Passengers using Qingdao Metro’s line 4 can now use their NFC mobile phone to pay directly for their fares with China’s digital yuan central bank digital currency (CBDC), even if their mobile phone has no signal or has run out of battery... More
Pilot
Sixteen banks, payments and technology firms to pilot digital Hong Kong dollar
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has officially launched six first-round pilots of a digital Hong Kong dollar or e-HKD with support from 16 banks, payments and technology firms to test the prototype central bank digital currency (CBDC) across a range of use cases including in-store, online and offline payments... More
Bengaluru to introduce QR code-based auto-rickshaw complaints service
Passengers wishing to file a complaint against an auto-rickshaw driver in the Indian city of Bengaluru will soon be able to do so by simply scanning a QR code behind the driver’s seat with their smartphone... More
Arizona Motor Vehicle Division lets residents check in for services with their mobile driving licence
Residents of the US state of Arizona can now use a digital driving licence stored on their smartphone to verify their identity when checking in to use services at the Arizona Department of Transportation Motor Vehicle Division (AZMVD) office in the city of Scottsdale... More
Richmond International Airport to pilot contactless biometric cards for access control
Richmond International Airport is the first in the USA to test contactless biometric access control cards that enable employees or other authorised cardholders to verify their identity at entrances to secure areas using two-factor authentication... More
Brazil to pilot digital currency in stores
The Banco Central do Brasil (BCB) is to begin piloting the use of its proposed central bank digital currency (CBDC) across a range of transactions including in-store and offline NFC payments... More
Utah to pilot blockchain digital IDs
The US state of Utah is to launch a pilot programme that will test the use of blockchain technology for the issuance of digital identity cards and other digital credentials that can be stored and used on a holder’s smartphone or other mobile device... More
European Payments Initiative to pilot digital wallet for instant P2P payments in Germany and France
The European Payments Initiative (EPI) is to begin piloting a digital wallet that will enable users to make instant person-to-person (P2P) payments in Germany and France as a first step towards rolling out a unified payment system that will support “a comprehensive range of transaction types” across Europe... More
UK hospital uses NFC to pilot diabetes home-testing for pregnant women
The University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust in the UK is to trial a solution that allows pregnant women to quickly and easily report the results of a home test for diabetes to antenatal care providers by scanning the testing device with their NFC smartphone... More
US employee rewards programme trials online virtual prepaid card provisioning
Employee reward and incentive programmes provider Halo is trialling a digital card provisioning solution that enables users to quickly and easily add a virtual prepaid rewards card directly to their digital wallet without needing to download an app or add their bank details... More
TSA to extend contactless digital ID verification pilot to airports in Puerto Rico and Tennessee
The US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is to start letting passengers use their digital driving licence or state ID card stored on their smartphone to verify their identity at checkpoints in Luis Muñoz Marin International Airport in Puerto Rico and Nashville International Airport in Tennessee later this year, according to TSA administrator David Pekoske... More
JP Morgan to pilot in-store biometric payments with US merchants
Financial services company JP Morgan is to pilot a biometric payments solution that will enable consumers to make contactless in-store payments with their palm or face at selected bricks-and-mortar merchants in the USA and “potentially” at the Formula One Miami Grand Prix in May... More
Indian rapid transit system to trial digital rupee for contactless parking payments
Passengers using rapid transit services operated by Kochi Metro in the Indian state of Kerala will soon be able to make contactless parking payments with the country’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) as part of a digital rupee pilot programme launched by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)... More
US Department of Agriculture to put state benefits on mobile phones in five states
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) is to enable citizens entitled to financial support under its Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Missouri and Oklahoma to receive benefits and make NFC or QR code payments for eligible purchases on their mobile device... More
ANZ to run central bank digital currency pilot at Australian universities
The Australia and New Zealand Bank (ANZ) is to pilot the use of a prototype central bank digital currency (CBDC) for offline transactions using pre-loaded contactless cards at RMIT University in the Australian city of Melbourne and Southern Cross University in New South Wales... More
Air Canada leverages NFC for contactless biometric boarding at Vancouver International Airport
Passengers travelling on select Air Canada flights between Vancouver and Winnipeg international airports can now opt to create a biometric digital ID on their NFC smartphone that they can then use to verify their identity with their face when travelling through the airports... More
NatWest trials reverse vending machine that lets consumers recycle unwanted payment cards
UK bank NatWest is trialling a ‘reverse vending machine’ that enables consumers to securely recycle unwanted plastic payment, gift and loyalty cards as well as card readers and plastic bottles at locations across London... More
Laos central bank launches CBDC pilot
The central bank of Laos has begun testing a proof of concept central bank digital currency (CBDC) known as the DLak or digital Lao kip as part of its research into the potential issuance of a CBDC in the country... More
Russian banks pilot contactless payment stickers for iPhone users
Apple users with accounts at two Russian banks will soon be able to attach an NFC payment sticker to the back of their iPhone that enables them to make contactless payments for goods and services with their smartphone... More
Bangladesh central bank pilots interoperable national QR code payments system
The Central Bank of Bangladesh is trialling an interoperable payments system that will enable customers of more than 15 major banks and payment service providers to pay for their purchases by scanning a standardized QR code at a participating merchant’s point of sale with their smartphone... More