Holders of an American Express Centurion card will soon be able to make purchases by linking their card to a wearable contactless payments chip embedded in a leather bracelet created by Italian fashion house Prada... More
NFC
Sofia rolls out single journey QR mobile tickets across public transportation network
Public transport users in Sofia can now buy and store single journey QR code e-tickets on their mobile device which they can validate for travel on metro, bus, tram and trolleybus services across the Bulgarian capital’s transit network... More
Mobile wallet transaction volumes overtake cash payments in stores
Contactless in-store payments made with a mobile wallet worldwide exceeded in-store cash payments for the first time during 2020, new research reveals... More
Russian carriers seek digital ruble mobile wallet role
Russian mobile network operators Beeline and MegaFon are looking to develop digital wallets for smartphones and other mobile devices that will support the central bank digital currency (CBDC) which is being developed by The Central Bank of Russia (CBR)... More
Ottawa tests tap-to-pay contactless ticketing on light rail network
Passengers travelling from Ottawa’s Rideau Station can now purchase single-ride adult fares on the Canadian capital’s light rail transit network by tapping to pay with their credit card or mobile wallet at a pilot touchless entry gate... More
Mastercard and Island Pay launch CBDC-linked prepaid card in the Bahamas
Citizens of the Bahamas can now pay for goods and services using a prepaid card that supports the country’s Sand Dollar central bank digital currency (CBDC)... More
Google lets users pay for parking and transit tickets through Google Maps
Google Pay users can now pay for parking in more than 400 cities across the USA and for public transport fares with participating transit authorities globally from directly within Google Maps... More
ST provides brands with guidance on how best to implement NFC tags
KNOWLEDGE CENTRE: A comprehensive guide to using NFC tags to create engaging consumer experiences is now available to download from the NFCW Knowledge Centre... More
Delhi Metro to roll out mobile and contactless ticketing across entire network
Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) is to implement an upgraded contactless ticketing system across its entire network, enabling passengers to pay for their journeys via QR, an EMV bank card or a RuPay-enabled National Common Mobility Card (NCMC)... More
Japanese convenience store trials face and palm biometrics for checkout-free shopping
The Green Leaves+ shop-and-go store in the Yokohama Techno Tower Hotel in Japan is piloting a biometrics-enabled checkout-free service that allows customers to enter the store by verifying their identity with just their face and a swipe of their palm... More
UK government publishes digital identity framework
The UK government has published a trust framework policy paper that lays out draft rules for how service providers, businesses and other organisations will be able to implement the use of digital identities... More
Amazon to build digital currency payments solution?
Amazon is recruiting a tech team that will be tasked with building “innovative payment products for customers in emerging markets” that will enable “customers to convert their cash into digital currency” to purchase “goods and/or services like Prime Video”, a job advertisement posted by the company reveals... More
Antelop launches one-stop token service provider hub for digital card issuers
PARTNER NEWS: Antelop Solutions has introduced a unified issuer token service provider hub that enables banks to simply and securely manage every stage of the digital card issuing and management process, from card enrolment to token lifecycle management... More
China’s central bank expands digital yuan pilot to Beijing
The People’s Bank of China has launched the first large-scale giveaway of the country’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) to be held in Beijing and has distributed 10m digital yuan (US$1.55m) to 50,000 participants in a ‘red envelope’ lottery... More
Accor to let hotel guests access their rooms with their smartphone
Guests staying at hotels owned by France-based hospitality giant Accor will soon be able to open their rooms and access other hotel facilities contactlessly using a digital key uploaded to their smartphone on check-in... More
Chinese consumers now make three mobile payments every day
Chinese consumers made an average of three mobile payments a day during 2020, while 98% of the Chinese population consider mobile payments to be their most frequently used transaction method, an increase of five percentage points on last year, a new survey reveals... More
Dayton RTA adds account-based ticketing to mobile transit app
Public transportation users in the US state of Ohio’s Greater Dayton area can now use their mobile phone to make capped contactless fare payments from a stored value account, rather than having to purchase tickets or select a fare in advance... More
Survey: Eight in ten central banks are now actively engaged in digital currency projects
More than four-fifths of the world’s central banks (86%) are engaged in “some form of work” on a central bank digital currency (CBDC), up from “about one third” in 2019, according to a Bank for International Settlements (BIS) survey... More
LA Metro lets Android users add their transit card to their NFC phone
Passengers on public transportation services in the US city of Los Angeles can now add their TAP transit card to their Android smartphone and make contactless fare payments on the LA Metro and 25 other TAP-enabled transit agencies across LA County... More
FCA proposes increase in UK contactless spending limit
The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is proposing to increase the limit for single contactless payments in the country from £45 (US$62) to £100 (US$137) and the limit for cumulative contactless transactions from £130 (US$179) to £200 (US$274)... More