Food bank users in the London borough of Hackney in the UK can now buy essential food items at local grocery stores by using a smartphone app to generate a QR code with their face and then use this code to authorise payments from dedicated funds... More
The Bank of England and UK Treasury have launched a consultation on the design of the proposed digital pound and could roll out the central bank digital currency (CBDC) during the second half of the decade, according to bank and government officials... More
Apple CarPlay users will soon be able to activate fuel station pumps and make contactless in-car payments directly from their vehicle’s navigation and infotainment screen using third-party fuelling apps... More
China is to launch trials of its central bank digital currency (CBDC) in more cities and regions across the country after rolling out a pilot version of the digital yuan wallet app in January and trialling the CBDC during the Beijing Winter Olympics... More
The European Payments Initiative (EPI) is seeking public funding to support its development of a unified payment system across Europe that would compete with US-based networks such as Visa and Mastercard, EPI chief executive Martina Weimert has said... More
The total number of personal and corporate digital yuan wallets issued in China has risen from 24.5m in July to 140m as of October, an increase of nearly 600%, the People’s Bank of China’s Mu Changchun has revealed... More
The European Commission is preparing to file an antitrust charge against Apple over the company’s limitation of access to its NFC chip technology, “people familiar with the matter” have told Reuters... More
The South Korean parliament has passed a bill that will require companies such as Apple and Google to allow the use of payment services other than their own proprietary systems for the purchase of digital goods within their app stores... More
WhatsApp users in Brazil can now send money to friends, family and other contacts by attaching a payment to a chat “just as you would attach a photo or video” and validating the transfer with a PIN or their device’s biometrics functionality... More
The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) have unveiled prototype hardware devices that support the use of the digital yuan central bank digital currency (CBDC) across a range of different use cases... More
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
Consumers in the city of Shenzhen are being offered the opportunity to win one of 50,000 ‘red envelopes’ containing 200 digital yuan (US$29.65) that they can spend at any of more than 3,000 retail outlets in the city that now accept China’s central bank digital currency (CBDC)... More
A new system that requires high-risk locations such as bars and nightclubs to use QR codes to log all customers on entry so that they can be easily traced should the venue later be found to have been a Covid-19 hotspot is to be rolled out across South Korea from 10 June... More
The Competition Commission of India is looking into allegations that Google is unfairly promoting its mobile payments app in the country, “five sources familiar with the case” have told Reuters... More
The European Banking Authority has issued a statement urging the European payments industry to increase contactless transaction limits to €50 (US$54.97)... More
Apple warns of risks from German law to open up mobile payments — Reuters — “A German parliamentary committee unexpectedly voted in a late-night session on Wednesday to force the tech giant to open up Apple Pay to rival providers in Germany… The legislation, which did not name Apple specifically, will force operators of electronic money infrastructure to offer access to rivals for a reasonable fee.”
Apple Pay “has attracted regulatory scrutiny” from the EU’s Competition Commission due to “several expressions of concern about the US tech giant’s mobile payment service,” Reuters reports... More
WhatsApp in talks to launch mobile payments in Indonesia — sources — Reuters — “Unlike in India where it plans to offer direct peer-to-peer payment services, WhatsApp will simply serve as a platform in Indonesia supporting payments via local digital wallets due to tough licensing regulations… The Indonesia model could become a template for WhatsApp to adopt in other emerging markets to get around regulations on foreign players creating their own digital wallets, the sources said.”
Hoping to boost spending, Japan tries to sell shoppers on cashless purchases — Reuters — “A scheduled increase in the sales tax to 10% from 8% in October could hurt spending. Aware of that risk, the government is betting big on mobile payments, an industry only just taking root in Japan. As soon as the tax increase kicks in, the government will offer points redeemable for future discounts to shoppers who use QR codes and other cashless payments.”
Data ‘R’ Us: Alibaba, JD.com seek to lock in merchant loyalty with new services — Reuters — “One of the first firms to join an Alibaba Group Holding Ltd programme that provides years of consumer shopping history, snack food chain, Bestore Co Ltd plans to link facial recognition technology with the e-commerce giant’s account data by the year’s end. For customers opting to have their facial data in Bestore’s systems, that means shop assistants will be able to check on what food they like the moment they enter one of its stores.”
