Facebook picks Brazil for first commercial rollout of WhatsApp payments
WhatsApp users in Brazil can now make payments to local merchants and send money to friends and contacts “without leaving their chat”... More
Debit
Octopus lets Hong Kong commuters add their transit card to iPhone and Apple Watch
Octopus transit card holders can now use their iPhone or Apple Watch to pay their fares and make purchases at 35,000 retail outlets across Hong Kong that accept Octopus for payments... More
Pulse reports on US uptake of mobile debit card payments
2018 Debit Issuer Study finds improved issuer performance, lower fraud losses — Pulse — “86% of responding issuers support at least one mobile payment option, up from 74% in the previous study… Cardholder enrollment in mobile programs doubled in the last year. However, transactions initiated with a mobile wallet represented only 0.6% of in-store debit card purchases in 2017, compared to 0.3% in 2016.”
UK to move beyond ‘peak cash’ this year
Revealed: Cash eclipsed as Britain turns to digital payments — The Guardian — “Debit cards are set to overtake cash as the most frequently used payment method in the UK later this year… In 2006, 62% of all payments in the UK were made using cash; in 2016 the proportion had fallen to 40%. By 2026, it is predicted cash will be used for just 21%.”
Australian banks ordered to cut contactless transaction fees
‘Let shoppers choose Eftpos’: Banks ordered to overhaul paywave systems by April — news.com.au — “Australia’s banks have been given a deadline of April next year to reduce fees charged on tap-and-go payments by giving customers the option of choosing Eftpos instead of credit… ‘It’s estimated that processing tap-and-go transactions through credit cards instead of Eftpos costs businesses A$290 [US$220m] million a year.'”
Eftpos brings Apple Pay debit payments to Australia with Rambus tokenization technology
PARTNER NEWS: ANZ has become the first bank in Australia to enable customers to use Apple Pay to make mobile payments using the country’s Eftpos national debit payments network... More
Mobile payment usage ‘remains low’, US debit card study finds
“Combined, Apple Pay, Android Pay and Samsung Pay account for only about one quarter of 1% of US debit transactions,” the annual Debit Issuer Study from debit and ATM network Pulse has found, while the country’s move to EMV chip cards has cut debit card fraud loss rates but “fraud continues to challenge issuers.”... More
Canadian credit unions to launch HCE mobile payments using Interac TSP
Customers of four Canadian credit unions will be able to make host card emulation (HCE) based mobile payments at Interac Flash contactless terminals across the country from this spring... More
Canada’s Interac debit network launches tokenization service
Canadian debit network Interac has unveiled its own token generation and management service that will enable financial institutions, merchants and its partners to build and manage secure digital payment experiences with support for tokenized digital debit transactions on any device or mobile wallet... More
Spanish supermarket chain Bonpreu rolls out mobile payments to 170 stores
Spanish supermarket chain Bonpreu is to roll out a mobile payments service to 170 stores, using a platform developed by Dinube that combines proprietary tokenization algorithms, NFC and biometric fingerprint security... More
MasterCard extends tokenization platform
MasterCard is to extend its tokenization services to merchants with in-app, ecommerce and recurring billing card-on-file programs as well as to private label credit cards... More
Visa Europe to participate in Apple Pay UK launch
Visa Europe has confirmed that it will play a part in the the UK launch of Apple Pay and will give debit, credit and reloadable prepaid cardholders access to the payment system... More
Finnish banks add HCE payments to Pivo mobile wallet
Finland’s largest financial services group is to add support for HCE payments to the mobile wallet app it introduced two years ago... More
UK to increase contactless transaction limit by 50%
The spending limit for contactless transactions is to be increased from £20 (US$30) to £30 (US$46) in September 2015, The UK Cards Association has told NFC World. The move follows the news last week that contactless card usage surged in the UK in 2014 to 319.2m transactions with total spend more than trebling to a record £2.32bn. More
Dynamic mag stripe card Swyp goes on pre-order
Start-up Qvivr has begun taking pre-orders for Swyp, a US$49 dynamic magnetic stripe card that uses Bluetooth LE, incorporates buttons and a display and works in conjunction with a smartphone app to emulate up to 25 credit, debit, gift or loyalty cards... More
Wirecard to offer white label HCE wristband
The HCE wristband unveiled by technology provider Wirecard earlier this month is to be offered on a white label basis, Joern Leogrande, the company’s EVP of mobile services, has told NFC World+... More
RBC adds HCE to mobile payments app
Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) has added support for host card emulation (HCE) to its RBC mobile app, “allowing Canadians to pay with most Android mobile phones without worrying about being on the right mobile network or having the right SIM card.”... More
Brooklyn Nets launch mobile wallet
American Express has partnered with New York basketball team Brooklyn Nets to pilot Brooklyn eWallet, a digital payment solution integrated into the team’s mobile app that lets fans buy food and drink with their mobile phone at any event held at the Barclays Center arena... More
Orange Poland adds debit cards to NFC platform
Orange Poland has launched NFC Pass, a new service that builds on its existing Orange Cash platform to enable customers to make debit card payments using their NFC phone... More
MeaWallet to launch mobile payments platform that supports NFC, BLE and QR
MeaWallet, a white label solution that supports mobile payments via NFC, Bluetooth LE, host card emulation (HCE), QR and more, is to be launched in May this year, enabling retailers, banks, MNOs and service providers to support a wide range of options for making mobile purchases in stores ... More
