PayPal customers in the US, UK, Australia and Canada can now send money to each other using a PayPal bot on team messaging service Slack... More
Instant messaging (IM)
One in 10 UK consumers have used mobile payments, survey reveals
More than one in 10 (11%) of UK consumers have made an in-store mobile payment and do so occasionally, with 2% doing so “wherever possible”, research from price comparison service uSwitch reveals... More
McDonald’s South Africa pilots QR code mobile payments with WeChat
McDonald’s South Africa is piloting a mobile payment service at select restaurants in Johannesburg and Cape Town using social messaging app WeChat Africa, enabling customers to complete purchases by presenting QR codes generated by the app at the point of sale... More
China’s mobile commerce lead over US revealed in IAB report
China is leading the US when it comes to mobile commerce, with nearly twice as many Chinese consumers making a mobile purchase over the previous 12 months than their American counterparts, a study by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) says... More
Dunkin’ Donuts app gets iMessage gifts and payments
Customers of coffee chain Dunkin’ Donuts can now deliver Dunkin’ Donuts Cards to friends, family and colleagues using Apple’s iMessage, as well as purchase gifts on the instant messaging platform using Apple Pay to complete the payment... More
Yandex.Money adds iMessage transfers
Russian consumers using online payment service Yandex.Money can now send money directly through Apple’s instant messaging service iMessage... More
WhatsApp tests NFC for group invites
Social messaging service WhatsApp has begun testing a service that enables users to send group invites and join a group chat via links, NFC or QR codes... More
Absa Bank comes to Facebook Messenger
Customers of Africa’s Absa Bank can now conduct banking transactions through Facebook Messenger using the bank’s ChatBanking feature... More
Marseille gets SMS payments for on-street parking
PARTNER NEWS: Motorists in Marseille, France, will soon be able to pay for the time spent in a parking bay by sending an SMS when they enter and another one when they leave, charging the payment to their mobile phone bill. More
Pizza Hut enables orders on social media
Customers of Pizza Hut will soon be able to place orders using Facebook Messenger and Twitter through a new chatbot launched by the pizza chain and technology provider Conversable... More
Singapore banks to allow transfers with social media IDs
Banks in Singapore are working on a service that would let consumers make payments using their Facebook ID or Twitter username... More
Facebook tests Messenger payments
US consumers are testing a new service that lets them send money through Facebook’s Messenger chat app... More
Amex bot notifies purchases through Facebook Messenger
American Express customers will soon be able to get real-time notifications about their purchases through Facebook’s Messenger app after the company demonstrated how card members can “sign up to receive real-time notifications about their purchases and important information about card benefits and services related to those purchases via an Amex bot for Messenger”... More
ABN Amro takes payments to WhatsApp
Customers of Dutch bank ABN Amro can now send payment requests to others using messaging platform WhatsApp and a new mobile app called Tikkie... More
Tencent to ramp up WeChat Pay in Japan
Chinese internet giant Tencent is working to roll out its WeChat Pay mobile payment service to 10,000 Japanese stores by the end of 2016... More
WhatsApp to add NFC for group invites?
Social messaging service WhatsApp may soon enable users to send group invites and join groups via links, NFC and QR codes... More
WeChat integrates with Givex to push in-store presence
Chinese ecommerce giant Tencent’s WeChat mobile payments and messaging app has been integrated with Givex’s Vexilor point-of-sale solution to enable users of the service to make in-store purchases by scanning a QR code. More
Facebook Messenger to add in-store payments?
Facebook could be looking at letting its users make in-store purchases via its Facebook Messenger chat app, according to The Information... More
FreeCharge adds chat payments to mobile wallet app
Indian consumers can now make payments to merchants and to friends and family using Chat and Pay, a messaging service built into the main FreeCharge mobile wallet app... More
One in four Norwegians use P2P payments app Vipps
A quarter of Norway’s population is now using Vipps, a P2P mobile payment solution launched by financial services group DNB and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) in May 2015... More
