The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) has expanded its central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot to include a contactless ‘hard wallet’ and NFC wearables that enable consumers to make in-store and transit fare payments with their digital yuan... More
Payments
Dubai adds Nol transit cards to Huawei NFC smartphones
Public transport users in Dubai can now use a Huawei NFC smartphone to pay for tickets on metro, tram, waterbus and other transit services operated by the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) using a digital version of the Nol transit card... More
Korea to let banks add food ordering services to mobile apps
Banks in South Korea will be able to add a wide range of non-financial services to their mobile apps, including food ordering and delivery, following changes to the country’s financial regulatory system due to be introduced by the Financial Services Commission (FSC) in July 2021... More
UK to increase contactless spending limit to £100?
The UK could increase the limit for contactless transactions from £45 (US$61) to £100 (US$136), according to reports in the British press... More
Google Pay lets users in India get personal insights into their 2020 spending
Google Pay users in India can now access personalised information about their spending habits in 2020 using a new feature integrated into the payment service’s app... More
Samsung Pay winds down rewards scheme
Samsung Pay users in the USA are no longer able to earn Samsung Rewards points each time they make a purchase using the payments service... More
MTR rolls out QR code ticketing in Hong Kong
Passengers using Hong Kong’s Mass Transit Railway (MTR) will soon be able to travel on the system’s heavy rail network by generating a single-use QR code ticket on their mobile phone that they can scan at station turnstiles... More
NPCI lets Indian merchants accept RuPay domestic card payments on standard NFC phones
Merchants in India can now use a standard NFC mobile phone to accept contactless RuPay domestic card payments valued at up to 5,000 rupees (US$68)... More
Omny contactless fare payment system goes live across the whole of New York City
The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has completed the rollout of its Omny contactless fare payment system across the whole of the city, enabling passengers to pay for their tickets with their contactless bank card or mobile wallet at all 472 subway stations and on 5,800 buses across the city... More
Dubai beauty parlour introduces smart manicures that include an NFC chip
Customers of the Lanour Beauty Lounge in Dubai’s World Trade Centre can now have an NFC chip attached to their fingernail as part of a manicure, enabling them to store personal data and transfer it to NFC-enabled devices with a tap of their chip-bearing ‘smart nail’... More
ABI forecasts 2.5m biometric payment cards in 2021
As many as 2.5m biometric payment cards will be issued during 2021, according to an ABI Research forecast, with more than 20 biometric payment card pilots already underway across the globe... More
Visa proposes CBDC protocol that lets consumers exchange digital cash via Bluetooth or NFC
Visa has published a research paper exploring an offline payment system (OPS) protocol for central bank digital currencies (CBDC) that would enable users to make digital payments to other users even when both sender and recipient are temporarily offline or unable to connect to a bank, payment network or other intermediary... More
Moscow Metro lets Google Pay users pay fares without unlocking their phones
Android NFC phone users travelling on the Moscow Metro system in the Russian capital can now pay for their tickets directly from Google Pay by tapping a turnstile equipped with a contactless fare terminal — without having to first unlock their smartphone... More
Israel begins rollout of national account-based mobile ticketing system
Passengers on bus services across Israel can now use a single mobile app to get travel information, plan their journeys and pay for their fares using an account-based ticketing system that charges their account at the end of the month for all the journeys they have made... More
Barclaycard to let business customers issue employees with digital corporate cards that support NFC mobile payments
Barclaycard is introducing a service that enables businesses in the UK to provide their employees with virtual corporate cards that can be used to make payments both online and at physical locations... More
NFC Forum launches device certification program designed to improve the NFC user experience
The NFC Forum has introduced a product certification program that improves the user experience for NFC device owners by enabling manufacturers of smartphones and other NFC-enabled devices to prove that their products fully conform to a wide range of contactless transport, payments and access control standards... More
Researchers unveil wearable technology that enables digital communication through human touch
Researchers at Purdue University in Indiana, USA, have developed a prototype wearable device that enables users to securely transmit a password, photograph or other digital information and potentially make card and mobile payments simply by touching a sensor with their fingertip... More
In-vehicle payments forecast to reach US$1bn by 2023
The total transaction value of in-vehicle payments will reach US$1bn by 2023, up from less than US$100m in 2020, according to a forecast by Gartner... More
Queensland begins first pilot of regional open loop ticketing system
Passengers travelling on the G:link light rail network on Queensland’s Gold Coast are the first to trial an open loop transportation ticketing system that the Australian state plans to roll out across all forms of public transport in 18 regional centres by 2022... More