Apple Pay has launched in Armenia with support for Mastercard and Visa cards issued by Acba Bank, Ardshinbank, Ameriabank, Converse Bank, Inecobank and Unibank... More
Apple Pay goes live in Armenia
Digital payments
Apple Pay to launch in Argentina and Peru ‘soon’
Apple Pay is due to roll out in Argentina and Peru “soon”, according to the payments service’s Latin American website... More
One in four consumers expect to switch to being cashless within two years
One in four consumers globally expect to switch to making cashless payments only within the next two years (25%), while one in two say it will happen in the next 10 years (53%) and 16% say they already solely make digital payments, a survey of consumers and merchants in nine markets worldwide has found... More
China to let visiting athletes and spectators use digital yuan at Beijing Winter Olympics
Overseas athletes and spectators visiting the Beijing Winter Olympics will be among the first foreign nationals to be able to trial China’s digital yuan central bank digital currency (CBDC) at event venues, nearby merchants and inside the Olympic Village... More
China launches digital currency app for Android and Apple users in 10 cities
Android and Apple users in 10 Chinese cities can now download a pilot version of the country’s digital yuan wallet app directly from the iOS and Android app stores that enables them to acquire, store and use China’s central bank digital currency (CBDC)... More
Seven in ten UK debit card transactions are now contactless
Nearly seven in ten debit card transactions (69%) and just over half of all credit card transactions (53%) in the UK are now contactless, according to figures from UK Finance... More
Nayax picks Cilab ci230 to accelerate EMV POS certification
PARTNER NEWS: Award-winning cashless payments provider Nayax has selected Cilab’s ci230 test bench to accelerate its delivery of contactless payments devices conforming to the latest EMVCo standards... More
Moscow Metro rolls out virtual Troika transit card
Moscow Metro has officially launched the digital version of its Troika transit card, enabling Android users to pay their fares on public transport services across the Russian capital by tapping their smartphone at a turnstile or validator... More
Survey reveals ‘sharp difference’ between consumer attitudes to CBDCs in emerging and developed markets
More than nine in 10 consumers in Nigeria (91%) and six in 10 consumers in Indonesia (60%) would be likely to use a central bank digital currency (CBDC) compared with less than 24% in the US and 14% in Germany, according to a report by Giesecke+Devrient and the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum (OMFIF)... More
JR East launches contactless coffee shop with AI-powered robot barista
Rail passengers at Tokyo and Yokohama stations in Japan can now order, collect and pay for coffee made by a six-armed AI-powered robot barista — known as Ella — at a fully automated contactless coffee shop... More
More than half of Asia Pacific consumers make digital payments at least once a week
Nine in 10 consumers in the Asia Pacific region have used mobile payment apps at least once during the past 12 months, while more than half have used digital payment methods at least once a week and a sixth have made a digital payment for the first time since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic (15%), according to research published by Kaspersky... More
Majority of Europeans would be happy with contactless transaction limits of up to €150
The majority of European consumers would feel comfortable with contactless transaction limits of up to €150 (US$169), three times the current European Union limit of €50 (US$56), according to Payments Europe research... More
Santander lets UK customers set own contactless transaction limit
Customers of Santander bank in the UK can now set their own contactless transaction limit lower than the maximum of £100 (US$132) introduced by the UK government in October... More
Google Pay goes live in Israel
Google Pay has launched in Israel with support for cards issued by the country’s major banks and payments card issuers... More
Sydney to trial multimodal Mobility-as-a-Service app with subscription options
Transport for NSW is to pilot a Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) app in Sydney, Australia, that will enable passengers to plan, book and pay for journeys across both private and public transport services and opt to purchase a prepaid multimodal mobility plan... More
More than 67m contactless POS terminals shipped in 2020
Annual shipments of NFC-ready POS terminals reached 67.2m units globally in 2020, bringing the total number to 140.5m or 68% of all POS terminals worldwide, according to Berg Insight... More
Carrefour opens its first contactless store in Paris
France-based supermarket chain Carrefour has opened its first contactless convenience store in Paris that allows customers to walk in, select the items they wish to purchase and pay for them without needing to register or check in at the entrance, download an app or scan their purchases with their mobile device or at a checkout... More
Westpac expands dynamic CVVs to Android phones
Customers of Australia’s Westpac bank with an Android smartphone will soon be able to make payments using a digital card secured by a dynamic card verification code (CVC) that changes every 24 hours... More
US grocery stores trial AI-powered self-checkout shopping carts
Two US stores owned by retail giant Albertsons are trialling a self-checkout shopping trolley that enables customers to select and scan items while they shop, compare products and receive personalised recommendations via an on-cart screen, and pay for their purchases by inserting or tapping their payments card without visiting a checkout... More
Researchers use extended-range NFC to develop smart fabric for multiple use cases
Engineers at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) in the US have used extended-range NFC to produce a battery-free smart fabric that could enable items of clothing to communicate with each other and with nearby electronic devices at distances of “more than four feet”... More