A major investigation into US consumers’ attitudes to mobile payments has found that concerns over how well they would be protected against loss should an issue arise is now the major barrier to widespread adoption of the technology... More
Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) has launched a major initiative designed to persuade consumers to move away from paying in cash, by providing a rebate whenever they use a card or mobile phone to make a purchase at any of 500,000 merchants across the country... More
Public transportation users in Paris can now buy and store transit tickets and passes on Samsung and Orange NFC phones — and can use any Android phone to buy a ticket and then upload it to their contactless travel card via NFC... More
Mumbai bus operator BEST is to begin a pilot of India’s ‘One Nation One Card’ national transit card system in November this year... More
The first of a new range of contactless transit cards and passes are now being made available in Paris, enabling bus, tram and metro users to begin replacing cardboard tickets with contactless alternatives... More
PARTNER NEWS: Expresspay Card, a joint venture between China UnionPay and Bank of China that offers China’s only open loop prepaid card, has partnered with Tappy Technologies and watch brand Saga Watch to offer cardholders a wearable payments option that will be accepted at any merchant equipped to accept China UnionPay contactless payments... More
PARTNER NEWS: “For an issuer, selecting one or multiple TSPs [token service providers] to use for such and such service represents a strategic choice, which is not simply a combination of technical and financial criteria,” Dejamobile CEO Houssem Assadi explains in a new blog post... More
Commuters in the greater Paris region will be able to use their NFC mobile phone to store Navigo transit passes and T+ prepaid ticket books from September 2019... More
India is launching a single card which can be used to pay for travel on all transportation systems across the country... More
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the country’s central bank, has issued the final set of guidelines for new rules designed to enable mobile wallet users to easily make payments and transfer funds to users of competing mobile wallet services... More
Starbucks and Chase introduce Starbucks Rewards Visa Prepaid Card — Starbucks — “Today, Starbucks and Chase announced the availability of the Starbucks Rewards Visa Prepaid Card, the first prepaid or debit product where you can earn Stars outside of Starbucks.”
PARTNER NEWS: Payment solutions provider Valitor is to use Dejamobile’s cloud-based payments platform to provide its clients with the ability to add mobile payments and a branded mobile wallet to their services... More
Now you can add Suica and Waon to Google Pay in Japan — Google — “Starting today, you can add and manage your Suica and Waon cards in Google Pay if you live in Japan and have an Osaifu-Keitai eligible phone. This means four major Japanese prepaid e-money cards — Nanaco, Rakuten Edy, Suica and Waon — can all be used with Google Pay. You’ll be able to pay with Google Pay at the hundreds of locations that accept any of these cards, plus pay on transit anywhere Suica is accepted.”
China’s central bank to raise reserve funds ratio of third-party payment firms to 50% — Reuters — “China’s central bank said it will gradually raise the reserve funds ratio of third-party payment firms to 50% by April 2018 from a current rate of 20%, as it continues to ramp up regulation of the industry… It will eventually ban non-bank payment firms from making any private investments with money deposited by users, which would see the reserve rate at some point increased to 100%.”
Garmin and NXT-ID subsidiary FitPay expand Garmin Pay to Visa accountholders — Garmin and NXT-ID — “Garmin Pay is now available to Visa accountholders from numerous participating issuing banks including Bank of America, Capital One, and US Bank in the United States, and BonusCard, Cornér Bank, ANZ and NAB (National Australia Bank) internationally… Garmin Pay was initially launched in November 2017 for Mastercard accountholders.”
UK’s Open Banking project expanded — Open Banking — “The OBIE [Open Banking Implementation Entity] has now been asked by the CMA9 and Her Majesty’s Treasury to create open banking standards for all payment account types covered by the European Union’s second Payments Services Directive (PSD2). This means customers using credit cards, e-wallets and prepaid cards will also be able to take advantage of open banking services.”
NFC mobile payments have been a reality in Japan since 2004 when Sony and mobile network operator NTT Docomo formed a joint venture to bring the technology to market... More
Visa approves Monaco cryptocurrency card for Singapore residents — Bloomberg — “Visa Inc has approved a prepaid card backed by the cryptocurrency Monaco as the world’s largest payments network continues its foray into digital currencies… Visa has also approved programs for BitPay and Shift Card that allow consumers to convert cryptocurrencies into legal tender and deposit those funds into a bank account that is linked to a Visa debit or prepaid card.”
Master Direction on Issuance and Operation of Prepaid Payment Instruments — Reserve Bank of India — “The Master Direction lays down the eligibility criteria and the conditions of operation for payment system operators involved in the issuance of semi-closed and open system PPIs [Prepaid Payment Instruments] in the country. All entities approved/authorised to operate payment systems involving the issuance of PPIs shall comply with these directions.”
Statement on Developmental and Regulatory Policies — Reserve Bank of India — “In line with the Vision for Payment and Settlement Systems in the country, the revised framework will pave the way for bringing interoperability into usage of PPIs [Prepaid Payment Instruments]. Interoperability amongst KYC-compliant PPIs shall be implemented within six months of the date of issuance of the revised Master Directions, which will be issued within a week, ie by October 11, 2017.”