Convenience store giant Circle K is to add support for cashierless shopping at one of its Phoenix, Arizona, outlets, “with other stores to follow”... More
Mobile payments
Kroger pilots NFC payments in QFC grocery stores
Kroger, the US supermarket chain that has previously held out against the introduction of NFC payments, has begun piloting NFC-based contactless payments in 61 of its QFC grocery stores in Oregon and Washington states... More
Visa: One in two consumers are no longer willing to shop at stores that don’t offer a fully contactless payments process
A survey of merchants and consumers in eight countries around the world has found that the Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in “a dramatic shift to digital commerce” with nearly half of consumers (48%) saying they would not now shop at a store that only offers payment methods that require contact with a cashier or a shared device... More
Samsung launches digital-first payment card in the UK
Samsung has announced the availability of a digital-first Samsung Pay Card designed to give customers in the UK “a better banking experience through their Samsung smartphone and smartwatch, whilst gaining the rewards they want along the way”... More
China to expand central bank digital currency pilot to Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong
China’s Ministry of Commerce has announced that pilot testing of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) developed by the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) is to be expanded to cover the country’s major commercial regions and cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Macau... More
Citadele adds support for contactless payments rings
Baltic banking group Citadele is offering customers in Latvia the option of ordering a payments ring that they will be able to use to make payments at any merchant equipped to accept contactless payments... More
Visa reports on contactless transit ticketing adoption
“Globally, Visa now has more than 500 active transit projects and has helped a number of cities launch tap to pay solutions over the course of the pandemic,” the payments network has revealed... More
LA Metro to let passengers add their TAP transit card to Apple Pay ‘this year’
Public transport users in Los Angeles will be able to add their TAP transit card to their iPhone or Apple Watch “this year”, LA Metro has announced... More
Carrefour integrates its loyalty card with Apple Pay
Supermarket giant Carrefour has become the first retailer in Europe to integrate its customer loyalty programme with Apple Pay, enabling shoppers both to pay for their purchases and collect loyalty points with a single tap of their iPhone or Apple Watch... More
Afterpay lets US consumers pay by instalments with their NFC mobile phone
Australia-based buy now, pay later specialist Afterpay is launching a service that lets US consumers make NFC payments in stores — and then pay for their purchases in four equal instalments... More
Card networks begin global Click to Pay rollout
American Express, Discover, Mastercard and Visa have announced that “they are each beginning technical preparations for global expansion” of Click to Pay, the single buy button solution for online merchants based on the EMVCo Secure Remote Commerce (SRC) standard... More
Apple Pay to add support for QR mobile payments in iOS 14?
Apple is preparing to add support for both merchant-presented and consumer-presented QR mobile payments to Apple Pay later this year, a hidden feature in the second developer beta of iOS 14 suggests... More
Orange Bank introduces mobile-first debit card in Spain
Customers of Orange Bank in Spain will now be automatically issued with a digital debit card that they can use to instantly begin making mobile payments both online and in-store — and can also request a companion physical card that comes without a printed card number, CVC code or expiration date... More
STIB switches on contactless payments across Brussels
Public transportation users in Brussels can now use their contactless bank card, NFC mobile phone or smart watch to pay for their fares on any of the city’s bus, tram and metro services... More
US Bank lets companies instantly send a corporate card to employees’ mobile phones
Corporate customers of US Bank can now send a digital corporate card directly to an employee, contractor, volunteer or customer’s mobile phone, enabling them to instantly begin charging online and in-store purchases to the company — subject to a strict spending limit and expiration date... More
Nedbank to roll out support for contactless payments on standard NFC smartphones
South Africa’s Nedbank has become the first bank in Africa to enable merchants to accept contactless payments on standard NFC phones... More
KBC rolls out support for wearable payments
Customers of Belgium’s KBC bank can now add their debit card to their choice of a range of wearables and then use their new ring, watch, keyring or bracelet to make payments at any merchant equipped to accept contactless payments... More
Central bank blocks WhatsApp payments in Brazil
Brazil’s central bank has “ordered Visa and Mastercard to suspend the start of activities or immediately stop using the WhatsApp application to initiate payments and transfers”... More
Xiaomi picks NXP’s mWallet 2Go to add payments to Mi Smart Band 4
PARTNER NEWS: Xiaomi is to use NXP’s mWallet 2Go technology to let consumers across Europe make payments using its low-cost Mi Smart Band 4 wearable... More
Apple to let brands and merchants use NFC tags to provide easy access to mini apps
Apple has announced a new App Clips service that will enable brands, merchants and service providers to use NFC tags to let iPhone owners quickly and easily download a mini app, which they can use to access information about a product or service — and pay for coffee, car parking or scooter rental without needing to enter their card details... More