Cambridge Consultants has unveiled an interactive drinks bar that uses NFC to add a new element to the experience of ordering drinks in a busy bar environment... More
Spain’s CaixaBank has unveiled ‘all in one’, a 3,000sqm bank branch in Barcelona that showcases the latest financial technology experiences — including NFC check-ins and facial recognition ATMs... More
Discover is to begin issuing contactless payment cards “for most” of its Discover It and Discover More cardmembers “who need cards reissued or replaced” this month and, from December, will start issuing contactless cards to new Discover cardholders... More
A new open banking system which is set to cut transaction fees by 90% has now entered pilot testing, Korea’s Financial Services Commission (FSC) has announced... 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
US fast food restaurant giant Chick-fil-A has launched a mobile ordering service that lets customers place food orders with their mobile phone and then tap a numbered NFC tag on their table to confirm where they are sitting so that their meal can be brought directly to their seat... More
American Express, Discover, Mastercard and Visa have gone live with an online checkout service that lets merchants add a single buy button to their sites to accept payments from any of the networks’ cardholders — without them first needing to create an account with the merchant or enter detailed payment data... More
PARTNER NEWS: Food giant Kraft Heinz is using tamper resistant NXP NFC tags for an innovative marketing campaign that lets customers tap their NFC phone to a tag incorporated into product packaging for a chance to win a gift card — but only if they have first purchased the product and opened the packet... More
Banks are at risk of losing up to 15% of global payments revenue, valued at US$280bn, due to “the growth of digital payments and competition from non-banks”, Accenture predicts — but they also have the opportunity to capture US$500bn in new payments-related revenues “if they adopt innovative business models”... More
Böen Wines is to use NFC tags incorporated into all its bottle caps to let customers easily access information about where and how their wine was made, get advice on food pairings and “share their own experiences with Böen within the platform and via social media”... More
Mastercard enables luxury shoppers to purchase with confidence — Mastercard — “Consumers will be able to shop the exclusive Rodarte pieces at Fred Segal Sunset with the ability to scan a QR code on the garment’s tag to trace each step of the product journey. Consumers who purchase from Fred Segal’s online store can learn more about the product journey and verify authenticity by scanning the QR code when their package arrives at home.”
Amorim combats counterfeiting with NFC-enabled corks — The Spirits Business — “Leading cork producer Amorim has released a new range of bartop stoppers, which incorporate near field communication (NFC) technology to tackle counterfeiting… NFC-enabled phones will be able to access additional information such as serving and mixing suggestions, product information, promotional campaigns and competitions.”
The collaboration of six Nordic banks results in a joint KYC company — SEB Group — “The joint venture company is preparing for its first commercial launch in 2020. The company is autonomous and will initially offer KYC services to the market concerning large and medium-sized companies based in the Nordic region.”
Customer and cashier education, experience and communication at the point of sale (POS) are all key factors that need to be addressed to boost contactless payments adoption in the US and overcome the currently fragmented experience, according to the US Payments Forum... More
Asian communications group Singtel has opened a cashless, unmanned pop-up store that uses face recognition and personalization to let customers select, purchase and leave with high-value goods including new phones and accessories... More
NFC tags represent an “enormous growth opportunity” and are now “ready for the mainstream”, according to a new forecast by ABI Research which is available to download free of charge from the NFC World Knowledge Centre... More
US wedding planning and list specialist Zola says using NFC in its bricks and mortar pop-up store in New York City has helped to bring the showroom to life and been well received by its customers who use it to build their wedding gift lists... More
Convenience and not having to carry physical cash or cards are the two primary reasons behind the mass adoption of mobile payments in South Korea, where a new poll has found that 79.1% of consumers have used a mobile payments service at least once in the past six months... More
Swiss mountain sports equipment brand Mammut has launched a mobile app that uses NFC to support retailers that stock its products and provide “a new way of bringing emotional and interactive product information to the consumer”... More
Sports retailer Decathlon is using a combination of RFID tags and mobile payments to enable customers to use self-checkout kiosks at its newest store in Singapore without needing to scan the barcodes on the items they have placed in their shopping basket... More