Android Pay has launched in Belgium with support for Mastercard and Visa credit cards from BNP Paribas Fortis, Hello Bank... More
Belgium becomes tenth country to go live with Android Pay
Contactless
Apple Pay goes live in Ireland with support from Mastercard, Visa and two banks
Apple Pay has been launched across Ireland with support from Mastercard, Visa, KBC and Ulster Bank, allowing customers to make in-store, online and in-app payments using their compatible devices... More
Contactless payments tripled in the UK last year
British consumers made contactless transactions to the value of £25bn (US$30.6bn) last year, up from £7.75bn (US$9.48bn) in 2015, The UK Cards Association reports... More
Wristbands for contactless payments given away at MWC
Giesecke & Devrient (G&D) and Spain’s CaixaBank have distributed prepaid wristbands to visitors to Mobile World Congress in Barcelona which let them make contactless payments... More
UK sees 250% rise in NFC mobile payments in stores
The number of mobile transactions as a percentage of all in-store transactions has grown by 247% in the UK over the last year, analysis of transaction data and a consumer survey conducted by payments processor Worldpay has found. Workers paying for lunch on the go and payments for drinks in bars are the main drivers of the increase in transaction volume. More
Huawei includes NFC payments in new smartwatch
Huawei has unveiled a new smartwatch at Mobile World Congress that supports NFC payments... More
NXP reveals secure element and NFC solution that speeds transaction times, increases security and supports smaller form factors
PARTNER NEWS: A new embedded secure element and NFC solution from NXP will make it possible for mobile transactions to be conducted at the same speed as contactless card transactions... More
Barclaycard adds contactless payments to watches and fashion jewellery
Barclaycard’s bPay contactless payment technology is to be embedded into a range of high street jewellery and watch brands across the UK through new partnerships with fashion jewellery retailer DCK Group and payment technology provider for the watches and jewellery industry Tappy Technologies... More
STMicroelectronics announces new NFC devices for contactless payments and IoT
PARTNER NEWS: STMicroelectronics has released a new set of NFC devices for contactless payments and data exchange, including the ST21NFCD NFC controller and ST54 Systems in Packages containing the controller and an embedded Secure Element (eSE)... More
Apple and Samsung boost Russian interest in virtual cards
The launch of Apple Pay and Samsung Pay in Russia helped to produce a fivefold increase in the number of consumers using online payment service Yandex.Money to pay for goods and services in 2016, Vedemosti reports... More
TfL and Barclaycard to extend contactless network
Transport for London (TfL) is aiming to extend contactless payments on its network to further areas outside of the capital, after Barclaycard announced it has retained its contract to provide payment processing solutions to TfL for at least another seven years... More
Russian mobile network MTS launches first phase of Money Wallet payments, transfer and loyalty service
Russian mobile network operator MTS has launched MTS Money Wallet, an online payments and money transfer service that incorporates loyalty points, offers and discounts, and is to be expanded to transport and in-store payments via NFC, SMS and USSD technologies later this year... More
Jaguar brings in-car fuel payments to Shell service stations
Luxury car maker Jaguar has begun integrating a mobile payments system into its vehicles, allowing drivers to use PayPal or Apple Pay to pay for fuel at Shell service stations using an app and the touchscreen found inside their vehicle... More
Australia’s retailers join the banks in their battle with Apple Pay
The Australian Retailers Association (ARA) has come out in support of the group of four Australian banks seeking stronger negotiation powers with Apple over the introduction of Apple Pay in the country, saying they believe access to the NFC functionality in the iPhone would allow retailers to provide “a richer and more convenient customer experience”... More
Singapore’s Nets network moves to mobile payments
Singapore electronic payments network Nets is to go “digital and contactless” within the coming weeks... More
Chinese mobile payments rise for Lunar New Year
The volume of payments made by Chinese consumers during the 2017 Lunar New Year holiday using their smartphones and China UnionPay’s contactless payment service “increased nearly 21-fold, year on year,” news agency Xinhua reports... More
Smart Benches offer Londoners chance to make contactless charity donations
Ten Smart Benches have been installed across London to enable passersby to donate £2 (US$3) to Cancer Research UK with a tap of their contactless debit or credit card. The Smart Bench network is currently being piloted in two boroughs in the city, with a further 90 benches to be permanently rolled out later this year. More
France to increase contactless limit to €30
The contactless spending limit in France will increase from €20 (US$21) to €30 (US$32) at the end of this year... More
Contactless tins triple charity donations
The average size of donations made to a UK charity using contactless collection tins was more than three times larger than the average cash donation, The Telegraph reports... More
Australian festival goers trial contactless sunglasses for payments
Festival goers at the St Jerome’s Laneway Festival taking place across five Australian cities are trialling prototype sunglasses that let them make contactless payments by tapping them against a contactless POS terminal... More