South Korea’s Ministry of the Interior and Safety and the Korean National Police Agency have begun trialling a mobile driving licence prior to a national rollout and as a first step towards the introduction of other state-issued digital ID documents... More
Customers using an Adidas store in Manila in the Philippines can now select products, request different sizes and styles to try on and pay for their purchases directly from their smartphone... More
Chinese consumers can now make online payments for purchases from the JD.com ecommerce app using digital yuan stored on a physical card or hard wallet via their Android NFC smartphone... More
The total transaction value of contactless card payments made in UK stores “surged” by 40.2% in 2021 and the average number of contactless payments made each day increased by 27.5% compared with the previous year, according to Barclaycard... More
The 12 Russian banks taking part in the first phase of the Central Bank of Russia’s digital ruble pilot scheme have started or are ready to start trialling the central bank digital currency (CBDC) across a range of payment types... More
Residents of the Czech Republic will soon be able to store, display and verify digital versions of their identity card and driving licence on their mobile device and will no longer be required to carry physical ID documents if they do so, the Czech government has confirmed in a policy statement... More
The US Federal Reserve has published a study examining the potential benefits and risks of issuing an American central bank digital currency (CBDC) as the first step in a public consultation on the possible future issuance of a digital dollar... More
Public transport users in the Philippines can now top up their Beep prepaid contactless fare payments card directly from their NFC-enabled smartphone... More
Smart Technologies has added NFC functionality to its latest range of interactive displays for use in schools, universities and other learning environments, enabling teachers to log into their presentations, files and other personalised teaching content with the tap of an NFC card and without needing to use a password... More
Public transport users in the Russian city of Tula are the first outside Moscow to be able to top up their prepaid Troika transit card from their smartphone using the My Troika app... More
Passengers using bus services in the Indian city of Mumbai will now be able to automatically verify that they have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 in order to travel when they present their digital bus ticket on their smartphone... More
Apple Pay has launched in Armenia with support for Mastercard and Visa cards issued by Acba Bank, Ardshinbank, Ameriabank, Converse Bank, Inecobank and Unibank... More
Customers shopping at Nisa grocery stores across the UK will soon be able to scan selected products with their smartphone in order to receive digital vouchers that entitle them to a discount on those products when they present their ‘voucher wallet’ at the checkout... More
Public transport users in Washington DC in the US who add a SmarTrip transit card to Apple Wallet or Google Pay will be credited with 10 free 45-minute rides on the region’s public bicycle share scheme... More
Customers wishing to purchase alcohol and other age-restricted products in Aldi’s first contactless store on Greenwich High Street in London can authorise their purchase using facial age estimation technology... More
Apple Pay is due to roll out in Argentina and Peru “soon”, according to the payments service’s Latin American website... More
One in four consumers globally expect to switch to making cashless payments only within the next two years (25%), while one in two say it will happen in the next 10 years (53%) and 16% say they already solely make digital payments, a survey of consumers and merchants in nine markets worldwide has found... More
Hyundai is to let Apple iPhone users lock, unlock and start their vehicles remotely using a digital key stored in their Wallet app... More
Overseas athletes and spectators visiting the Beijing Winter Olympics will be among the first foreign nationals to be able to trial China’s digital yuan central bank digital currency (CBDC) at event venues, nearby merchants and inside the Olympic Village... More
Researchers at the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei have developed a pliable high-strength transparent film and demonstrated how it can be used to create NFC circuits that can still be read even after being folded or bent and could be integrated into flexible electronic and optical devices... More