Contactless donation points have been set up across the UK city of Bristol to let passersby donate £2 (US$2.57) to the Safer off the Streets (SOS) initiative by tapping their contactless card against the contactless terminals housed inside the units. More
Some 2,000 Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons have been installed across London’s Gatwick Airport to provide an indoor navigation system and an augmented reality wayfinding service so that passengers can be shown directions in the camera view of their mobile device. More
Samsung Pay has gone live in Hong Kong with support from Mastercard, Visa and American Express and banks including Bank of China (Hong Kong), Citibank, DahSing Bank, DBS and Standard Chartered. The launch takes the mobile payment service to a total of 17 markets globally and follows its debut in Taiwan earlier this month. More
Double Olympic champion and professional boxer Nicola Adams and TV presenter Jake Humphrey have unveiled car manufacturer Hyundai’s Contactless Car at London’s King’s Cross station, allowing passersby to donate to the Stand Up To Cancer charity with a tap of their contactless card or NFC mobile phone. More
Google has launched its Android Pay mobile payments service in Russia, allowing those with eligible Visa and Mastercard credit or debit cards issued from 15 supporting banks and financial institutions to make in-store and in-app payments using their compatible mobile devices. More
Samsung Pay has been launched across Taiwan with support from Visa and Mastercard along with seven major banks including Citibank, Cathay United Bank, E.Sun Commercial Bank, Taishin International Bank, Fubon Bank, Union Bank of Taiwan and Standard Chartered. The service supports iris scan authentication for those with Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ devices. More
Tipping point for Apple Pay as majority of UK tills accept limitless payments — The Telegraph — “Jennifer Bailey, the head of Apple’s payments business, said over half of contactless payment terminals in the UK are now able to take Apple Pay transactions of any value. The company says Apple Pay transactions in the UK have grown by 300pc in the last year, with 23 banks now supporting the service.”
BBC fools HSBC voice recognition security system — BBC News — “What’s really alarming is that the bank allowed me seven attempts to mimic my brothers’ voiceprint and get it wrong, before I got in at the eighth time of trying.”
The highest percentage of contactless payments across the UK are taking place in bakeries (62.5%) followed by pubs and bars (48.2%), caterers (47.8%), takeaway restaurants (45.5%), news dealers and newsstands (44.9%) and restaurants with 42.7%, research released by merchant services provider Paymentsense reveals. More
Android Pay will be rolled out to a number of additional countries including Brazil, Canada, Russia, Spain and Taiwan over the “coming months”, Google’s director of engineering for payment products Varouj Chitilian has revealed... More
Disconnected experiences put customer loyalty at risk — MuleSoft — “Nearly half of UK consumers (48 per cent) would be happy for banks to share their banking transaction history with a trusted third-party if it gave them a more personalised banking experience… Nearly a third (30 per cent) of UK respondents would consider using Amazon, Google, Facebook or Apple for banking services if it was offered, rather than using their standard bank.”
Apple Pay has begun rolling out across Italy with support for Mastercard and Visa cards issued by Carrefour Banca and UniCredit, with American Express, CartaBCC, ExpendiaSmart, Fineco Bank, Hype, Banca Mediolanum, N26 and Widiba listed as “coming this year”. The launch takes Apple Pay to a total of 16 markets globally. More
Samsung Pay is now available in the UK for customers of three financial institutions — MBNA, Nationwide and Santander — with “more on the way”. The service supports iris scan authentication as well as PIN and fingerprint authentication for Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ owners and offers a ‘transport card’ option designed to speed up transactions on busy Transport for London (TfL) services. More
RBTE 2017: Sainsbury’s throws down gauntlet to mobile payments industry — Essential Retail — “The retailers’ perspective is that many people have joined the payments industry just because they want a piece of the data… Data on customer behaviour and what the customer is doing in the retail environment is the most prized possession any retailer has.”
Six in ten UK consumers (60%) think that having fewer than three security steps including passwords, card readers or letters from a memorable word is “insufficient” to secure their bank account, research released by Equifax and YouGov reveals... More
Apple Pay is experiencing “phenomenal traction”, with transaction volume up 450% over the last 12 months, Apple CEO Tim Cook has revealed. Monthly Apple Pay transactions have grown by nearly 300% in the last year across the UK, while in Japan more than half a million transit users are completing 20m Apple Pay transactions per month. More
Almost 12m UK consumers aged over 50 are actively using contactless payments today, with one in five doing so up to three times a week, research released by Saga Money reveals... More
UK consumers will soon be able to make contactless donations to the Stand Up To Cancer charity by tapping their contactless card or NFC mobile phone against five payment points built into a Contactless Car designed by Hyundai Motor UK using a zero-emission Ioniq electronic vehicle. More
Almost four in five UK consumers (77%) have concerns about using new payment methods, research released by law firm Paul Hastings reveals, with risk of fraud cited as the main reason by 59%, followed by data security incidents (49%) and risk of theft (45%)... More
Samsung Pay is now available on the Gear S3 smartwatch in Korea and Samsung Pay Mini — the pared-down version of the mobile payment service — has also gone live in the country... More