Sweden’s central bank The Riksbank has completed the second phase of its e-krona central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot and demonstrated that the blockchain-based technical solution it is testing can be integrated into existing banking and payments infrastructure... More
Apple Pay is the most popular payments app with Generation Z teenagers in the USA, followed by Venmo in second place, Square’s Cash App in third and PayPal fourth, according to a survey published by Piper Sandler investment bank... More
The European Commission has launched a targeted consultation on the expected impact of a digital euro on key industries, institutions, consumers, merchants and other stakeholders in international trade... More
Uber is to enable users in the UK to purchase train, coach and plane tickets for long-distance journeys within its mobile app as part of a plan to create a ‘superapp’ that offers “a one-stop shop for travel”... More
Qatar’s Ministry of Transport and Communications is to roll out an automated fare collection system as part of its Sila multimodal public transportation project that will enable passengers to make contactless payments for metro, bus, tram and taxi journeys with their debit or credit card, their Sila transit card or from their mobile device... More
Residents of Jamaica can now open a digital wallet that supports the country’s Jam-Dex central bank digital currency (CBDC) as the Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) prepares to launch the CBDC during the April to June quarter... More
European consumers consider the ability to make instant contactless payments, including person-to-person transfers, to be a priority and “a very important selling point” for a digital euro, according to European Central Bank (ECB) research... More
Apple has launched a project to develop its own payment processing technology and infrastructure for future financial products and services including buy now, pay later instalment payments for Apple Pay, credit checking and risk assessment, according to media reports... More
Google Pay users in India can now choose to make in-store mobile payments with their Android NFC smartphone directly from their bank account using the country’s Unified Payment Interface (UPI) real-time mobile payments service... More
Drivers can now enter and exit Apcoa car parks in 13 European countries and make in-car payments for their parking via their vehicle’s infotainment screen without needing to collect a ticket or stop at a pay station... More
Apple Pay and Google Pay are suspending support for contactless mobile payments made using Mir cards issued by Russia’s National Payment Card System (NSPK)... More
Devotees will soon be able to make contactless offerings and other charitable payments at some 536 Hindu temples across India using a QR code-based payment system being piloted by the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department... More
The Bank of International Settlements and the central banks of Australia, Malaysia and Singapore have completed a joint project to develop a shared platform that could facilitate direct cross-border transactions between institutions using different central bank digital currencies (CBDCs)... More
Gyeonggi-do Province Transportation Bureau in South Korea has officially launched a ‘tagless’ fare payment system that uses Bluetooth technology to detect a Bluetooth signal from a passenger’s smartphone when they board and alight from the vehicle and then automatically charges their pre- or post-paid transit card for their fare... More
The Bank of Ghana (BOG) is to pilot a two-tier token-based retail central bank digital currency (CBDC) that can be used with either a digital wallet app managed by a financial institution or a physical hardware wallet such as a contactless smart card that can be used offline and by unbanked consumers... More
The total transaction values of contactless payments made using a smart device processed by retail and commercial clients of South Africa’s First National Bank (FNB) has increased from R640m (US$43m) in 2020 to “in excess” of R4.2bn (US$3bn) in 2021, the bank reports... More
China has issued an update to the pilot version of its digital yuan wallet app for Apple users that is “adapted to the iOS 15.4 system changes” released this week, and has uncovered an attempt to use the central bank digital currency (CBDC) in a fraud and money laundering case, according to local media reports... More
Apple Pay has launched in Argentina and Peru with support for Mastercard and Visa cards issued by six banks in Argentina and five in Peru. It has confirmed the service is now live in both countries. More
US President Joe Biden has signed an executive order (EO) “outlining the first ever, whole-of-government approach to addressing the risks and harnessing the potential benefits of digital assets and their underlying policy” including the possible issuance of a US central bank digital currency (CBDC), the White House says... More
The Banco Central do Brasil (BCB) has named the partner organisations that will support the next phase of its central bank digital currency (CBDC) project... More