) has become the fifth university in the US to enable its students to load their campus card onto their iPhone or Apple Watch... More
Although the physical version of Apple’s new credit card does not include support for contactless transactions, cardholders will be able to activate it by simply placing it in close proximity to their iPhone, code in the latest iOS beta release suggests... More
Consumer insights study on German consumers’ preferred payment methods — First Data — “Contrary to the traditional ‘cash being king’ mindset, our study reveals a definite shift in consumer preference to more convenient methods of payments… 42% believe contactless payments are more convenient… 54% of consumers believe cash will become obsolete in a few years, 52% prefer card payments… 61% agree that card payments will become increasingly available.”
Volksbanken and Raiffeisenbanken want to support Apple Pay in 2019 — Heise Online (translation) — “Like the savings banks, the Volksbanks offer their customers their own app for contactless payment transactions in the retail sector. However, it is only available for Android because Apple has not released the NFC interface of the iPhone for such applications. The German savings banks had demanded that Apple should open its NFC functionality to banking apps as recently as the end of 2018, but have now dropped this requirement.”
Contactless card use surges as doubts ease — BBC News — “The number of transactions using contactless rose by 31% in 2018 compared with the previous year, banking trade body UK Finance data shows. Adoption of this technology on public transport and by more retailers has led, in part, to the rise.”
NatWest Bank is to run a trial of fingerprint-on-card authentication allowing a cardholder to make contactless payments above the current level of £30... More
Wearable-only payments are being introduced at three of the bars at Melbourne’s Albert Park race track for this year’s Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix, with plans to expand the service to the entire event in subsequent years... More
New SimplyGo system to let bank cards double up as public transport travel cards — The Straits Times — “Commuters with Mastercard contactless bank cards can use it to pay for public transport rides under a new system to be launched on 4 April 2019. The SimplyGo platform will do away with the need to top up stored-value cards, with fares for rides reflected in commuters’ credit or debit card bills, just like their retail purchases. Visa card holders will get the same convenience later this year.”
India is launching a single card which can be used to pay for travel on all transportation systems across the country... More
The NFC Forum has released a new candidate specification that makes it easy for mobile payments services based on QR codes to add NFC functionality, giving “payment service providers and consumers the opportunity to take advantage of the simple and secure NFC-based payment solutions already in use worldwide.”... More
Beatie Wolfe’s ‘intelligent’ Raw Space album features songs embedded in business cards — Dezeen — “Musician Beatie Wolfe has collaborated with eight graphic designers to create an album of cards that listeners tap against a smartphone to play… Scanning one of the business card-sized boards using a NFC reader app reveals an individual page for the track, which is complete with lyrics, the music video, photos, song notes and information about the card itself.”
Visa and payments hardware specialist Planeta Informatica have come up with an easy way to add contactless payments at public transit turnstiles... More
The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has started final testing of a new contactless ticketing system which it announced in 2017... More
PARTNER NEWS: Hong Kong-based Tappy Technologies offers a range of wearable payments products including watch straps, wristbands and key fobs that come with an embedded contactless payment chip... More
PARTNER NEWS: NXP is adding support for FeliCa, the Japanese variant of NFC, to its NFC chipsets, beginning with a new PN81 series... More
Better security for ID documents: Council Presidency and European Parliament reach provisional agreement — The Council of the European Union — “Under the proposed new rules, identity cards will have to be produced in a uniform, credit card format (ID-1), include a machine-readable zone, and follow the minimum security standards set out by ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organisation). They will also need to include a photo and two fingerprints of the cardholder, stored in a digital format, on a contactless chip.”
Citymapper Pass — Citymapper — “Our Pass on day one will cover public transport, cycles (Santander’s Docked scheme) and cabs (our Citymapper Ride service). Over time we will add other modes and partners such as additional cycle and cab services, car sharing, scooters and well.. whatever else gets invented next… Pass will integrate with Apple Pay and Google Pay so users can decide to use them as virtual cards as well.”
Apple Pay rolling out in Czech Republic and Saudi Arabia — MacRumors — “In Czech Republic, users have so far reported successfully adding cards to their mobile wallets from Air Bank, Moneta Money Bank, Ceska Sporitelna, and payments company Twisto. .. In Saudi Arabia, Apple’s regional Apple Pay website has gone live and lists Visa and Mastercard support for Al Rajhi Bank, NCB, Mada, Riyad Bank, Alinma Bank, and Bank Aljazira.”
Offertory payers — church adopts contactless payments — RTE News — “The archdiocese has already introduced direct debit payments for the ‘family offering’, which was traditionally collected from houses in parish envelopes. Now a pilot scheme is to be introduced in a small number of parishes where card machines will be available at the back of the church for people to make contactless contributions. The archdiocese also plans to roll out card-based payments in the majority of parishes so people can pay for offerings and pilgrimages, as well as sign-up for recurring contributions.”