Google Pay has launched in Israel with support for cards issued by the country’s major banks and payments card issuers... More
Payments
Sydney to trial multimodal Mobility-as-a-Service app with subscription options
Transport for NSW is to pilot a Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) app in Sydney, Australia, that will enable passengers to plan, book and pay for journeys across both private and public transport services and opt to purchase a prepaid multimodal mobility plan... More
More than 67m contactless POS terminals shipped in 2020
Annual shipments of NFC-ready POS terminals reached 67.2m units globally in 2020, bringing the total number to 140.5m or 68% of all POS terminals worldwide, according to Berg Insight... More
Sainsbury’s lets customers ‘just walk out’ of contactless store in London
Customers using a Sainsbury’s contactless convenience store in London can now take the products they want to purchase from the shelves and charge their purchases to their credit or debit card without needing to scan them with their smartphone or visit a checkout by using a new feature on the UK retailer’s SmartShop app... More
Carrefour opens its first contactless store in Paris
France-based supermarket chain Carrefour has opened its first contactless convenience store in Paris that allows customers to walk in, select the items they wish to purchase and pay for them without needing to register or check in at the entrance, download an app or scan their purchases with their mobile device or at a checkout... More
Westpac expands dynamic CVVs to Android phones
Customers of Australia’s Westpac bank with an Android smartphone will soon be able to make payments using a digital card secured by a dynamic card verification code (CVC) that changes every 24 hours... More
Japanese banks gear up to test digital currency
A consortium of more than 70 leading banks, financial services providers and other businesses in Japan is to conduct a series of proof of concept (PoC) trials of a digital currency supported by commercial banks across a range of specific use cases with the aim of rolling the currency out by the end of the 2022 fiscal year... More
US grocery stores trial AI-powered self-checkout shopping carts
Two US stores owned by retail giant Albertsons are trialling a self-checkout shopping trolley that enables customers to select and scan items while they shop, compare products and receive personalised recommendations via an on-cart screen, and pay for their purchases by inserting or tapping their payments card without visiting a checkout... More
Researchers use extended-range NFC to develop smart fabric for multiple use cases
Engineers at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) in the US have used extended-range NFC to produce a battery-free smart fabric that could enable items of clothing to communicate with each other and with nearby electronic devices at distances of “more than four feet”... More
More than 700 UK railway stations to get contactless ticketing
Passengers travelling on train services in England will soon be able to make contactless fare payments with their debit or credit card at more than 700 railway stations across the North and Midlands... More
Hong Kong Monetary Authority lays out technical design options for digital HK dollar
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has published a white paper that explores potential technical and design options for issuing and distributing retail central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and proposes a two-tier system as “one possible design” for a digital HK dollar or e-HKD... More
EPI calls for public funding to support pan-European payments system
The European Payments Initiative (EPI) is seeking public funding to support its development of a unified payment system across Europe that would compete with US-based networks such as Visa and Mastercard, EPI chief executive Martina Weimert has said... More
African payment apps to add ultrasonic authentication for contactless transactions
Consumers across Africa will soon be able to use Nigeria-based payment services provider Paga Group’s mobile apps to authenticate in-store and person-to-person contactless payments using ultrasonic data-over-sound proximity verification technology... More
Central Bank of Nigeria issues nearly 500,000 eNaira wallets since launching CBDC
More than 488,000 consumers in Nigeria have downloaded an eNaira digital wallet and conducted transactions worth a total of 62m naira (US$151,000) in the country’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) since its launch in October, according to a Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) spokesman... More
In-vehicle payment transaction volumes to top 4.7bn globally by 2026
Global transaction volumes for in-vehicle payments made directly from vehicle systems without the use of a smartphone will exceed 4.7bn by 2026, up from 87m in 2021, according to a forecast by Juniper Research... More
Nine in ten transit agencies plan to introduce new smart ticketing options to aid post-pandemic recovery
More than nine in ten transit agencies (92%) are planning to introduce new mobile and contactless fare payment solutions to help support a return to pre-pandemic passenger levels, a survey has found... More
One in two UK consumers would consider a payments chip implant
Just over one in two (51%) UK consumers would consider making payments using a chip implanted in their hand provided it met certain criteria including medical safety and privacy protection, a new survey reveals... More
UK bank sees 50,000 customers opt to set their own contactless limit
Some 50,000 customers of Starling Bank have chosen to set their own contactless spending limit to a lower amount than the maximum of £100 (US$135) per contactless transaction that the UK government introduced in October... More
Apple Pay goes live in Azerbaijan, Colombia and Costa Rica
Apple Pay has rolled out in Azerbaijan, Colombia and Costa Rica with support for cards issued by Bank Respublika, Unibank, ABB and Kapital Bank in Azerbaijan, Bancolombia and Nu Colombia digital bank in Colombia, and Banco de Costa Rica, Banco Promerica, BAC Credomatic and Scotiabank in Costa Rica... More
Dublin coffee shop rolls out reusable contactless payments cup
Customers at a Bear Market Coffee outlet in Dublin in Ireland can now pay for their beverages and receive rewards by using a reusable contactless payments cup purchased from the coffee retailer... More