Singtel Dash goes global with Visa and Apple Pay — Singtel — “Singtel is expanding the payment capabilities of its all-in-one mobile payments app, Dash, to include international mobile payments. Dash customers are now able to use their Visa Virtual Account on the Dash app at millions of online retailers worldwide and merchant points that accept Visa contactless payments. In addition, customers can also use Dash on Apple Pay, making it the first non-bank mobile wallet in Singapore on Apple’s easy, secure and private payments system.”
Apple
Tesco to roll out high value contactless transactions
Tesco set to get rid of £30 limit on Apple Pay transactions — MoneySavingExpert — “The supermarket giant has said on social media: ‘We are currently in the process of trialling high value contactless payment with Apple Pay in a few of our stores and will be looking to extend this offer to the rest of our stores estate over the coming year.”
Google Pay goes live in France
Google Pay is now live in France, with support for Boon, Boursarama Banque debit and credit cards, Edenred Ticket Restaurant cards, Lydia prepaid Mastercards, N26 Mastercard debit cards and Revolut Mastercards... More
EU antitrust chief ‘could review’ Apple Pay
EU’s Vestager may investigate Apple Pay if there are formal complaints — Reuters — “EU regulators looked into Apple’s mobile payment service and found it was not market-dominant but they could review it again if they receive formal complaints, Europe’s antitrust chief said on Monday… Critics say that an NFC chip embedded in the Apple iPhone means that Apple Pay is automatically selected when an iPhone user pays for goods and services, barring rival payment methods.”
Apple Pay goes live in Germany
Apple Pay is now live in Germany for customers of Deutsche Bank, Hanseatic Bank, HypoVereinsbank/UniCredit, Fidor Bank, Comdirect, N26 and Bunq... More
EU citizens report bugs in UK government NFC passport reading app
People taking part in the pilot test of an NFC app developed by the UK government to make it easy for EU citizens to apply for settled status following Brexit have reported a number of bugs, including multiple issues related to NFC passport scanning... More
Target begins accepting NFC payments in San Francisco
Target appears to be testing in-store Apple Pay in San Francisco — 9to5Mac — “On Twitter this week, users have reported that they are able to check out with Apple Pay at a Target store in San Francisco, specifically the Metreon location. Users say that despite Target’s resistance to the feature in the past, the terminals at this San Francisco store are NFC-enabled and work with Apple Pay. Additionally, another user reports that they were able to use a contactless card at the same Target store during the self-checkout process.”
T-Mobile offers mobile banking service that supports Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay
T-Mobile launches mobile banking solution T-Mobile Money, available now on Android and iOS — 9to5Google — “T-Mobile Money hasn’t been officially launched, but was discovered early thanks to its (likely unintended) addition to Google Pay’s list of US banks and credit card companies. Its official website, discovered by Domain Name Wire, went live today and has the full details of the interesting offering.”
Apple Pay goes live in Belgium and Kazakhstan
Apple Pay now available in Belgium and Kazakhstan — AppleInsider — “For the moment, Apple Pay is exclusive to BNP Paribas Fortis, along with its subsidiaries Hello Bank and Fintro, for both Mastercard and Visa-based cards… The support for Apple Pay in Kazakhstan has started with Eurasian Bank for Mastercard customers. Apple’s list of participating banks and credit issuers that support Apple Pay also includes ATFBank, Halyk Bank, Sberbank, Bank CenterCredit, and ForteBank.”
Apple Pay and Samsung Pay to go live in Azerbaijan
Apple, Samsung contactless payment systems to appear in Azerbaijan — Trend News Agency — “Apple Pay and Samsung Pay payment services will appear in Azerbaijan in 2019, head of business development and digital payment department of MasterCard Hakan Tatlici told Trend.”
UPDATE Mastercard’s PR representatives in Azerbaijan have contacted NFC World to say that Trend News Agency’s article contained incorrect information and has been updated.
Amazon moves into US mobile payments market
Amazon Pay accepted here? Web giant aims to put digital wallet in stores — The Wall Street Journal — “Amazon.com Inc is gearing up to challenge Apple Inc in the mobile payments race. The e-commerce giant is working to persuade brick-and-mortar merchants to accept its Amazon Pay digital wallet, according to people familiar with the matter, attempting to expand a service now used primarily for purchases online.”
Mobile payments now account for 6% of all UK card transactions
The percentage of payments made with a mobile phone in UK stores has jumped from 1.3% in Q3 2016 to 5.6% in Q3 2018, an analysis of 190m card transactions has shown... More
L’Oréal launches wearable sensor that uses NFC to alert iPhone users to the risk of sun damage to their skin
Beauty giant L’Oréal has launched an NFC-enabled sun safety sensor that measures the wearers exposure to UV light and comes with a companion app that iPhone users can use to tap their sensor to get advice tailored to their skin tone and skin type... More
Swiss banks face mobile payments boycott investigation
Swiss watchdog investigates banks over alleged payments system boycott — Reuters — “Switzerland’s competition watchdog has raided the offices of financial companies, including Credit Suisse and UBS, to investigate a suspected boycott of mobile payment solutions such as Apple Pay and Samsung Pay… ‘There is the suspicion that the companies agreed not to make their credit cards available for use with Apple Pay and Samsung Pay, in order to favor the Swiss solution Twint,’ competition commission Weko said.”
Los Angeles Football Club rolls out NFC ticketing on Apple Watch and iPhones
Los Angeles Football Club fans attending matches at the Major League Soccer club’s Banc of California stadium are now able to use Apple’s new Express Card NFC functionality to gain access to the venue by simply tapping their iPhone or Apple Watch at entry turnstiles equipped with contactless readers... More
7-Eleven pilots mobile self-checkout in 14 US stores
Convenience store giant 7-Eleven is piloting a mobile self-checkout service in 14 stores in the Dallas area, just two months after it began accepting contactless and mobile payments across its 8,000+ US stores... More
Report: Apple Pay to launch in Belgium ‘in November’
Apple Pay will go live in Belgium this month, local news service De Tijd reports, eighteen months after Google Pay launched in the country... More
Apple unveils launch partners for Apple Pay in Germany
Apple Pay will launch in Germany “soon”, the iPhone maker has revealed, with support from American Express, Mastercard, Visa, Maestro, Boon, Bunq, Comdirect, Deutsche Bank, Edenred, Fidor Bank, Hanseatic Bank, HypoVereinsbank (HVB), N26, O2 Banking and VimPay... More
Apple issues apology to Chinese mobile wallet phishing victims
Apple has issued an apology to Chinese customers who were victims of a phishing scam that saw some Alipay and WeChat Pay customers lose funds stored in their mobile wallets... More
Contactless payments overtake chip and pin in the UK
Contactless payments usage has grown 30% in the UK over the past year to become the most popular card payment type for in-store transactions, Worldpay reports — and the growth is partly driven by an “astonishing” rise in consumer adoption of mobile payment services... More