Children travelling alone on Air New Zealand services will now receive an NFC Airband wristband that gets scanned at key points in their journey and triggers text notifications to up to five nominated contacts. More
Archive: Newswire
Tencent launches WeChat mobile wallet in South Africa
Chinese ecommerce giant Tencent has launched a mobile wallet service in South Africa in partnership with Standard Bank. The service lets users of social messaging app WeChat make P2P transfers, pay for services such as airtime, data and electricity and make in-store payments by scanning QR codes at merchants supporting the SnapScan mobile payments platform. More
Swatch confirms payment watch launch in US, Switzerland and Brazil
Swiss luxury watchmaker Swatch has confirmed that it has signed an agreement with Visa and Visa Europe to enable eligible cardholders in the US, Switzerland and Brazil to tap and pay with the Swatch Bellamy watch. More
Retail giant Otto to shutter Yapital mobile payments business
German retail giant Otto Group is to close down its Yapital mobile payments service due to the “highly competitive but slow-developing digital payment business”... More
BBVA Bancomer deploys time-based dynamic CCV/CVC in mobile wallet
PARTNER NEWS: Mexican bank BBVA Bancomer has become the first to make use of digital giant Gemalto’s Dynamic Code Verification solution. The solution replaces traditional, static three-digit security codes with a dynamic CCV/CVC that changes every 20 minutes. More
Google boosts Android Pay adoption with $1m charity fund
Google is to give up to US$1m to the DonorsChoose.org charity by the end of December by donating US$1 for every purchase made in the US using Android Pay... More
BNP Paribas tests NFC screen shopping
French bank BNP Paribas has begun testing an NFC connected screen in its 2 Opéra concept store in Paris, allowing customers to complete transactions by holding their NFC phone or contactless payment card up to the screen... More
Swipp contactless payment opens up to 30,000 Danish merchants through Verifone deal
More than 30,000 Danish merchants using Verifone POS devices will now be able to accept in-store mobile payments through Swipp — a service owned and supported by a consortium of more than 70 banks. This will be made possible via a “minor upgrade” to their existing terminals and “a number” of locations are expected to go live from December 2015, according to Swipp. More
United Overseas Bank offers HCE mobile payments in Singapore
Customers of United Overseas Bank (UOB) in Singapore can now make host card emulation (HCE) based mobile payments for transactions of any value at all Visa PayWave or MasterPass terminals. The new service also makes use of tokenization. More
PhilCare uses NFC phones to speed up health services in the Philippines
Customers of health care provider PhilCare can now hand over contactless membership cards to any of the company’s 200 service providers in the Philippines to provide access to their account details with a tap of a Samsung NFC phone... More
German football fans get HCE mobile payments
Fans of the FC Kaiserslautern football team can now make host card emulation (HCE) mobile payments at snack kiosks across its Fritz Walter Stadium using a mobile app developed by Sandpiper Group member companies Payment Solution and Ergonomics... More
Singtel adds NFC to Dash mobile payments service
Singapore mobile network operator Singtel has added NFC to its Dash mobile payment platform, letting customers make in-store payments with a tap... More
Four in ten US consumers plan to make an in-store mobile payment this holiday season
A total of 39% of US consumers surveyed by Research Now for Inside Secure say they plan to use their smartphone to make an in-store purchase during this holiday season, up from 33% last year. 17% of those who did not make a mobile payment last year say they plan to use a service like Apple Pay, Android Pay or Samsung Pay this year. More
MasterCard lets Apple Pay users travel for free in London
Passengers using Apple Pay to pay for travel with a MasterCard on London’s transport network will have their fares refunded by the payments network over the next four Mondays. More
MasterCard integrates loyalty programs and mobile payments with new specification
MasterCard has introduced a loyalty middleware specification that aims to ease the integration of loyalty programs with mobile payment apps... More
Apple Pay goes live in Australia
Apple Pay has begun rolling out across Australia, allowing American Express cardholders to make NFC mobile payments using iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6S, iPhone 6S Plus and Apple Watch devices. More
ST includes AMS NFC chip in dev kit for IoT and wearables
PARTNER NEWS: AMS’s BoostedNFC technology has been included by STMicroelectronics in a new NFC board that will let developers quickly implement secure contactless technology in devices with tight space constraints, such as IoT nodes and wearables... More
American Express unveils NFC, HCE and tokenization platform
American Express has launched Amex Enabled Digital Solution, a platform incorporating support for multiple digital wallets, contactless payments based on NFC and host card emulation (HCE), tokenization and express checkout services. The platform is designed to help both banks and merchants, Amex’s Mike Matan told NFC World. More
First National Bank adds coupons and vouchers to mobile app
Customers of South Africa’s First National Bank (FNB) can now redeem mobile coupons and vouchers through the bank’s mobile banking app directly at the point of sale... More
NFC secure element shipments grow 40% in 2015
A total of 490m NFC secure elements will be shipped in 2015, up 40% on the 350m shipped in 2014, smart security industry association Eurosmart reports. A total of 590m units is expected to ship in 2016, up 20% on 2015. More