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
Payments
Flipkart lets customers use reward points for in-store payments
Customers of Indian ecommerce giant Flipkart can now use SuperCoin reward points earned by shopping on the platform to make in-store purchases at retail outlets across the country by scanning a QR code at participating merchants... More
Mastercard unveils enhanced contactless payment specifications
Mastercard has announced new specifications for contactless payments that will offer quantum-resistant security via “next-generation algorithms and cryptographic key strengths”, enhanced privacy at the checkout and “help ensure any device truly can be a payment device”... More
BNP Paribas to offer biometric payment cards to premier card customers
BNP Paribas Visa Premier card customers will soon have the option of upgrading to a biometric payment card for an additional fee of €24 (US$29) a year, the French bank has revealed... More
BIS to build proof of concept platform for cross-border CBDC payments
The Bank of International Settlements (BIS) is to develop a proof of concept platform to explore the use of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) for cross-border payments and has identified CBDCs as one of six “thematic priorities” for the year... More
Fidesmo opens NFCW Expo showcase
NFCW EXPO: Fidesmo, a contactless platform provider that makes it possible for issuers to connect payment, transit ticketing and access control cards to a wide range of both passive and active devices, has opened a booth in the NFCW Expo... More
Seoul light rail system trials face recognition ticketing
Employees travelling on Seoul Metro’s Ui-Sinseol light rapid transit line in South Korea are testing a face recognition payment system that enables passengers to pay their fares without needing to tap a smartphone or card or remove their face mask... More
Global digital wallet spending to top $10tn in 2025
The total value of digital wallet transactions globally will reach more than US$10tn in 2025, according to Juniper Research, “with over 34% of mobile handsets set to use contactless payments in 2025, up from 11% in 2020.”... More
Nine in ten UK in-store card payments are now contactless
Nine in ten card payments made in UK stores during 2020 (88.6%) were contactless and the average contactless user made 141 transactions worth a total of £1,640 (US$2,241) over the course of the year, according to Barclaycard... More
EU to debut digital euro project this year?
The European Commission and the European Central Bank (ECB) are to consider launching a digital euro project towards the middle of 2021. “Such a project would answer key design and technical questions,” the two institutions say in a joint statement. More
Paris adds support for iPhone transit card top ups
Apple iPhone users travelling on public transport in the greater Paris region can now pay for daily, weekly and monthly travel passes and single-use tickets with Apple Pay and load them onto their physical Navigo transit card from their smartphone... More
One in three Indian households now use digital payments
A third of Indian households across a range of income groups now use digital payment methods, but “this can easily go up to 50% given high desire to use,” research from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and People Research on India’s Consumer Economy (PRICE) reveals... More
China unveils plan to build a global payment network based on central bank digital currencies
China’s Blockchain-based Service Network (BSN) has revealed plans to develop a universal digital payments network (UDPN) based on standardised procedures for international transfers and payments with and between central bank digital currencies (CBDCs)... More
BBC Click showcases Tappy’s wearable contactless payments technology
PARTNER NEWS: The latest episode of the British public broadcaster’s popular technology series includes a segment on wearable payments that features a demonstration of how consumers can use Tappy’s technology to add a tokenized bank card to a wide array of contactless devices, including NFC-enabled watch straps, headphones, rings, lipstick holders and more... More
Antelop explains how token management solutions can help banks cut costs and improve their customers’ user experience
KNOWLEDGE CENTRE: Token management solutions that enable consumers to self-manage their digital cards from within their mobile banking app will provide issuers with the ability both to reduce customer service costs and improve customer experience, Antelop Solutions CEO Nicolas Bruley explains in a 22-minute webinar now available to view in the NFCW Knowledge Centre... More
UK government to issue parents with digital free school meal cards
UK parents whose children are eligible for free school meals will be able to receive digital vouchers they can use on their smartphone or tablet to buy food at participating retail outlets while schools remain closed during the country’s second lockdown, the UK government has announced... More
Fiat Chrysler to let drivers order and pay for Grubhub food deliveries from their cars
Owners of Fiat Chrysler vehicles equipped with the manufacturer’s Uconnect Market connected services platform will soon be able to order and pay for their favourite food and beverages from restaurants in 4,000 US cities via an app embedded in their in-vehicle touchscreen... More
Mastercard pilots cloud POS solution for contactless payments acceptance on NFC smartphones
Mastercard is piloting a cloud-based version of its Tap on Phone payments acceptance solution, enabling merchants of all sizes to accept cloud-hosted contactless payments directly on their Android NFC smartphone or tablet... More
Juniper forecasts 2.2bn QR code payment users by 2025
The number of people using QR code payment services globally will rise from 1.5 billion in 2020 to more than 2.2 billion in 2025, representing close to one in three (29%) of all the world’s mobile phone users, Juniper Research predicts... More
Dynamo Kyiv to reward soccer fans with digital tokens
Fans of Ukrainian football team Dynamo Kyiv will soon be able to earn digital tokens that they can store in a mobile wallet and spend in-person at the team’s stadium and online at its digital marketplace... More