MasterCard could begin supporting Apple Pay in Canada this year, according to a MacRumors report... More
Mobile payments
Visa simplifies Checkout sign-ups
Visa Checkout users will soon be able to scan an image of their credit or debit card with their mobile device to sign up to the service, rather than having to enter their information manually... More
Generation Z leads the way in US mobile payments adoption
US consumers aged between 18 and 24 are by far the most likely to make a payment while using their mobile phone, research from GfK shows, with more than half (53%) having made a mobile payment while using the internet in the past six months... More
White paper explores future of connected living
A 25-page white paper that explores how young adults expect mobile technology and connectivity to develop over the next ten years is now available to download from the NFC World Knowledge Centre... More
Barclaycard reports increase in UK contactless spending
Contactless spending by Barclaycard’s UK customers in pubs and bars, pharmacies, supermarkets and on commuter transport increased 164% in 2015, the company has revealed. More
MasterCard offers Apple Pay users free travel in London
MasterCard cardholders using Apple Pay can travel for free around London for the next three consecutive Mondays... More
Android Pay to make UK debut in March?
Android Pay will launch in the UK in March, according to The Telegraph... More
Apple Pay to launch in France this year?
A “small handful” of major French banks are now poised to sign deals to bring Apple Pay to France “by the end of the year”, Les Echos reports, following months of negotiations over the share of transaction fees Apple should receive from card issuers... More
WeChat Pay now available to overseas merchants
Chinese internet giant Tencent has made its WeChat Pay platform available to overseas vendors so they can serve Chinese consumers when they travel abroad... More
Contactless spending in the UK topped £7.75bn in 2015
UK spending on contactless cards rose more than threefold in 2015 to reach £7.75bn (US$10.8bn), research from The UK Cards Association reveals, meaning that total contactless spending last year was more than double that of the preceding seven years combined... More
China UnionPay and Visa partner on payments innovation
Payment networks China UnionPay and Visa have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in Shanghai to collaborate on “providing cardholders with more convenient, secure and highly efficient payment services” with a focus on security, innovation and financial inclusion... More
Nets FlashPay and AutoPass Cards get NFC phone top-ups
Commuters in Singapore can now top up their Nets FlashPay and AutoPass Cards by tapping them against an NFC Android smartphone running the FlashPay Reader app... More
US EMV adoption slower than expected
Some 37% of US merchant locations are now EMV-ready, according to management consulting firm The Strawhecker Group (TSG)... More
India’s Freecharge wallet signs another mPOS network
Indian closed-loop mobile wallet provider FreeCharge has partnered with mobile point of sale provider Ezetap to let its users make in-store mobile payments at “thousands of Ezetap service points consisting of small and mid-sized retailers across India”... More
Trust in Apple as a mobile wallet brand increases in the UK
Trust in Apple as a mobile wallet provider has increased to 25% among UK consumers, nearing the 27% trust shown for MasterCard, market researcher Marketing Sciences reveals... More
Visa Checkout heads to six new markets
Visa is expanding its online payment service to France, India, Ireland, Poland, Spain and the UK this year, taking the total footprint to 22 markets... More
Nearly 1bn to use NFC payments by 2019
A total of 1.09bn people will be making mobile proximity payments globally by 2019, of which 939.10m will be made through NFC, Ovum’s new m-payments forecast reveals. The total transaction value of mobile proximity payments will grow from US$4.77bn to $141.21bn over the same time period. More
NXP backs two new IoT development platforms
PARTNER NEWS: NXP has put its support behind two new reference platforms that will enable “innovation and rapid development” for smart wearables. The platforms target a range of internet of things (IoT) applications with open-source hardware and software, form-factor flexibility and expandable solutions for designers to adapt to changing market needs. More
Connected car can find parking, reserve it and pay with a fingerprint
Car manufacturer Seat, Samsung Electronics and software giant SAP have created a technological alliance to develop connected car projects that could enable drivers to reserve car parking spaces and pay with a fingerprint using Samsung Pay. The companies are showing their ideas at Mobile World Congress this week. More
Telenor Wallet adds MasterPass
Customers of Hungarian mobile network operator Telenor can now make online and in-app payments using Telenor Wallet and MasterPass... More