Customers of Turkish bank Garanti BBVA can now apply for a mobile-first credit card which combines a mobile wallet that supports QR and mobile payments with a ‘blank’ physical card that comes without a printed credit card number, expiration date or CVC code printed on it... More
Customers of Singapore’s United Overseas Bank (UOB) can now use its UOB Mighty mobile banking app to add their debit and credit card details directly to third-party apps, avoiding the need to separately enter their card details and providing an additional reason for customers to engage with their banking app... More
The weekly volume of mobile wallet debit card transactions in the USA has increased by 70.3% compared with this time last year, while weekly mobile wallet credit card transactions have grown by 50.4% over the same period, according to the PSCU’s latest Tracking Transaction Trends report... More
Passengers on Adelaide Metro’s tram network can now make contactless fare payments with their credit or debit card or their tap-and-pay digital wallet without needing a metroCARD transit card or using cash... More
Holders of Vanquis Bank’s credit-builder credit cards in the UK can now make instant payments into their account from any major UK bank without using a debit card and receive instant updates on their available credit via the Vanquis mobile banking app... More
Westpac switches on Apple Pay for customers — Westpac — “Apple Pay is now available for Westpac customers with an eligible Mastercard debit or credit card, or eftpos Handycard… Debit card holders can now choose the payment option linked to their card when they pay with Apple Pay, including ‘Mastercard Debit’, ‘eftpos CHQ’ and ‘eftpos SAV’.”
US credit card payment volumes decreased by 7% in March 2020 compared with March 2019, Visa has reported, while cross-border transaction volumes have fallen 19%... More
WeChat Pay now lets you Quick Pay with your credit card — SoyaCincau — “If you don’t have sufficient eWallet balance, you can now pay directly via your assigned credit card… To make a payment at a store, tap on ‘Me’ in the WeChat app and select WeChat Pay > Quick Pay. On the QR code screen, just tap on ‘Balance’ to change your payment mode from your eWallet balance to your credit card… When the merchant scans your code, the transaction amount will be charged to your credit card and it won’t deduct your eWallet balance.”
Swiss bank Cornèr Banca has launched a biometric payment card that lets customers make contactless payments without being restricted to the usual CHF40 (US$40) contactless transaction limit... More
Customers of Canada’s CIBC bank can now replace a lost or stolen credit card “in a few simple steps through mobile or online banking and instantly use the new card with their mobile wallet before the physical card arrives”... More
Uber announces deeper push into financial services with Uber Money — CNBC — “The company announced on Monday the formation of a new division called Uber Money to house its efforts, which include a digital wallet and upgraded debit and credit cards. The emphasis, at first, will be expanding Uber’s efforts to give its four million-plus drivers and couriers around the world access to a mobile bank account so they can get paid after each ride. Uber could one day offer a bank account to consumers on its platform, according to Uber Money head Peter Hazlehurst.”
Gautrain, the commuter rail service that connects the South African cities of Johannesburg and Pretoria, is to let passengers use their contactless bank cards to pay for their journeys by tapping on and off the service from 31 October... More
Samsung’s NFC phone-based contactless payments acceptance service is now live in Canada and is to be introduced globally “starting in 2020”, the company has announced... More
A major investigation into US consumers’ attitudes to mobile payments has found that concerns over how well they would be protected against loss should an issue arise is now the major barrier to widespread adoption of the technology... More
The UK’s NatWest bank has begun a three-month pilot of a biometric credit card that enables customers to make contactless transactions of up to £100 (US$123) instead of the usual maximum value of £30 (US$37)... More
Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) has launched a major initiative designed to persuade consumers to move away from paying in cash, by providing a rebate whenever they use a card or mobile phone to make a purchase at any of 500,000 merchants across the country... More
“In the last 12 months alone, we’ve grown more than three times to 67 million monthly active users, driving transactions worth over US$110bn on an annualised basis, with hundreds of thousands of offline and online merchants,” Caesar Sengupta, vice president of Google’s next billion users initiative, has revealed... More
Apple Pay has added the country of Georgia to the list of nations where the mobile payments service is available... More
Apple has instructed its Apple Card issuing partner Goldman Sachs “to approve as many of its 100 million-plus iPhone users in the US as possible” for its new credit card “within the bounds of regulations and responsible lending,” CNBC reports... More
Mumbai bus operator BEST is to begin a pilot of India’s ‘One Nation One Card’ national transit card system in November this year... More
