Mobile Contactless SEPA Card Payments Interoperability Implementation Guidelines (MCP IIGs) for public consultation — European Payments Council — “The EPC has facilitated the setting-up of a multi-stakeholder group covering the various sectors involved in the mobile payment ecosystem to develop a new version of the Mobile Contactless SEPA Card Payments Implementation Interoperability Guidelines (MCP IIGs), while leveraging the relevant documentation developed in standardisation and industry bodies.”
Links
Face ID reported to take longer to unlock an iPhone than Touch ID
iPhone X Face ID slower than Touch ID (but there’s a fix) — Tom’s Guide — “I’ve been using Face ID on the iPhone X for more than 24 hours, and I don’t need a stopwatch to tell you that it unlocks my phone slower than when I was using Touch ID on my older iPhone 7 Plus… It took 1.2 seconds from pressing the side button to the iPhone X’s screen turning on and for the phone to recognize me and unlock the device. And it was another 0.4 seconds to swipe up to get to the lock screen. Total time: 1.8 seconds.”
Rambus supports launch of Interac debit payments on Samsung Pay in Canada
Rambus collaborates with Samsung Canada and Interac to help deliver Samsung Pay in Canada — Rambus — PARTNER NEWS — “Rambus Inc, a leader in digital security, semiconductor and IP products and services, announced that it has teamed with Samsung Canada and Interac Association/Acxsys Corporation, the organizations behind Canada’s leading payment brand, to help enable Interac Debit on Samsung Pay in Canada. The Interac Token Service Provider (TSP), developed in collaboration with Rambus, now helps allow Interac users to make secure mobile debit payments through tokenized transactions using Samsung Pay.”
Samsung Pay adds Visa, Mastercard, Amex and Interac debit options in Canada
Samsung Pay expands in Canada with new partners — Samsung Electronics Canada — “Following a successful introduction with CIBC in the Canadian market, Samsung remains committed to enhancing Samsung Pay and making it a holistic digital wallet extending beyond credit cards with the introduction of debit cards and new partners including Interac Debit, Scotiabank, American Express Canada, ATB Financial, Visa Canada and Mastercard. In addition, Samsung Pay will be made available soon to Tangerine and Peoples Card Services customers.”
Mobile-only Orange Bank goes live in France
Orange is now also a bank — Orange — “Orange is launching its new banking offer in mainland France today. This 100% mobile-based offer is provided by Orange Bank and will be the only French bank to offer for free a service that provides real-time balances, mobile payment, innovative uses and a virtual adviser that is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”
eMarketer raises mobile payments forecast for China
eMarketer projects surge in mobile payments in China — eMarketer — “eMarketer has raised its projections by more than 86% for 2017, and now expects 461.4 million people in the country to use a phone to pay at the POS… By 2021, 79.3% of smartphone users will be tapping, scanning and swiping at the POS. By comparison, the US will have 31% of users doing so, and that figure will be 23% in Germany.”
Researchers build ID data into smart clothing
How to store information in your clothes invisibly, without electronics — University of Washington — “Most people today combine conductive thread — embroidery thread that can carry an electrical current — with other types of electronics to create outfits, stuffed animals or accessories that light up or communicate… The UW researchers realized that this off-the-shelf conductive thread also has magnetic properties that can be manipulated to store either digital data or visual information like letters or numbers. This data can be read by a magnetometer, an inexpensive instrument that measures the direction and strength of magnetic fields and is embedded in most smartphones.”
Android Pay to let users track all their card purchases?
Android Pay appears to be testing the ability to see all card purchases, even those not done on your phone — 9to5Google — “The Android Pay app appears to be testing out a new feature for ‘full purchase history’. In short, this new feature pulls your entire transaction history from your card and displays it right alongside Android Pay purchases. This new setting on Android Pay appears to only work for specific cards, though. In this first case, it works with an American Express Cash card.”
Android Pay goes live in Ukraine
Android Pay in Ukraine — Pay for your purchases in just a few seconds — Google Ukraine (Translation) — “We are pleased to announce that Android users in Ukraine can now not only search and receive information at the right time with the Google app, optimize their Google Maps routes and enjoy various apps on Google Play, but also quickly and securely make purchases offline and online using Android Pay… Today, Android Pay in Ukraine only works with Mastercard and Visa cards issued by PrivatBank, but the list of banks will be constantly replenished.”
Taxi hailing app Grab targets Asian mobile payment market
Grab starts mobile wallet service at hawker stalls in Singapore — Bloomberg — “Grab will enable its four million users in the city-state to scan a quick response, or QR, code to pay for local dishes such as chicken rice and prawn noodles at hawker stands around the country. Grab plans to increase the number of small merchants accepting GrabPay from 25 to 1,000 by the end of December… The five-year-old startup plans to roll out mobile wallet services across the region next year, according to co-founder Tan Hooi Ling.”
Amex adds biometric authentication to Safekey 3D Secure platform
American Express supports next generation of digital commerce over internet-connected devices with SafeKey 2.0 rollout — American Express — “SafeKey 2.0, which leverages the EMV 3D Secure 2.0 industry standard, is a global solution that provides an extra layer of security when an American Express card member makes a purchase online at a participating merchant… The updated platform supports authentication methods using biometrics, including fingerprints and facial recognition… In addition, SafeKey 2.0 will support card issuers and merchant acquirers in the European Union as they address the Strong Customer Authentication requirements of the Payment Services Directive 2.0.”
Finger vibration biometric could allow authentication on any solid surface
Security system identifies users by finger vibrations — Futurity — “A new low-cost security system called VibWrite could eventually use finger vibrations to verify users… It includes an inexpensive vibration motor and receiver, and can turn any solid surface into an authentication surface… During two trials, VibWrite verified legitimate users with more than 95% accuracy and the false positive rate was less than 3%.”
Researchers develop continuous biometric login for smartphones
NSF grant to develop one-handed smartphone authentication — Illinois State University — “The interactions, such as strokes, that users make with their thumbs when working with smartphones can be very unique,” said Lai, who is an assistant professor in the School of Information Technology. “We can use these interactions to identify different users. This is what we call thumb biometrics.”
Indian mobile wallet giant Paytm plans expansion to US, Japan and Europe
India’s top payment app has eyes on US market — Wall Street Journal — “India’s largest mobile payment app — backed by the likes of China’s Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp — has its eye on the US, its founder said. Speaking at The Wall Street Journal’s D.Live Singapore event, Paytm founder and chief executive Vijay Shekhar Sharma said his aim is to expand into developed markets, also including Japan and Europe.”
Facebook’s WhatsApp to offer in-chat payments in India
WhatsApp in-chat payments feature is bad news for digital wallets, payment companies in India — FactorDaily — “Instant messenger WhatsApp is readying an intuitive in-chat payments feature, ahead of a likely December launch in India… This will be the first time that WhatsApp is introducing the payments feature anywhere in the world… The Facebook-owned company has partnered with three banks – State Bank of India, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank, three of India’s biggest banks, to launch the feature, FactorDaily has also learned.”
Australian banks form digital payments joint venture
NAB, Westpac and CBA team up with new payments app, Beem — The Sydney Morning Herald — “Three of the country’s banking giants are joining forces to allow instant payments between people or to small businesses via a smartphone, with plans to ultimately roll out a cross-industry ‘digital wallet’… The app will be the first service offered by a new digital payments joint venture that has been formed between CBA, NAB and Westpac… ANZ is not part of the joint venture but it has been involved in some of the discussions with rivals, and it may sign up in the future.”
Face ID for Apple Pay gets thumbs up in pre-release review
The first first impression of the iPhone X — Wired — “I really liked Apple Pay with iPhone X — having to double-click on the side button and then use Face ID was a clearer way to do transactions.”
Capital One rolls out Eno chatbot to credit card and banking customers
What we learned about what our chatbot learned — Capital One — “In March at SXSW 2017, Capital One launched an invite-only pilot of Eno, the first natural language SMS chatbot from a US bank. Today, we’re thrilled to announce that Eno has emerged from the pilot and is now available to text with millions of Capital One US credit card and bank customers.”
Brazilian fintech Trigg offers wearable payments bracelet to cardholders
Trigg launches a bracelet that works like a credit card — Visa Brazil (Translation) — “The bracelet is elastic silicone, waterproof and was designed for an audience that wants a payment method that speeds up the shopping process and can be used during sports activities, while enjoying a swim on the beach, paying for a manicure or even while enjoying a show, without worrying about needing a physical wallet.”
Bancontact adds NFC payments to mobile app
Bancontact rolls out contactless smartphone payments to the general public — Bancontact — “Belgians already make more than one million payments each month using the Bancontact app. And Bancontact has now also activated its app for contactless payments… You can use any ordinary bank card in the Bancontact app to pay contactlessly. Which means you don’t have to register a special contactless card in the app.”