The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has begun testing a prototype wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC) and will launch a pilot programme for a retail digital rupee with merchants and consumers in select locations “within a month”, the central bank says... More
One in ten consumers in the Nordic countries now prefer to make mobile payments at the point of sale, double the number who prefer to use cash (5%), making mobile payments the second most popular payment method in the region for the first time, according to figures from regional payments processor Nets... More
Turkey is planning to launch a central bank digital currency (CBDC) that will be integrated with the country’s digital identity system and the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey’s FAST instant payments service... More
New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has added support for reduced fares to its Omny open loop contactless payments service, enabling eligible senior citizens and people with disabilities to receive a discount whenever they tap to pay for their subway or bus journey using their debit or credit card, smartphone or wearable device... More
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has unveiled a prototype two-tier central bank digital currency (CBDC) ecosystem that will enable end users to store digital HK dollars as either intermediated CBDC tokens or CBDC-backed stablecoins in a digital wallet and use them to carry out retail transactions... More
Japan-based payments network JCB is to run an in-store central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot that uses existing contactless payment cards, point of sale (POS) hardware and softPOS payment acceptance technology installed on mobile devices... More
Apple iPhone users can now share NFC digital car, house, workplace and hotel room keys held in Wallet with colleagues, friends and family via messaging apps including Messages and WhatsApp... More
The New Zealand government and the Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency have confirmed plans to launch a national account-based open loop payments system that will enable public transport users to make contactless fare payments with a new national transit card or their own physical or digital credit or debit card... More
Customers of Danske Bank in Denmark can now add their Dankort debit card to Apple Pay and use it to make mobile payments using the country’s Dankort domestic payment system... More
Apple Pay has gone live in a number of shopping malls in Kuwait prior to a full rollout in the country “soon”, according to media reports... More
Merchants in Australia can now accept contactless payments directly on their Android NFC smartphone or tablet using National Australia Bank’s Easy Tap software point of sale (sPOS) solution... More
The digital yuan has been used to make 360m transactions worth a total of more than 100bn yuan (US$14bn) since China began piloting the central bank digital currency (CBDC) in December 2019, up from total cumulative transaction values worth 87.6bn yuan (US$12bn) at the end of 2021, according to the People’s Bank of China (PBOC)... More
Samsung Wallet is to roll out in Bahrain, Denmark, Finland, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Norway, Oman, Qatar, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates, enabling users to store their digital payment, loyalty, membership and identity cards, digital keys, boarding passes and other credentials on their compatible Samsung Galaxy smartphone... More
Residents of eight French departments will soon be able to verify their identity when accessing healthcare services and claim reimbursement for medical fees by scanning a digital version of their Carte Vitale health insurance card stored on their smartphone with an NFC reader or presenting a QR code to service providers... More
Consumers in Taiwan can now purchase an upgraded version of the EasyCard stored value smart payments and transit card that they can top up directly from their NFC smartphone without needing to use a reload or top-up machine at a metro station or convenience store... More
Music fans in the USA can now purchase physical cards similar to gift or trading cards that allow them to listen to songs and albums on their NFC smartphone and add them to an in-app music library by scanning an NFC chip embedded in the card rather than by using streaming services such as Spotify or Apple Music... More
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is to build a prototype digital rupee and test it in a range of scenarios and use cases as part of its “phased implementation strategy” for introducing a central bank digital currency (CBDC)... More
Île-de-France Mobilités (IDFM) has begun phasing out the sale of physical tickets for journeys on the Paris Metro as the first step towards accepting contactless or mobile fare payments only... More
Google’s new Pixel 7 Pro smartphone offers both NFC and ultra wideband (UWB) functionality while the two other devices released alongside it – the Pixel 7 and the Pixel Watch – will support NFC but not UWB... More
PARTNER NEWS: STMicroelectronics has launched the first NFC reader for Car Connectivity Consortium (CCC) digital car key applications to be certified according to NFC Forum CR13 specifications, enabling developers and manufacturers to offer enhanced features and performance and making it easier to secure product certification... More