Japan-based payments network JCB is to run an in-store central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot that uses existing contactless payment cards, point of sale (POS) hardware and softPOS payment acceptance technology installed on mobile devices... More
Digital payments
Polish retail chain trials biometric payments
Customers purchasing laptops, tablets, smartphones and accessories from a branch of Polish retail chain Komputronik in the city of Wroclaw can now pay for their purchases using a biometric payments system that uses a combination of iris and face recognition technology... More
US arena extends support for biometric palm payments across food and drink concessions
Fans attending sports matches, concerts and other events at Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena in the US state of Washington can now opt to pay for their purchases with their palm at three additional food and drink outlets across the venue... More
People’s Bank of China reports on digital yuan uptake
The digital yuan has been used to make 360m transactions worth a total of more than 100bn yuan (US$14bn) since China began piloting the central bank digital currency (CBDC) in December 2019, up from total cumulative transaction values worth 87.6bn yuan (US$12bn) at the end of 2021, according to the People’s Bank of China (PBOC)... More
India to pilot digital rupee for payments in stores
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is to build a prototype digital rupee and test it in a range of scenarios and use cases as part of its “phased implementation strategy” for introducing a central bank digital currency (CBDC)... More
Green Payments to let consumers pay by fingerprint at US stores
Merchants across the US will soon be able to accept biometric payments authenticated by a customer’s fingerprint using a point-of-sale (POS) solution launched by payment processing provider Green Payments... More
ABN Amro trials integrated digital identity and payments app
Consumers hiring bicycles from micromobility provider Swapfiets are the first to be able to sign up for a new service from Dutch bank ABN Amro that enables them to use a single app to create a digital ID and then use it both to sign up and to pay for third-party services... More
EU confirms plans to table digital euro legislation in 2023
The European Commission is planning to propose the legislation required for the introduction of the digital euro as a central bank digital currency issued by the European Central Bank (ECB) in 2023, EU commissioner Mairead McGuinness has confirmed... More
BP and MAN to pilot in-vehicle contactless payments for truck drivers
Petrol retailer BP and truck and bus manufacturer MAN are teaming up to pilot in-vehicle contactless payments at fuel stations across the UK... More
Visa reports rapid growth in contactless fare payments worldwide
Visa has processed more than 1bn contactless fare payments on transit systems around the world over a period of 10 months, signalling “rapid growth” in the uptake of digital payment options, the card network reports... More
EMVCo to keynote Contactless World Congress
EMVCo’s director of engagement and operations and the chair of the EMVCo Board of Managers will be making a virtual keynote presentation on the future of contactless payments at Contactless World Congress on 7 September at 3pm BST/10am EDT... More
Nearly a third of all payments in the UK are now contactless
Nearly one in three of all payments in the UK were made using contactless cards or with a smartphone or smart watch in 2021 (32%), a rise of 36% compared with transaction volumes in 2020, according to figures from UK Finance... More
Nearly 50% of payments for purchases from vending machines in the US are now contactless
The proportion of contactless payments made for purchases from vending machines in the US increased from 18% of all transactions in January 2021 to 43% in October 2021, has now reached 48% and “could grow by another 12%” by the end of this year, a new study reveals... More
Shell lets motorists make hands-free contactless fuel payments at the pump with RFID
Motorists in Malaysia can now purchase and place an RFID tag in their vehicle that allows them to make hands-free contactless payments for fuel directly from a digital wallet using RFID-enabled fuelling bays at nearly 90 Shell fuel stations across the country without needing to use their mobile phone or payment card... More
Nine in ten users give Moscow Metro’s Face Pay biometric contactless fare payment system high satisfaction rating
Moscow Metro’s Face Pay biometric contactless fare payment system has achieved “high satisfaction rates” with nearly nine in ten users saying they “appreciate the advantages of the technology and prefer this system to other payment methods” (88%), a survey reveals... More
Football fans trial NFC ‘payment jerseys’ for contactless in-stadium purchases in Mexico
Football fans in Mexico can now make contactless payments from a stored-value digital wallet to buy Corona beer at selected matches at Mexico City’s Azteca Stadium using an NFC chip attached to the inside of a soccer jersey... More
Central banks in five SE Asian countries to create common contactless QR payments zone
The central banks of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand are to develop an interoperable cross-border payments system that will enable residents of each country to use their mobile banking app to make QR code-based payments for goods and services when visiting any of the other territories... More
World Bank reports ‘global surge’ in digital payments during pandemic
The Covid-19 pandemic has driven a “global surge” in digital payments with two-thirds of adults worldwide now making or receiving digital payments, rising from 35% in 2014 to 57% in 2021 in developing economies and from 88% in 2014 to 95% in 2021 in high-income economies, according to the World Bank’s Global Findex 2021 database... More
Apple to roll out contactless in-vehicle fuel payments from the dashboard
Apple CarPlay users will soon be able to activate fuel station pumps and make contactless in-car payments directly from their vehicle’s navigation and infotainment screen using third-party fuelling apps... More
Ireland tops survey of contactless and cashless payments usage across 14 markets
Nearly two-thirds of consumers in Ireland now make contactless payments with a mobile phone, smartwatch or other device (65%) at least once a month compared with an average of just over half of consumers in other countries (55%), a survey has found... More