Android Pay has launched in Ireland with support from Visa and Mastercard and banks AIB and KBC with “more banks being added in the coming months”, Google’s Pali Bhat writes... More
Contactless
Austrian bank deploys NFC-ready ATMs
Austria’s Raiffeisen Bank Group has signed a deal to install 1,200 Diebold Nixdorf ATMs in its branches equipped with QR code scanners and NFC readers... More
Apple Pay launches in Spain
Apple Pay has been officially launched in Spain, with Apple developing partnerships with Banco Santander, payment giants American Express and Mastercard, retailer Carrefour and prepaid meal payment service Ticket Restaurant... More
American Express launches NFC mobile payments in Canada
American Express cardholders across Canada can now make NFC mobile payments using Amex Pay, a new feature added to the Amex App... More
Apple Pay offered for HSBC Singapore customers
Apple Pay is now available for HSBC Singapore customers holding Visa and MasterCard credit cards, allowing them to make payments in stores with Visa payWave or MasterCard contactless payment terminals... More
Android Pay launches with single bank support in New Zealand
Android Pay is launching in New Zealand initially only for customers of BNZ bank who own a Visa Flexi debit card... More
Dutch bank launches HCE mobile payments app
Dutch bank ABN Amro has launched a mobile payments app for Android using host card emulation (HCE) technology, allowing customers to make purchases up to €2,500 (US$2,659) each day with smartphones running Android 5.0 or higher... More
Off the cuff mobile payments from British fashion brand
British accessories brand Tovi Sorga is working with Barclaycard to include contactless payment chips to their wallet cuff range, allowing wearers to make purchases across the UK... More
JustGiving to aid contactless donations
Online donation platform JustGiving has showcased a prototype for a TapDonate mobile app in collaboration with UK charity Bloodwise that will enables contactless card donations to be made to charities through PayPal Here... More
Samsung Pay adds Singapore transport payments with EZ-Link
Samsung Pay users in Singapore can add their EZ-Link NFC SIM cards to compatible Samsung devices and pay for public transport as well as retail purchases, in the same way as they would using their plastic EZ-Link contactless transit card... More
Apple Pay advertising sparks strong rise in contactless payments at vending machines
Digital advertising promoting the availability of Apple Pay at unattended vending machines has resulted in a 36.5% increase in overall sales for cashless vending machine technology provider USA Technologies (USAT) as well as a 135.2% increase in NFC mobile payments, a six-month study now available to download from the NFC World Knowledge Centre reveals... More
Barclays pilots cash withdrawals using NFC mobile phones and contactless cards
UK bank Barclays has begun piloting a contactless mobile cash service that will enable customers to withdraw cash with a tap of their NFC mobile phones or contactless debit card... More
Criminals reported to have used NFC mobile phones in Tesco Bank attack
UPDATE The criminals behind a Tesco Bank attack used NFC mobile phones to launder money stolen during a theft that saw about 9,000 customers affected by fraudulent transactions worth an estimated £2.5m (US$3.1m), according to a report in The Sunday Times... More
Optus adds smart coffee cup to contactless payments range
Australian mobile network operator Optus has updated its range of contactless payment accessories to include a SmartCup — a coffee cup that includes the new Optus Pay PayTag in its base allowing consumers to make contactless payments up to US$100 at any payment terminal that accepts Visa PayWave... More
LotteCard to use Gemalto contactless stickers for NFC mobile payments
PARTNER NEWS: Korean credit card network LotteCard is using digital security giant Gemalto’s Optelio Contactless Stickers to allow its customers to make NFC mobile payments at 35,000 stores throughout South Korea... More
Android Pay launches in Poland
Android Pay has begun rolling out across Poland, allowing consumers with compatible devices to make payments at more than 400,000 retail locations in the country that accept contactless payments... More
UK bank celebrates blockchain contactless payments trial
Metro Bank in the UK has successfully trialled a blockchain retail payment system, allowing consumers to make purchases from merchants equipped with contactless terminals, with merchant and consumer balances updated in real time... More
US Payments Forum to study mobile and contactless payments
The US Payments Forum is creating the Mobile and Contactless Payments Working Committee, to explore mobile and contactless payment opportunities and challenges, identify solutions, and share guidance and best practice... More
Banca Intesa launches HCE mobile payments in Serbia
Customers of Serbia’s Banca Intesa — a subsidiary of Italian banking group Intesa Sanpaolo — have become the first in the Balkan country to be able to make host card emulation (HCE) based mobile payments, using their Visa debit cards at any contactless terminal... More
Half of European cards contactless by 2021
Half of all European cards will be contactless by 2021 and the volume of contactless payments will rise more than six-fold between 2015 and 2021 to almost 25bn — equivalent to 22% of all payments on European cards — RBR reveals... More