Wells Fargo makes it easier for customers to access popular mobile payments services

Wells Fargo reimagines mobile experience with ‘Pay with Wells Fargo’ — Wells Fargo — “Today Wells Fargo & Company announced Pay with Wells Fargo, which will bring to the app’s home screen an option for customers to conveniently select their most commonly used payment features like Zelle, mobile wallets, card-free ATM access code and transfers, even before signing into the app… Longer-term features of Pay with Wells Fargo will be customized based on customers’ personal usage patterns. Customers also will have the ability to customize the highlighted features themselves.”



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White paper sets out how Trusted Execution Environments can be used to secure mobile payments, loyalty, credentials and more

Covershot — Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) 101: A Primer

A new white paper that looks in-depth at Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) technology, the architecture and principles underpinning its operation and how it can be used to secure a variety of mobile wallet and IoT applications is now available to download free of charge from the NFC World Knowledge Centre... More


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ANZ reports 156% increase in mobile payment volumes

ANZ sees dramatic uptake in digital wallet payments — iTnews — “ANZ Bank customers made almost A$600 million in mobile payments during the first half of fiscal year 2018… Customers completed more than 18.5m mobile payment transactions in the half, an increase of 156% on the previous corresponding period. ANZ said the transactions were made from mobile wallet services from Apple, Samsung, Google, Fitbit and Garmin, as well as the bank’s own Mobile Pay service.”


What's New in Payments

Juniper predicts 2.1bn mobile wallet users in 2019

PayPal leads mobile wallet rankings as users forecast to pass 2bn next year — Juniper Research — “Nearly 2.1 billion consumers worldwide will use a mobile wallet to make a payment or send money in 2019, up by nearly 30% on the 1.6 billion recorded at the end of 2017… The report also argued that while QR code-based in-store payments had seen quite astonishing levels of adoption in China, successful use cases in Europe and North America were likely to be limited to ‘closed loop’ wallets such as those deployed by Starbucks and Walmart.”


Google to take its Tez mobile wallet app global

Google’s Indian payments platform looks for new markets — Financial Times — “Diana Layfield, head of Tez and vice president of Google’s Next Billion Users initiative, told the Financial Times that Google had drawn up a shortlist of three Asian markets and one other emerging market country for Tez’s next launch… Tez initially looked across Latin America, the Middle East and Africa… Countries with “similar characteristics” to India — relatively low credit card penetration and limited access to near field communications systems — were the most attractive to Tez.”


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AirAsia to enter the mobile payments market

AirAsia is entering the digital payments race — Tech in Asia — “The driving factor behind AirAsia’s move into fintech was a realization that it could monetize the wealth of ‘high resolution data’ it has collected from around 63 million passengers over its 16 years of operation… The eventual plan is for AirAsia customers to be able to use their BigPay e-wallets on the ground too, using the app to pay third-party merchants and potentially cutting the cost of currency exchange rates as they cross from one Southeast Asian country to another.”


Carriers in Singapore, India, Thailand and the Philippines to link their mobile wallet services

Singtel to launch mobile wallet tie-up with regional associates — The Straits Times — “The Singtel Group plans to roll out mobile wallet interoperability across its network of regional associates in Asia by mid-2018… Mobile wallet customers of Singtel and the group’s various associate telcos would then be able to make cashless payments in their home currency, using their home telco’s app, at physical merchants while abroad… Singtel’s goal is to bring the Philippines’ Globe, Indonesia’s Telkomsel and India’s Airtel on board from the second half of 2018 onwards, pending regulatory approval. Regulators have already given the green light for the partnership between Singtel’s Dash payments app and Thai counterpart myAIS.”


Survey: India now has a higher percentage of citizens with a mobile wallet than China

Mobile wallet is gradually displacing cash in India, says GlobalData — GlobalData — “India is one of the top markets globally in terms of mobile wallet adoption with 55.4% survey respondents indicating that they have a mobile wallet and use it. India is followed by China and Denmark… Mobile wallet transactions grew manifold in last five years, rising from R24bn (US$370.6m) in 2013 to R955bn ($14.74bn) in 2017, and will surpass R1tn ($15.44bn) mark in early 2018.”


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Alibaba takes 33% stake in Alipay operator Ant Financial

Alibaba agrees to 33% stake in Ant Financial — Alibaba — “An equity stake in Ant Financial will bring key strategic benefits to Alibaba, including advancing its New Retail strategy with mobile payments, increasing user acquisition and retention through collaboration with the Alipay digital wallet (“Alipay Wallet”), and enhancing the execution of the international expansion… Upon closing, the companies will terminate the current profit-sharing arrangement under which Ant Financial pays royalty and technology service fees in an amount equal to 37.5% of its pre-tax profits to Alibaba.”


What's New in Payments

ANZ reports surge in mobile wallet transaction volumes

Mobile wallet spending surges over holiday period — ANZ Bluenotes — “ANZ data show a significant rise in the volume of mobile wallet transactions in December 2017, up 140% on the previous corresponding period… In December ANZ customers favoured their smartphones and wearables for 4.5% of all transactions, compared with 2% for the same time last year. ANZ data show mobile wallet transactions reached 3.9m in December, compared with 1.6m in the same month in 2016.”


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Rabobank includes value added services in HCE mobile wallet

G+D Mobile Security supports Rabobank in launching a sophisticated and secure mobile payment solution — Giesecke & Devrient — “With the new solution, more Rabobank customers can use the mobile payment service since it no longer requires a special kind of SIM card. Furthermore, mobile payment is only one of the services provided: current value-added services in the Rabo Wallet include parking and customer shop and loyalty card storage solutions.”


Ant Financial gets central bank approval to launch mobile wallet JV in Malaysia

Touch ’n Go, Ant Financial get nod for e-wallet services — The Star — “Touch ’n Go Sdn Bhd (TNG) and partner Ant Financial Services Group have obtained Bank Negara’s approval to operate and offer mobile e-wallet services… The mobile e-wallet will be operated by TNG Digital Sdn Bhd, the joint-venture company between TNG and Ant Financial… TNG also expects its current users who are predominantly toll, transit and parking users to quickly sign on to enjoy the expanded services.”


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Boston Fed: One in four US financial institutions now offer a mobile payments service

Survey: Retail mobile banking nearing universal adoption, mobile payment offerings accelerate — Federal Reserve Bank of Boston — “Implementation of mobile payment services is accelerating as financial institutions respond to competitive pressure and the industry momentum for mobile payments: In addition to the 24% already offering mobile payments, 40% plan to do so within two years. Additionally, more than two-thirds of respondents partner or plan to partner with third-party processors and more than half are considering a partnership with a near-field communication (NFC) wallet provider.”


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Chase offers 5% cash back on payments made with mobile wallets

Chase Freedom adds new mobile wallets category to 5% cash back rewards for first quarter — Chase — “Cardmembers can earn 5% cash back on up to $1,500 in combined purchases in quarterly categories during the first three months of 2018, including purchases they make with the card in four mobile wallets. For the first time ever, cardmembers will earn the extra rewards through this new offer when using the following mobile wallets: Chase Pay, Apple Pay, Android Pay, Samsung Pay.”



What's New in Payments

Kroger grocery stores to accept Chase Pay mobile payments

Kroger and Chase Pay announce mobile payment partnership — Kroger — “The Kroger Co is teaming up with Chase Pay — the digital engagement wallet from JPMorgan Chase & Co — to offer mobile payments starting with select retail markets and ecommerce programs in 2018… Through the partnership, Chase’s 65 million customers will have an opportunity to use Chase Pay at Kroger for online and in-lane purchases.”


What's New in Payments

China UnionPay launches mobile wallet app

UnionPay takes mobile payment services fight to Alibaba and Tencent with integrated app — South China Morning Post — “UnionPay said the app could be linked to more than one bank account by different banks with all of their mobile payment services accepted and conducted via the platform… The country’s dominant bank card clearing service provider also launched a nationwide promotional campaign with aggressive discounts to attract consumers who have been increasingly using Alipay and Tenpay services for shopping.”



Paytm CEO sets out plans to become the world’s largest digital bank

Alibaba-backed Paytm aims to become world’s largest digital bank — Bloomberg — “Paytm Payments Bank aims to create the world’s largest digital bank with 500m accounts, envisioning an online financial services provider of everything from wealth management to credit cards and stock market trading… The bank grew out of Paytm’s digital wallet, which amassed over a hundred million customers after India took high-denomination bills — or nearly 90% of the value of cash — out of circulation last November.”