The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has begun testing a prototype wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC) and will launch a pilot programme for a retail digital rupee with merchants and consumers in select locations “within a month”, the central bank says... More
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is to build a prototype digital rupee and test it in a range of scenarios and use cases as part of its “phased implementation strategy” for introducing a central bank digital currency (CBDC)... More
The integration of virtual cards into digital wallet services like Apple Pay and Google Pay will drive a 340% increase in virtual card transactions, from 28bn in 2022 to 121bn by 2027, Juniper Research predicts... More
Samsung’s new Galaxy Z Fold 4, Galaxy Z Flip 4, Galaxy Watch 5 and Galaxy Watch 5 Pro all offer NFC functionality, while some also include ultra wideband (UWB) capabilities and the phone maker’s own MST magnetic stripe emulation technology... More
The central banks of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand are to develop an interoperable cross-border payments system that will enable residents of each country to use their mobile banking app to make QR code-based payments for goods and services when visiting any of the other territories... More
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is piloting a new kind of automated, contactless store that uses biometric authentication to let those entitled to subsidised commodities such as rice, wheat and grains receive their allocation without needing to visit a traditional retail outlet... More
The Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation (BMRCL) in the Indian city of Bengaluru is planning to roll out AI-powered biometric facial recognition technology that will enable passengers with monthly travel passes to walk through station automatic fare collection gates by verifying their identity with their face and without needing a physical smart card, pass or token... More
More than one in two consumers worldwide prefer using a physical payment card to using cash or a digital wallet when making in-person purchases (53%), a survey has revealed... More
The total transaction values for payments made using QR codes worldwide will reach more than US$3tn by 2025, an increase of 25% from US$2.4tn in 2022, driven by an increasing focus on financial inclusion in developing markets and alternative payment methods in developed regions, according to a forecast by Juniper Research... More
Providing a cash-like digital means of payment, increasing private digital payment services, supporting financial inclusion and achieving greater payment system efficiency are among the key motivations driving initiatives to develop central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) in emerging market economies around the world, according to a Bank for International Settlements (BIS) report... More
Google Pay users in India can now choose to make in-store mobile payments with their Android NFC smartphone directly from their bank account using the country’s Unified Payment Interface (UPI) real-time mobile payments service... More
Devotees will soon be able to make contactless offerings and other charitable payments at some 536 Hindu temples across India using a QR code-based payment system being piloted by the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department... More
Tourists in India can now top up their contactless Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) transit card and receive information about routes and fares from their Apple or Android mobile device via the official Delhi Tourism app... More
Consumers in key markets around the world have switched from physical cash to digital and contactless payment methods at “a rate unprecedented” since the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) launched its Red Book of payment and settlement statistics in 2004, BIS says... More
Google Pay users in India can now apply for and receive a personal loan in their bank account via the payment service’s app... More
Nearly 20% of all in-person Visa card transactions in the US are now contactless, with that proportion rising to more than 25% in Los Angeles, Detroit, Orange County, Miami and Salt Lake City, over 30% in San Francisco, San Jose and Oakland, and reaching 45% in New York, according to the card network’s Q1 2022 earnings call... 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
Banks in India, Poland, Iraq, Mexico, Lebanon and Egypt are among those set to trial biometric payment cards that enable customers to authenticate contactless payments with their fingerprints... More
Nine in 10 consumers in the Asia Pacific region have used mobile payment apps at least once during the past 12 months, while more than half have used digital payment methods at least once a week and a sixth have made a digital payment for the first time since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic (15%), according to research published by Kaspersky... More
Researchers at Rajalakshmi Engineering College in Chennai, India, and in Sydney, Australia, have published a paper laying out the framework for a “contactless tele-health system” that uses NFC technology to enable healthcare workers to upload, access and update health and treatment data for individual patients in remotely located mobile Covid-19 quarantine and isolation wards... More