The number of debit transactions completed using a mobile wallet in the US rose by 51% year-on-year to approximately 2bn in 2020, with “a noteworthy” 92% of those transactions being made with Apple Pay and just 5% with Google Pay and 3% with Samsung Pay, according to research published in the 2021 Debit Issuer Study... More
Mobile wallet
Australian public hearing considers case for regulatory controls to ensure payment apps get access to smartphone NFC technology
An Australian parliamentary committee has held a public hearing at which it heard evidence from representatives of leading Australian banks, payment services providers and other financial bodies on regulatory issues including whether companies such as Apple should be mandated to allow third-party payment apps access to a smartphone’s NFC chip... More
Santa Barbara gets fare capped open loop contactless ticketing as California rollout expands
Passengers travelling on express bus services in the Santa Barbara region of the US state of California can now pay their fares by tapping an on-board payment reader with their contactless debit, credit, prepaid card or mobile wallet... More
Beijing Rail Transit lets passengers pay their fares with digital yuan
Passengers on 24 subway lines and four suburban rail services in the Chinese capital of Beijing can now use the country’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) to make contactless payments for their fares from a digital yuan mobile wallet issued by the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China... More
Vipps, MobilePay and Pivo to merge and launch single digital wallet across Scandinavia
Bank-owned Nordic mobile payment providers Vipps in Norway, MobilePay in Denmark and Pivo in Finland are to merge and will create a single digital wallet that consumers can use in all three countries, as well as for cross-border payments... More
Coca-Cola gives away mobile wallet credits for ‘free Cokes’ in US restaurants
Consumers in the US can now receive a US$2.50 credit to their mobile wallet that they can use to buy a Coca-Cola beverage at any restaurant that accepts card payments... More
Clipper rolls out support for Google Pay for transit fares in San Francisco Bay Area
Android users can now upload their Clipper transit card to Google Pay, reload their card balance and pay for their fares on 24 transit systems across the San Francisco Bay Area of the USA with their smartphone... More
CBA reports 90% increase in digital wallet transactions in Australia
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has seen the number of monthly digital wallet transactions increase by 90% from 36m in March 2020 to 68m in March this year, with the total value more than doubling from A$2.1bn (US$1.6bn) to A$1bn (US$0.8bn) in the same period... More
EU steps up investigation into Apple Pay
The European Commission’s investigation into Apple Pay is “moving ahead on top of an investigation into how the iPhone maker requires software developers to use its in-app purchasing system”, the EU’s competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager has told Bloomberg News... More
California begins state-wide rollout of fare capped open loop contactless ticketing
Passengers using Monterey-Salinas Transit (MST) buses are the first in the state of California, USA, to be able to pay their fares with their bank card or payment-enabled mobile device using a fare-capped open loop contactless ticketing system... More
Bahamas links digital currency to bank accounts
Consumers in the Bahamas will be able to use mobile wallets integrated with the country’s Sand Dollar “like an ATM” and transfer the central bank digital currency to their wallet directly from their bank account, the governor of the Central Bank of The Bahamas, John Rolle, has said... More
Consumers to get option to personalise their digital payment cards
Consumers may soon be able to personalise the payment cards stored in their digital wallets by uploading their own pictures or images of their favourite sports teams, charities and retail brands to them... More
Samsung Pay to add support for local currencies in South Korea
Consumers in the South Korean province of Gyeonggi-do will soon be able to make mobile payments using local currencies issued by 28 cities and counties across the region using a local currency easy payment platform... More
Crédit Agricole issues biometric payment cards in France
Customers of Crédit Agricole can now use their fingerprint to authenticate contactless payments made with a biometric deferred debit card issued by the French bank... More
Apple lets US families build credit by sharing Apple Card accounts
Apple Card users in the US will soon be able to add other family members to their card account and allow them to build their credit ratings together, as well as jointly track purchases and manage spending... More
Stats show regional variations in UK adoption of contactless and mobile payments during pandemic
The number of payments made using Apple Pay and Google Pay increased by nearly 650% and the number of PIN-free contactless card transactions grew by more than 10% in certain regions of the UK, according to figures published by merchant payments provider Dojo... More
San Francisco MTC lets passengers pay fares with Clipper on iPhone and Apple Watch
Passengers on 24 public transportation systems in the San Francisco Bay Area of the USA can now add their Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) Clipper stored-value transit card to Apple Wallet and use their iPhone or Apple Watch to make contactless payments for bus, train and ferry fares... More
Hong Kong and Macau to distribute stimulus payments to citizens’ digital wallets
The governments of Hong Kong and Macau are to stimulate consumer spending by distributing digital payment vouchers that residents can store in their mobile wallets or on a prepaid smartcard and then use to make purchases from retailers and other local businesses... More
Emirates NBD rewards customers for adopting contactless payments
Customers of Emirates NBD bank in the United Arab Emirates can now earn entries to a prize draw for luxury items whenever they make a contactless payment with their credit or debit card, mobile wallet or payments-enabled wearable device... More
Patent shows how Apple Pay could automatically select a card based on the user’s location
Apple Pay users could be able to make contactless payments and other transactions with merchants or transit providers without having to manually select the correct payment, rewards or transit card or other digital credential from within their mobile wallet... More