The US Federal Reserve has published a study examining the potential benefits and risks of issuing an American central bank digital currency (CBDC) as the first step in a public consultation on the possible future issuance of a digital dollar... More
Payments
Moscow ticketing app begins nationwide rollout
Public transport users in the Russian city of Tula are the first outside Moscow to be able to top up their prepaid Troika transit card from their smartphone using the My Troika app... More
Apple Pay to launch in Argentina and Peru ‘soon’
Apple Pay is due to roll out in Argentina and Peru “soon”, according to the payments service’s Latin American website... More
One in four consumers expect to switch to being cashless within two years
One in four consumers globally expect to switch to making cashless payments only within the next two years (25%), while one in two say it will happen in the next 10 years (53%) and 16% say they already solely make digital payments, a survey of consumers and merchants in nine markets worldwide has found... More
Apple reports on mobile payments and ticketing adoption
Apple Pay is now available in 60 countries and regions worldwide, with support from nearly 9,000 partner banks, following the service’s expansion to nine new markets — including Colombia, Israel and Mexico — during 2021, Apple reports... More
China launches digital currency app for Android and Apple users in 10 cities
Android and Apple users in 10 Chinese cities can now download a pilot version of the country’s digital yuan wallet app directly from the iOS and Android app stores that enables them to acquire, store and use China’s central bank digital currency (CBDC)... More
Bangkok public transport to get open loop contactless ticketing
Public transport users in Bangkok will soon be able to make contactless fare payments for journeys on rail, bus and boat services across the Thai capital using their EMV debit or credit card... More
Banks to pilot biometric payment cards in India, Poland, Iraq, Mexico, Lebanon and Egypt
Banks in India, Poland, Iraq, Mexico, Lebanon and Egypt are among those set to trial biometric payment cards that enable customers to authenticate contactless payments with their fingerprints... More
Seven in ten UK debit card transactions are now contactless
Nearly seven in ten debit card transactions (69%) and just over half of all credit card transactions (53%) in the UK are now contactless, according to figures from UK Finance... More
Nayax picks Cilab ci230 to accelerate EMV POS certification
PARTNER NEWS: Award-winning cashless payments provider Nayax has selected Cilab’s ci230 test bench to accelerate its delivery of contactless payments devices conforming to the latest EMVCo standards... More
Moscow Metro rolls out virtual Troika transit card
Moscow Metro has officially launched the digital version of its Troika transit card, enabling Android users to pay their fares on public transport services across the Russian capital by tapping their smartphone at a turnstile or validator... More
MTA to pilot weekly fare capping for Omny contactless ticketing
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) in New York has confirmed that it is to pilot weekly fare capping for passengers using the Omny open loop ticketing system on its subway, bus and Staten Island Railway services... More
Survey reveals ‘sharp difference’ between consumer attitudes to CBDCs in emerging and developed markets
More than nine in 10 consumers in Nigeria (91%) and six in 10 consumers in Indonesia (60%) would be likely to use a central bank digital currency (CBDC) compared with less than 24% in the US and 14% in Germany, according to a report by Giesecke+Devrient and the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum (OMFIF)... More
JCB demos offline machine-to-machine payments using NFC
Japanese payments network JCB has demonstrated a machine-to-machine payments infrastructure that enables merchants to conditionally accept NFC payments even when both purchaser and merchant are offline... More
Israeli supermarket chain to roll out scan-free self-checkout ‘smart carts’
Customers at Machsanei Hashuk supermarkets across Israel will soon be able to select and place items they want to buy in a self-checkout “smart cart”, receive personalised recommendations, product information and promotions via an on-cart screen, and pay for their purchases without needing to scan them or use a checkout... More
JR East launches contactless coffee shop with AI-powered robot barista
Rail passengers at Tokyo and Yokohama stations in Japan can now order, collect and pay for coffee made by a six-armed AI-powered robot barista — known as Ella — at a fully automated contactless coffee shop... More
Apple files patent applications for sharing passes, accounts and credentials between devices
Apple has filed a series of patent applications relating to the sharing and use of secure credentials such as tickets, passes, accounts and payments card information that includes proposed methods and systems for provisioning such credentials to second user devices... More
More than half of Asia Pacific consumers make digital payments at least once a week
Nine in 10 consumers in the Asia Pacific region have used mobile payment apps at least once during the past 12 months, while more than half have used digital payment methods at least once a week and a sixth have made a digital payment for the first time since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic (15%), according to research published by Kaspersky... More
Majority of Europeans would be happy with contactless transaction limits of up to €150
The majority of European consumers would feel comfortable with contactless transaction limits of up to €150 (US$169), three times the current European Union limit of €50 (US$56), according to Payments Europe research... More
Santander lets UK customers set own contactless transaction limit
Customers of Santander bank in the UK can now set their own contactless transaction limit lower than the maximum of £100 (US$132) introduced by the UK government in October... More