Big Issue magazine is enabling its street vendors in the UK to accept contactless payments for copies of the publication directly on NFC smartphones without needing an additional card reader... More
Bangalore-based food delivery service Swiggy Instamart in India has launched a promotional drinks coaster equipped with NFC and a QR code that enables consumers to access a selection of snacks and beverages by tapping or scanning it with their mobile device... More
Drivers of Škoda ICE vehicles in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Luxembourg and Switzerland can now make contactless in-car payments for fuel directly through their dashboard touchscreen using the vehicle manufacturer’s Pay to Fuel service... More
Nearly nine in 10 European consumers using a contactless payment ring say that it is their preferred method for making contactless payments (89%) compared with smartphone payments (49%) and payment cards (44%), according to a Mastercard survey... More
An average of around one in five Europeans would use the digital euro “several times a week” if the proposed central bank digital currency is introduced (15-21%) and just over one in four expect it to be used as a supplement to existing payment methods (26%), according to a BearingPoint survey... More
Eurasian Bank has launched a digital and physical debit card that enables holders to complete in-store and online transactions using Kazakhstan’s central bank digital currency (CBDC)... More
Alaska Airlines has become the first in the US to roll out support for Apple’s Tap to Pay on iPhone software point of sale feature, enabling passengers to pay for beverages and food during their flight by tapping a flight attendant’s iPhone with their physical or digital contactless payment card... More
Charities in the UK can now make it possible for any of their volunteers to collect donations on their behalf by simply downloading a softPOS app onto their Android NFC smartphone... More
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is testing an upgraded version of its SGQR unified QR payment code that will enable merchants to accept QR code payments made using a wider range of local and cross-border payment schemes through a single financial institution rather than having to maintain commercial relationships with individual payment scheme providers... More
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has completed the first phase of Project e-HKD to develop a digital Hong Kong dollar and in the process has identified three use cases where the adoption of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) could facilitate faster, more cost-effective and inclusive payments and enable new types of economic transactions... More
The number of cities worldwide where Google Wallet users can now store digital transit tickets or make open loop or closed loop contactless fare payments with a credit, debit or prepaid transit card stored on their Android device has topped 500, Google has revealed in a blog post... More
Total transaction values for contactless transit fare payments made using a QR code will almost triple and reach US$17.7bn worldwide by 2028, according to a forecast by Juniper Research... More
The Australia and New Zealand Bank (ANZ) has completed an eight-week pilot programme with Southern Cross University in New South Wales that has shown how organisations such as universities could provide immediate financial support using a central bank digital currency (CBDC) in emergency situations when ATMs and other payments technologies are unusable... More
The European Central Bank (ECB) has completed the initial two-year investigation phase of its digital euro project and will now implement a two-year preparation phase that will cover the finalisation of a digital euro rulebook, the selection of providers to develop a digital euro platform and infrastructure, as well as testing and experimentation across a range of use cases for the central bank digital currency (CBDC)... More
Apple iPhone users in the UK can now check their current account balance, the remaining credit on their credit card and their debit and credit card transaction history directly in Apple Wallet... More
Amazon is using RFID tags attached to individual product items to expand the range of outlets that can make use of its Just Walk Out technology to include clothing retailers and other non-food stores... More
The European Payments Initiative (EPI) will launch its pan-European digital wallet for use on both iOS and Android devices under the commercial name of Wero, the initiative has revealed... More
Drivers in the US who buy the 2024 Hyundai Kona electric car will be able to find, reserve and pay for parking spaces at 6,000 locations around the country from their dashboard touchscreen using the Hyundai Pay in-vehicle payments platform... More
Merchants in Brazil can now accept contactless payments on their iPhone with no other hardware required, Apple has announced... More
The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has unveiled a suite of United Payments Interface (UPI) services that includes UPI Tap & Pay NFC-enabled QR codes, QR code-enabled ATM withdrawals, the addition of support for offline NFC payments to the UPI Lite X digital wallet, and Hello... More