The Australia and New Zealand Bank (ANZ) is to pilot the use of a prototype central bank digital currency (CBDC) for offline transactions using pre-loaded contactless cards at RMIT University in the Australian city of Melbourne and Southern Cross University in New South Wales... More
Mobile payments
Google Wallet goes live in Costa Rica
Google Wallet has launched in Costa Rica, enabling users to store and use their credit and debit cards, boarding passes, tickets and other digital credentials on their Android NFC smartphone, Wear OS smartwatch or Fitbit device... More
European Central Bank sets out timeline for digital euro rollout
The European Central Bank (ECB) has laid out plans for a staggered rollout of a digital euro that would begin with the bank initially releasing the central bank digital currency (CBDC) for use in person-to-person and ecommerce transactions... More
Tampa Bay transit authorities roll out open loop contactless ticketing with fare capping
Passengers travelling on bus and trolleybus services across the Tampa Bay region of Florida in the US can now make contactless fare payments using their physical contactless credit, debit or prepaid card or via Apple Pay or Google Pay on their NFC smartphone or wearable... More
OpenWallet Foundation announces 37 backers for open source digital wallet project
The Linux Foundation Europe’s initiative to build an open source engine that will support the development of interoperable digital wallets across use cases including digital identity, credential authentication and payments has gone live with the backing of 37 private, nonprofit, academic and government entities... More
SoftPOS case study: Slides and webinar recording now available
A slide deck and video recording from NFCW’s softPOS case study featuring Trust Payments and Dejamobile is now available to access free of charge in the NFCW Knowledge Centre... More
Samsung and Naver partner on mobile payments in Korea as Apple Pay prepares to go live
Samsung and Naver have formed a strategic partnership designed to maintain the two companies’ mobile payments market leadership in South Korea ahead of Apple’s expected launch of Apple Pay in the country in the coming months... More
Join us today for a webinar about taking contactless payments with standard NFC mobile phones
If you’d like to know more about taking contactless payments with stock Android and Apple mobile phones join us for our ‘SoftPOS case study’ webinar at 3pm GMT today... More
Barclays reports 50% increase in UK contactless transactions by value
The total value of contactless payments made in the UK jumped by 49.7% in 2022, Barclays reports, “as Brits embraced the £100 transaction limit and returned to high street shopping following the easing of all coronavirus restrictions”... More
Join NFCW on 21 February to learn about softPOS
European omnichannel payments leader Trust Payments will share the lessons learned from developing a software-only payments acceptance solution for large and small merchants across Europe at NFCW’s next Contactless World Congress event on 21 February... More
Laos central bank launches CBDC pilot
The central bank of Laos has begun testing a proof of concept central bank digital currency (CBDC) known as the DLak or digital Lao kip as part of its research into the potential issuance of a CBDC in the country... More
New York grocery store launches contactless scan and pay shopping
Customers at Foodcellar Market grocery stores in New York City in the US can now scan the items they wish to purchase with their smartphone and then pay for them from their mobile device before leaving the store... More
Wales issues tender for integrated national mobility app
Transport for Wales (TfW) has issued a tender inviting suppliers to propose and develop a national Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) app that will enable door-to-door journey planning and payments for bus, rail, coach and taxi fares as well as for bicycle and e-scooter hire, car sharing and demand-responsive transport schemes... More
Dutch rail network begins national rollout of contactless open loop fare payments
Passengers travelling on rail services in the Netherlands can now pay for full-fare second-class train fares with their physical or digital debit or credit card by tapping a reader at the beginning and end of their journey... More
Trust Payments to share lessons learned from developing a softPOS solution for merchants across Europe
Russel Luis E Fernandes, head of product for card present payments at European omnichannel payments leader Trust Payments, will share the lessons learned from developing a software-only POS solution for large and small merchants across Europe at NFCW’s next Contactless World Congress event on 21 February... More
Bangladesh central bank pilots interoperable national QR code payments system
The Central Bank of Bangladesh is trialling an interoperable payments system that will enable customers of more than 15 major banks and payment service providers to pay for their purchases by scanning a standardized QR code at a participating merchant’s point of sale with their smartphone... More
NFCW announces new dates and format for Contactless World Congress
NFCW’s Contactless World Congress online event series is to undergo a change in format to better align with feedback we’ve received from potential speakers, attendees and sponsors... More
Report lays out way forward for US transit agencies to adopt open loop contactless fare payments
Transit agencies in the US would benefit from introducing open loop contactless fare payment systems but widespread adoption “has remained elusive” owing to challenges that both the US public transportation and payments sectors need to address, according to a report by the Washington DC-based Brookings Institution research group... More
Dejamobile adds support for pre-authorization to its ReadyToTap Payment for Merchants softPOS solution
PARTNER NEWS: Dejamobile has added support for pre-authorizations to its white label softPOS solution, making it possible for merchant service providers, acquirers and payments facilitators to provide hotels, car rental agencies and other merchants with the ability to accept contactless transactions that include a pre-authorization element on a standard Android NFC phone... More
Santa Claus may be leveraging NFC technology for seamless global gift distribution
Lapland-based festive cheer provider Santa Claus may be leveraging NFC technology across multiple use cases including vehicle access, identity verification and contactless payments for last-minute purchases in order to facilitate the global distribution of seasonal gifts over the Christmas period, images released by the NFC Forum suggest... More