Passengers on New York subway and bus services have tapped their contactless bank card or mobile wallet to pay their fares using the Omny open loop fare payment system more than 50m times since the service launched in May 2019, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has announced... More
The UK is to increase the limit for contactless transactions from £45 (US$63) to £100 (US$140), the UK Treasury has announced... More
Passengers using public transport across the Swedish capital of Stockholm can now make tokenized contactless payments for single adult fares on metro, rail, bus, tram and boat services by tapping their debit or credit card or smartphone at a ticket reader... More
The total value of the global plastic cards market has fallen by US$3bn over the course of the Covid-19 pandemic, with the number manufactured worldwide falling by 19.7% from 37.1bn in 2019 to 29.8bn in 2020, according to the International Card Manufacturers Association (ICMA)... More
BNP Paribas Visa Premier card customers will soon have the option of upgrading to a biometric payment card for an additional fee of €24 (US$29) a year, the French bank has revealed... More
Nine in ten card payments made in UK stores during 2020 (88.6%) were contactless and the average contactless user made 141 transactions worth a total of £1,640 (US$2,241) over the course of the year, according to Barclaycard... More
The UK could increase the limit for contactless transactions from £45 (US$61) to £100 (US$136), according to reports in the British press... More
Passengers using public transportation in the Dutch capital city of Amsterdam will soon be able to pay their fares using a contactless debit or credit card, an NFC mobile phone or via a QR code... More
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
