Consumers will soon be able to stop transactions taking place if their card is lost or stolen, set spending controls and receive transaction alerts on their smartphone via a new service launched by Visa... More
Mobile payments
Kiwis warm to mobile payments and biometrics
More than four in ten New Zealanders (41%) would consider using NFC mobile payments today and 44% believe mobile payments will be the next thing to take off, followed by biometrics/facial recognition/fingerprints (21%) and wearable technology (18%), research from MasterCard reveals... More
Apple Pay reaches mobile app inflection point
Apple Pay has seen an acceleration in mobile app acceptance across the US, according to Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, who calls it an “inflection point” in a recent investor note reported by Quartz... More
ANZ launches HCE mobile payments in Australia
Customers of Australia’s ANZ bank can now make host card emulation (HCE) based mobile payments “with the broadest range of cards on offer” using a new ANZ Mobile Pay service. More
Paym reports 89% increase in use in second half of 2015
More than £146m has been sent using peer-to-peer mobile payments platform Paym since its launch in 2014, with 1.46m payments sent in the second half of 2015 compared to 774,628 in its first six months — an increase of 89% — the company has revealed. More
Apple’s Error 53 shuts down handsets with Touch ID repairs
iPhone 6 users have been left with broken handsets as a result of Apple’s latest iOS 9 operating system update permanently disabling devices if it detects that Touch ID’s hardware integrity has been compromised — such as by being repaired by a non-Apple technician... More
3bn loyalty cards will move to mobile by 2020
More than 3bn loyalty cards will operate as mobile-only or will be integrated into mobile apps by 2020, up from 1.4bn last year, Juniper Research predicts... More
FitPay launches Kickstarter campaign to bring NFC smartstrap to market
Wearable payments company FitPay has launched a campaign on Kickstarter to crowdfund the production of an NFC payment smartstrap for the Pebble Time family of smartwatches. More
Cash by Optus adds contactless bands and stickers to reach beyond Android owners
Consumers using Cash by Optus — the prepaid NFC SIM-based payments service launched by Australian mobile network operator Optus in November 2014 — can now make payments using a contactless wristband or a sticker attached to their mobile phone. More
Kazakhstan gets HCE payments
Customers of Kazkommertsbank (KKB) in Kazakhstan can now make host card emulation (HCE) based NFC mobile payments using a new service launched in partnership with Visa... More
Mobile banking service Pocopay goes live in Europe
Mobile banking service Pocopay has launched in the Netherlands, Spain and its home country of Estonia to let consumers split bills, request money using email addresses or QR codes and make payments via a MasterCard contactless debit card... More
Apple Pay adds 32 banks in the US
Apple has added a further 32 banks and credit unions to its list of Apple Pay supporting financial institutions in the US... More
MoboMoney takes sound-based mobile payments to India
Indian consumers can now make payments at participating retail locations using their mobile device and sound based technology developed by startup ToneTag. The feature has been integrated into MoboMoney, an NFC payments platform launched by information technology provider Tech Mahindra in December 2015, to extend the service to a greater number of mobile devices and merchants across the country. More
FitPay closes $3.1m round led by G&D
Wearable payments provider FitPay has closed a US$3.1m seed funding round led by Giesecke & Devrient (G&D)... More
APCA explores security code for digital wallets in Australia
Members of the Australian Payments Clearing Association (APCA) are currently exploring the possibility of implementing a voluntary code of practice to regulate digital wallets in the country... More
Apple Pay available in more than 2m US retail locations
Apple Pay is now available in more than 2m US retail locations, according to Bloomberg, with the Crate & Barrel, Chick-fil-A and Au Bon Pain chains also due to roll out the service soon... More
Apple begins selling Square contactless reader
Apple has begun selling mobile POS provider Square’s US$49 contactless readers in its US stores as well as online... More
Viber to add money transfers to messaging app
The more than 664m users of messaging app Viber will soon be able to send money to friends and family from anywhere in the world thanks to an integration with money transfer network Western Union... More
European Central Bank to develop P2P service
The European Central Bank is working on a system that would let consumers transfer money to each other based on a phone number or email address... More
MobileNow! enables parking payments from Apple Watch
Apple Watch users can now pay for parking across the US directly from their wrist with a “few simple taps” using the MobileNow! app. The service can also be used to extend parking sessions. More