The number of consumers using OEM Pays — mobile payment services delivered by handset manufacturers — such as Apple Pay, Samsung Pay and Android Pay will exceed 100m for the first time during the first half of 2017 and is expected to surpass 150m by the end of the year, Juniper Research reveals, while host card emulation (HCE) adoption is set to rise five-fold over the next four years. More
Consumers across the United Arab Emirates will soon be able to make payments across a “variety of services” using their mobile phone and Empay, a common mobile payment platform based on NFC. The solution forms part of Dubai’s Smart Government Initiative which aims to transform Dubai into the world’s smartest city. More
PayPal users across Asia Pacific will soon be able to make in-store NFC mobile payments in all Visa supporting locations, following an announcement by PayPal and Visa that they are to expand their US payments agreement to the region... More
The group of Australian banks seeking stronger negotiating powers with Apple over the NFC technology within its iPhone handsets have been denied access to it by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) on the grounds that the proposed conduct would “reduce or distort competition in a number of markets” and that the benefits are “outweighed by the detriments”. More
The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority has set out measures it plans to tighten the processes banks undergo when a customer reports a stolen contactless card, which currently allow — in a “limited set of circumstances” — for a stolen card to be misused by fraudsters “several months after it has been cancelled”. More
Mobile POS provider Square has launched in the UK... More
Customers of more than 60 banks belonging to The Bokis Partnership have become the first in Denmark to be offered a mobile payment service for Dankort, the country’s national debit and credit card. The service is available through the mobile apps offered by each of the supporting banks and works on Android handsets through host card emulation (HCE) and on iOS through a Bluetooth acceptance device at the point of sale. More
Significant confusion and a high level of fragmentation can be expected over the next five years as European financial institutions become accustomed to new regulations under the Payment Services Directive (PSD2) which will open the door to new competition within the European payment services market, says Nordea Bank’s vice president of strategic business development, transaction banking and business innovation. More
Fashion brand Ted Baker and Swiss luxury watchmaker Mondaine are to integrate NFC payments into a range of watches to enable customers to make payments using technology supplied by Tappy Technologies, which has also partnered with Barclaycard to offer bPay contactless payment technology in the UK... More
Secure, affordable and dedicated Android NFC devices issued to local agents, farmers and financial institutions in emerging markets are improving the delivery of a wide range of services including branchless banking, know your customer procedures and food aid distribution, according to a 19-page white paper that is now available to download from the NFC World Knowledge Centre. More
Contactless payments accounted for more than half of all transactions made with payment cards in Hungary in 2016, the country’s central bank says... More
South Africa’s First National Bank (FNB) has seen a 270% increase in the number of contactless payments made with its credit cards over the last six months... More
Mastercard cardholders at Polish bank ING Bank Śląski can now make host card emulation (HCE) based mobile payments using a ‘Mastercard on the Phone’ feature inside the My ING app... More
Relying on Android or alternatives to NFC for successful mobile payment services in a country with one of the world’s largest iPhone market shares and high contactless card use is “unrealistic”, the group of Australian banks seeking access to the iPhone’s NFC functionality say in their latest submission to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC)... More
Industry bodies ETSI, GlobalPlatform and the NFC Forum are working together to standardise the implementation and management of NFC services “across all technologies and platforms”... More
Luxury watchmaker Tag Heuer has unveiled the second generation of its connected watch range, powered by Google’s Android Wear 2.0 operating system and offering host card emulation (HCE) payments through Android Pay... More
The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston says awareness of mobile payments “continues to grow” but “more education for consumers and employees” is needed to achieve mass adoption of mobile and digital wallets... More
PARTNER NEWS: STMicroelectronics has combined its ST25R3911B NFC reader IC and its STM32L476RE microcontroller into a discovery kit designed to accelerate time to market for a wide range of contactless applications, including ticketing, asset tracking, device authentication, sensor data collection and access control... More
PARTNER NEWS: Nintendo has integrated a range of advanced semiconductor solutions from STMicroelectronics into the main console and controllers of its latest Nintendo Switch gaming device... More
A digital cash service allowing consumers — including those without bank accounts — to load money onto a range of wearable items and make contactless payments in retail outlets will roll out across “eight or nine countries” in North America, Europe and Africa from April 2017... More