Customers of all six state-owned Chinese banks can now apply for test versions of the banks’ digital yuan wallets as the country rolls out the next phase of its central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot programme in the city of Changsha... More
Privacy
EU to introduce digital vaccination passes
The European Union is to present a legislative proposal this month for a digital ‘green pass’ vaccination certificate that will enable residents to prove that they have been inoculated against Covid-19... More
ST launches NFC Type 5 tags with Augmented NDEF for dynamically updated information exchange at longer ranges
PARTNER NEWS: STMicroelectronics has released two new NFC Type 5 tags that combine NFC and RFID technology, Augmented NDEF and anti-tampering to let developers “leverage NFC contactless communication in new and imaginative ways for applications in consumer engagement, brand recognition, supply-chain management and access control”... More
Vaccine credentials coalition to develop interoperable digital Covid-19 passport
A coalition of technology and healthcare providers in the US has launched an initiative to develop a solution that will enable individuals to store and access their Covid-19 vaccination records in their digital wallet “in a secure, verifiable and privacy preserving way”... More
EMVCo, Fido and W3C explain how their technologies can be combined to streamline ecommerce payments
Payment standards body EMVCo, the Fido Alliance and the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) have published a document that explains how their technical specifications can be used to enable more secure and convenient card-based ecommerce transactions... More
Survey: Four in ten US and UK consumers ready to use QR codes for payments
The popularity of QR codes has “skyrocketed” in the USA and UK this year, with 53% of consumers saying they want to see QR codes used more broadly in future and 43% that they plan to use a QR code as a payment method soon, a new survey has revealed... More
Japanese banks and card issuers join digital currency study group
Three of Japan’s largest banking groups have signed up to participate in a study group that aims to build a “digital settlement infrastructure using valuable digital currencies”... More
Samsung Pay adds ‘do not sell my data’ option for US users
A new privacy controls section now lets users of Samsung Pay in the US opt to prevent the company from selling their data to “Samsung Pay Partners”, XDA Developers reports... More
NatWest leverages open banking to cut transaction fees by 25%
The UK’s NatWest bank has launched a new service that will let consumers pay online merchants directly from their bank accounts, “saving merchants at least 25% of card processing costs”... More
Apple enters financial services market with privacy-first credit card
Apple has launched a credit card to link with Apple Pay... More
Tim Berners-Lee launches decentralized identity platform
One small step for the web… — Tim Berners-Lee — “Solid is a platform, built using the existing web. It gives every user a choice about where data is stored, which specific people and groups can access select elements, and which apps you use. It allows you, your family and colleagues, to link and share data with anyone… It will empower individuals, developers and businesses with entirely new ways to conceive, build and find innovative, trusted and beneficial applications and services.”
Google Pay closes payments data sharing loophole
Google tweaks privacy policy for Indian payment app after rival complaint — Reuters — “Google has tweaked the privacy policy of its Indian digital payments mobile application, days after local rival Paytm complained that the US tech giant’s platform allowed disclosure of customer data for advertising and other purposes… Google Pay’s privacy policy had said it could ‘collect, store, use and/or disclose’ personal data and ‘any communications made through Google Pay’. A Reuters review of Google’s privacy policy that was updated on Thursday showed the company had dropped the word ‘disclose’ from its privacy clause.”
Apple Pay Cash gets top rating for P2P payments privacy and security
Why Apple Pay is the highest-rated mobile P2P payment service — Consumer Reports — “In our first-ever test-based ratings of P2P mobile services, CR rated Apple Pay the highest overall, with excellent or very good marks in the key consumer-protection measures of payment authentication and data privacy. Apple’s overall rating was significantly higher than for the other services we tested: Venmo, Square’s Cash App, Facebook P2P Payments in Messenger, and Zelle.”
NFC workforce and asset management platform provider Ginstr joins the NFC World Partner Program
PARTNER PROFILE: Ginstr’s SaaS platform provides companies looking to efficiently manage their field staff or their assets with a quick and simple to deploy cloud-based solution that comes with over 80 pre-developed applications and can be fully branded and tailored to meet each customer’s specific needs... More
ST launches Type 5 NFC tag chips with tamper detection and privacy features
PARTNER NEWS: STMicroelectronics has launched a family of NFC tag chips that can be read by both NFC phones and commercial RFID readers and incorporate tamper detection, anti-cloning, data protection and user privacy features... More
One in five organizations say they have experienced a payments data theft in the last year
One in five organizations has experienced payments data theft over the past 12 months — ACI Worldwide — “36% of organizations believe they are at a greater risk of data breach than a year ago. 44% agreed with the view that: My company would not invest in fraud solutions that add friction to the customer experience.”
Microsoft sets out vision for a blockchain-based infrastructure that lets consumers manage their own digital identities
Decentralized digital identities and blockchain — The future as we see it — Microsoft — “The world is undergoing a global digital transformation where digital and physical reality are blurring into a single integrated modern way of living. This new world needs a new model for digital identity… We believe it is essential for individuals to own and control all elements of their digital identity… This self-owned identity must be easy to use and give us complete control over how our identity data is accessed and used.”
Rambus explains how tokenization can add security to healthcare, ID, the blockchain and more
Tokenization has the potential to increase the security of a wide range of applications beyond payments, from healthcare to social security, logical access control and blockchain applications, Rambus explains in a new ebook which is now available to download from the NFC World Knowledge Centre... More
GlobalPlatform explains the role of standards in an increasingly diversified payments landscape
The increasing diversity of devices, services and players in the mobile payments ecosystem has led to the need for standards and certification to manage fragmentation, prevent fraud and ensure consistent user experience, GlobalPlatform’s Gil Bernabeu explains in a new paper now available to download from the NFC World Knowledge Centre... More
Consumers call for biometric logins to financial services apps
IBM Future of Identity study: Millennials poised to disrupt authentication landscape — IBM — “Security was vastly ranked as the top priority for banking, investing, and budgeting apps — for these categories on average 70% selected security as the top priority, with 16% selecting privacy, and 14% selecting convenience… 44% ranked fingerprint biometrics as one of the most secure methods of authentication; passwords and PINs were seen as less secure (27% and 12% respectively).”