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
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
The state government of New South Wales in Australia is to expand its digital ID system and enable citizens to store, display and renew a wider range of identity documents and other personal credentials including digital versions of their birth certificate, educational qualifications, seniors card and vocational licences in a digital wallet on their mobile device... More
Consumers in the Berkshires region of western Massachusetts in the US will soon be able to make in-store and online purchases and carry out person-to-person transactions using a digital version of the BerkShares local currency... More
More than 488,000 consumers in Nigeria have downloaded an eNaira digital wallet and conducted transactions worth a total of 62m naira (US$151,000) in the country’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) since its launch in October, according to a Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) spokesman... More
The total number of personal and corporate digital yuan wallets issued in China has risen from 24.5m in July to 140m as of October, an increase of nearly 600%, the People’s Bank of China’s Mu Changchun has revealed... More
Apple Pay has rolled out in Azerbaijan, Colombia and Costa Rica with support for cards issued by Bank Respublika, Unibank, ABB and Kapital Bank in Azerbaijan, Bancolombia and Nu Colombia digital bank in Colombia, and Banco de Costa Rica, Banco Promerica, BAC Credomatic and Scotiabank in Costa Rica... More
Ireland-based patent-holding company Aire Technology has filed a lawsuit against Apple over alleged infringement of patents relating to NFC and digital wallet technologies with the US District Court for the Western District of Texas... More
Passengers travelling on Metrolinx’s Union Pearson (UP) Express airport rail link in the Canadian city of Toronto can now opt to pay their fares with their contactless debit card as part of the transport agency’s trial of its Presto open payment ticketing system... More
The Chinese government is reportedly putting pressure on US-based companies including McDonald’s, Visa and Nike to accept payments in digital yuan before the start of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics... More
Passengers on bus, subway and suburban rail services in the Chinese capital Beijing can now receive a discount and pay as little as 0.01 yuan for their journey if they use the country’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) to pay their fares from a digital yuan mobile wallet issued by the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China... More
Commonwealth Bank of Australia and National Australia Bank as well as supermarket chains Coles and Woolworths and fintechs Azupay, Beem It and Merchant Warrior have confirmed they will support the rollout of the national QR payments and rewards platform developed by Australia’s Eftpos payments system... More
Apple Pay has rolled out in Bahrain with support for Mastercard and Visa cards issued by the National Bank of Bahrain (NBB), Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait (BBK) and ila digital bank... More
Eight in ten (80%) in-person contactless payments made from digital wallets using Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) debit and credit cards are made by tapping an Apple device, the bank has told a government inquiry into mobile payments and digital financial services... More
The South Korean parliament has passed a bill that will require companies such as Apple and Google to allow the use of payment services other than their own proprietary systems for the purchase of digital goods within their app stores... More
Adelaide Metro is to enable passengers to make contactless fare payments with their credit or debit card or their tap-and-pay digital wallet on all its bus, train and tram services in the South Australian state capital... More
Australian consumers can now upload a digital private health insurance card to Apple Wallet and use their iPhone or Apple Watch to make an insurance claim by tapping a healthcare provider’s Health Insurance Claims and Payments Service (HICAPS) terminal... More
An Australian parliamentary committee has held a public hearing at which it heard evidence from representatives of leading Australian banks, payment services providers and other financial bodies on regulatory issues including whether companies such as Apple should be mandated to allow third-party payment apps access to a smartphone’s NFC chip... More
Swiss consumers with a Twint digital wallet will be able to make digital payments with their credit card or directly from their bank account in other European countries from 2022, the Swiss mobile payments service says... More
Nearly 21m (20.87m) personal and 3.51m corporate digital yuan wallets have so far been issued during China’s ongoing trials of its central bank digital currency (CBDC), the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) has revealed... More
