Continued growth in China cements UnionPay as the world’s largest card scheme — RBR — “There were 16bn payment cards in circulation at the end of 2018, up by 10% since a year earlier… The largest scheme worldwide is UnionPay, which accounted for 45% of cards in circulation at the end of 2018… Visa (including Visa, Visa Electron, V Pay and Interlink) made up 20% of the world’s cards… Mastercard (Mastercard, Maestro and Mastercard Electronic) accounts for 16% of all cards.”
Passengers using the subway and local trains in the Italian capital city of Rome can now use their contactless bank card to pay for the journeys they make each day — and can also opt to use their card as a replacement for their monthly travel pass... More
Hungarian bank Erste has upgraded its Erste MobilePay application for Android phones to include NFC functionality, enabling customers to use their phones for contactless payment... More
Belgian bank KBC is inviting customers to take part in a year-long wearable payments pilot, with each being offered the choice of testing an NFC-enabled ring, keyfob, wristband or watch... More
Apple Pay will launch in Germany “soon”, the iPhone maker has revealed, with support from American Express, Mastercard, Visa, Maestro, Boon, Bunq, Comdirect, Deutsche Bank, Edenred, Fidor Bank, Hanseatic Bank, HypoVereinsbank (HVB), N26, O2 Banking and VimPay... More
Google Pay has arrived — Google Blog Italia (translation) — “Simply add a credit, debit or prepaid card (Maestro, MasterCard, Visa) issued by any of the supported banks and credit institutions to the Google Pay app — including Banca Mediolanum, Boon, Hype, Nexi, N26, Revolut, Widiba and, in the coming months, Iccrea Banca and Poste Italiane — to turn your Android smartphone into a wallet. Users can also activate the service directly in the mobile banking app of their bank.”
Customers of Erste Bank und Sparkassen in Austria will now be able to make NFC payments using a wristband, sticker or mobile app launched by the bank. All three payment methods are available countrywide and can also be used to make withdrawals at the first NFC-enabled Erste Bank ATM in Vienna. More
More than one billion contactless MasterCard and Maestro transactions were processed in Europe in 2015, up 150% on 2014, MasterCard reports... More
PayPal has launched the new version of its PayPal Here card reader, equipped with contactless, in the UK following its unveiling in March... More
Dutch mobile order and payment provider MyOrder is to add virtual cards based on host card emulation (HCE) issued by German payments technology provider Wirecard to its app later this year, which will let users make in-store payments at any terminal that accepts Maestro contactless... More
European merchants who accept either MasterCard or Maestro will be required to switch to contactless POS terminals by 1 January 2020, “ensuring that consumers will be able to pay with their contactless cards and NFC enabled devices at all point-of-sale (POS) terminals”, the payment network has announced... More
German customers of mobile network operator Base, part of the E-Plus group, can now make payments, store membership cards and redeem coupons with their NFC phone... More
German carrier E-Plus is to launch a mobile wallet in Spring 2014, enabling customers to make payments with an NFC phone as well as collect and redeem loyalty points and discount vouchers using QR codes... More
The Hungarian Mobile Wallet Association, an alliance between mobile network operators Magyar Telekom, Vodafone and Telenor with MasterCard, OTP Bank and SuperShop, is launching a pilot to test a new NFC mobile payment solution in the country... More
The second commercial NFC service to go live in Poland this month has the backing of five banks and supports payments via both debit and credit cards. More
The mobile phone operator starts delivering on its promise to roll out NFC throughout Europe during 2011, saying opportunities are “virtually limitless”. More
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