Passengers who use their Opal transit card to pay for transport fares in the Australian state of New South Wales are to take part in a pilot of a digital version of the card which is set to go live before the end of this year... More
Mobile payments
Poppy appeal adds contactless donation boxes in Canada
Customers of HSBC Bank Canada can use their bank cards, mobile phones and wearables to make contactless donations to the Royal Canadian Legion’s National Poppy Campaign via tap-enabled donation boxes... More
BBVA begins global rollout of mobile-first credit cards
Customers of BBVA bank in Spain can now apply for a ‘blank’ physical and digital payments card with ‘hidden’ credentials and a dynamic CVV code that can be used in credit, debit or prepaid mode... More
Visa lets merchants in 15 countries accept contactless payments on standard NFC phones
Merchants in more than 15 countries around the world are now able to use Android NFC smartphones and tablets to accept contactless payments with no additional hardware required, Visa has announced... More
Six in ten US merchants now accept contactless payments
The percentage of merchants in the USA that now accept contactless payments has risen to 58% from 40% last year, while those accepting mobile payments from digital wallets has gone up to 56% from last year’s 44%, according to research released by the National Retail Federation (NRF)... More
Pizza maker teams up with delivery service to let robots make and deliver orders to the door
Consumers will be able to use their mobile device to order a takeout pizza that is both made and delivered to their door entirely by robots using a fully automated, contactless system being developed in California... More
TreeCard launches wooden contactless debit card
Consumers in the USA and “a number of EU markets” can now apply for a debit card made from wood that also comes in a digital form and can be used to make contactless and mobile payments as well as cash withdrawals from banks and ATMs... More
Estonian fuel station installs self-service payments system that replaces need for physical card readers
Drivers in Estonia can now order and pay for their fuel directly from their smartphone at a station equipped with a fully automated cloud-based self-service system... More
Pret A Manger pilots contactless charity donations in UK outlets
Customers of Pret A Manger sandwich shops across London and Manchester can now make cashless charitable donations in store using their contactless payment card or mobile device... More
Metro de Sevilla introduces tap-and-go ticketing payments
Passengers on Metro de Sevilla services in the Spanish city of Seville can now pay their fares using their contactless debit or credit cards or their mobile device without needing to buy or recharge a ticket from a ticket vending machine... More
Garanti BBVA launches mobile-first credit card
Customers of Turkish bank Garanti BBVA can now apply for a mobile-first credit card which combines a mobile wallet that supports QR and mobile payments with a ‘blank’ physical card that comes without a printed credit card number, expiration date or CVC code printed on it... More
Krispy Kreme pilots contactless doughnut vending machine
Krispy Kreme customers in Charlotte, South Carolina in the US, can now use their mobile device to buy selected variety packs of doughnuts from an automated cash-free vending machine that is in operation 24 hours a day... More
Ann Arbor transit authority joins regional mobile ticketing service
Passengers using public transport in the greater Ann Arbor area of Michigan in the USA can now buy tickets and passes on services operated by TheRide area transportation authority using the EZfare mobile ticketing app... More
S&P reports on the mobile payments market in China
While Alipay and WeChat Pay have by far the largest number of mobile payments users in China overall, younger and more affluent consumers are more likely to use less well known services such as Du Xiaoman Pay and QQ Wallet, an in-depth market analysis by S&P Global has found... More
Digital wallet user base to increase to 4bn by 2024
The number of digital wallet users globally will increase from 2.3bn in 2019 to 4bn in 2024 and global non-cash transactions will grow to nearly 1.1tn in 2023 from 708.5bn in 2019, according to the World Payments Report 2020... More
Pasmo adds support for Apple Pay Express Transit in Japan
Pasmo transportation card holders in Japan can now use Apple Pay Express Transit to pay for their transit fares and other Pasmo-supported transactions using their iPhone or Apple Watch... More
Renfe to roll out contactless ticketing across Spain’s suburban rail network
Passengers using suburban rail services in Spain’s 12 largest metropolitan areas will soon be able to use their physical or digital contactless bank card to pay for their fares on EMV readers installed in station turnstiles... More
Venmo combines contactless and QR payments on a single credit card
Users of PayPal-owned P2P payments app Venmo can now apply for a credit card that includes both a contactless payments chip and a printed QR code that they can use to receive P2P payments and share bills with friends... More
Walmart redesigns its stores for contactless shopping
US retail giant Walmart has unveiled a new store design that leverages mobile wayfinding and self-checkout kiosks to create “a digitally enabled shopping experience”... More
German cooperative bank pilots NFC kiosks that turn branches into one-stop service points
Customers of Volksbank Raiffeisenbank in Germany are taking part in the pilot of a self-service terminal designed to drive new revenue streams by making a wide range of additional services available in bank branches... More