Apple Pay users across the US will soon be able to make peer-to-peer (P2P) money transfers to friends and family using a new feature set to be integrated into Apple’s iMessage platform through the latest iOS 11 operating system... More
PARTNER NEWS: Rambus is working with Google and Canada’s Interac Association to enable support for Interac debit cards on Android Pay following its launch in the country earlier this month... More
Xiaomi and Apple tie for the top position as the wearables market swells 17.9% during the first quarter, according to IDC — International Data Corporation — “The worldwide wearables market maintained its upward trajectory during the first quarter of 2017 (1Q17) with Xiaomi and Apple leading all companies and multiple products experiencing double- and triple-digit growth.”
UnionPay mobile QuickPass QR code payment landed in Hong Kong and Singapore — UnionPay International — “After UnionPay mobile QuickPass QR code payment was launched on May 27 in mainland China, UnionPay International announced today to extend this service to Hong Kong and Singapore… The newly launched QR code payment is a significant supplement to NFC payment.”
More than half of all card-present transactions conducted globally (52.4%) between January and December 2016 used the EMV chip card standard, up from 35.8% for the same period in 2015, standards body EMVCo has revealed... More
Customers of Russian mobile network operator MTS can now make NFC-based mobile payments and access loyalty points and exclusive offers using an updated version of the carrier’s MTS Money Wallet, which made its debut in February 2017... More
Android Pay has launched in Taiwan, taking the mobile payment service to a total of 13 markets following its debut in Canada earlier this week... More
Android Pay has begun rolling out across Canada with support for eligible Visa and Mastercard credit cards from BMO Bank of Montreal, CIBC, Banque Nationale, Scotiabank, Desjardins, President’s Choice Financial, ATB Financial and Canadian Tire Financial Services as well as prepaid Scotiabank and Desjardins cards... More
PARTNER NEWS: Customers of French bank Crédit Agricole can now make host card emulation (HCE) based mobile payments using a new version of the bank’s mobile app ‘Ma Carte’ and Paylib, an online payment acceptance brand supported by France’s main banks... More
Makati launches digital payments card for gov’t transactions, purchases — Rappler — “The Makatizen Card, launched by the city government in partnership with Globe and iBayad, functions as an ATM card and a valid government ID… It comes with a near-field communication (NFC) feature that allows city offices equipped with iBayad machine readers to verify the identity of residents and city government employees.”
Travel for free on the tube using a Lucozade bottle — Silicon — “Free Lucozade bottles with a contactless chip at the base will be handed out at Oxford Circus station and can be used to pay for a single journey on London’s subterranean railway network. Passengers simply tap the bottle at the gates as if they were using a normal card.”
Contactless donation points have been set up across the UK city of Bristol to let passersby donate £2 (US$2.57) to the Safer off the Streets (SOS) initiative by tapping their contactless card against the contactless terminals housed inside the units. More
Debit cards set to overtake cash in 2018, three years earlier than expected — Payments UK — “Rapid growth in the use of contactless cards means cash will be overtaken as Britain’s most frequently used payment method by the end of 2018… By 2018, when debit cards are forecast to overtake cash, 13.4 billion debit card payments are predicted, of which 4.6 billion (or one in three) are expected to be contactless.”
PARTNER NEWS: A 10-page guide that explores how Samsung Pay works and its key benefits is now available to download from the NFC World Knowledge Centre... More
More than 2bn chip cards were shipped globally by Smart Payment Association (SPA) members in 2016, representing an increase of 4% from 2015, the trade body reveals, with contactless cards accounting for more than 50% of shipments in most regions... More
Samsung Pay has gone live in Hong Kong with support from Mastercard, Visa and American Express and banks including Bank of China (Hong Kong), Citibank, DahSing Bank, DBS and Standard Chartered. The launch takes the mobile payment service to a total of 17 markets globally and follows its debut in Taiwan earlier this month. More
Hangzhou buses first to all use mobile pay — China.org.cn — “‘Passengers can use Alipay and UnionPay flash payment cards on this terminal. Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, Huawei Pay, Mi Pay and Android Pay can be used with smartphones or wearables like watches and electronic bracelets,’ said Liu Xiaojie, general manager of public services at Ant Financial.”
Double Olympic champion and professional boxer Nicola Adams and TV presenter Jake Humphrey have unveiled car manufacturer Hyundai’s Contactless Car at London’s King’s Cross station, allowing passersby to donate to the Stand Up To Cancer charity with a tap of their contactless card or NFC mobile phone. More
Some 560m NFC secure elements will be shipped worldwide in 2017, representing a 12% increase from 2016, smart security industry association Eurosmart reveals. A total of 495m NFC secure elements were shipped in 2015, which increased by 1% in 2016 to reach 500m units. More
Tipping point for Apple Pay as majority of UK tills accept limitless payments — The Telegraph — “Jennifer Bailey, the head of Apple’s payments business, said over half of contactless payment terminals in the UK are now able to take Apple Pay transactions of any value. The company says Apple Pay transactions in the UK have grown by 300pc in the last year, with 23 banks now supporting the service.”