The number of new Hyundai Card users in South Korea rose by 75% from 116,000 in February to 203,000 in March following the launch of Apple Pay in the country on 21 March... More
Apple Pay launch drives surge in Hyundai Card uptake in Korea
Contactless
Apple rolls out support for contactless payments acceptance on iPhones to merchants in Taiwan
Merchants in Taiwan have become the first outside the USA to be able to accept in-store contactless payments on iPhones using Apple’s Tap to Pay software point of sale (sPOS) feature... More
Purdue University lets students store contactless mobile IDs on NFC devices
Students attending Purdue University in West Lafayette in the US state of Indiana can now access campus buildings and authorise on-campus payments using a digital student identity card stored on their Apple or Android NFC smartphone or smartwatch rather than a physical ID card... More
UK hospital uses NFC to pilot diabetes home-testing for pregnant women
The University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust in the UK is to trial a solution that allows pregnant women to quickly and easily report the results of a home test for diabetes to antenatal care providers by scanning the testing device with their NFC smartphone... More
More than half of drivers globally want contactless digital car keys
More than half of drivers worldwide are interested in using virtual car keys to access and start their vehicles (54%) and the global virtual car key market share is predicted to increase at a compound annual growth rate of 21.8% over the course of the decade, according to a Straits Research forecast... More
US employee rewards programme trials online virtual prepaid card provisioning
Employee reward and incentive programmes provider Halo is trialling a digital card provisioning solution that enables users to quickly and easily add a virtual prepaid rewards card directly to their digital wallet without needing to download an app or add their bank details... More
Nashville wine festival uses NFC tags to offer bespoke customer experiences
Visitors to the recent Nashville Predators WineFest in Tennessee in the USA were able to access exclusive digital content provided by nearly 90 retailers taking part in the fundraising event by tapping NFC tags with their NFC-enabled smartphone... More
India and Nepal to sign cross-border mobile payments agreement
Residents of India will soon be able to make mobile payments for goods and services when visiting Nepal from their smartphone’s digital wallet using an interoperable cross-border payments system to be implemented between the two countries... More
European banks call for rethink on incorporating payments into EU digital identity wallet proposals
The European Credit Sector Associations (ECSAs) are calling on the European Union to re-examine clauses in legislation on the proposed European Digital Identity Wallet that appear to imply that “widely used cards and payment specifications” will have to accept the wallet for strong customer authentication (SCA) for payments “on a mandatory basis”... More
Lithuanian supermarket chain begins rolling out contactless stores
Lithuanian supermarket chain IKI has opened its second contactless convenience store in the capital Vilnius, enabling customers to check in at the store door by tapping their payment card, mobile wallet or retailer’s app, select the products they want and pay for their purchases without needing to scan them, by tapping their payment card as they leave... More
Amazon expands contactless pay by palm technology to Whole Foods Market stores in Colorado
Customers at Whole Foods Market stores in the greater Denver area in the US state of Colorado can now gain access to the supermarket and make contactless payments for their purchases with their palm... More
Hugo Boss adds NFC tags to baseball caps
Fashion house Hugo Boss has added an NFC tag to a range of baseball caps that enables purchasers to create non-fungible token (NFT) digital twins that they can use to dress avatars on the Ready Player Me metaverse platform... More
Korean merchants turn to softPOS for Apple Pay acceptance
Merchants in South Korea can now opt to accept Apple Pay payments on their smartphone without needing to purchase and install NFC readers at the point of sale as a number of new or upgraded software POS solutions roll out across the country... More
BMW lets riders unlock their motorcycle with their face or eye
Riders purchasing motorcycles in the BMW Motorrad Boxer range will soon be able to unlock their machine with their face when they are not wearing a helmet or with their eye if they already have their helmet on... More
Japan to host first entirely cashless World Expo in 2025
The World Expo 2025 in the Japanese city of Osaka will be the first world’s fair to be entirely cashless and is developing a dedicated blockchain-enabled Expo Digital Wallet that visitors will be able to use to make contactless payments with their smartphone both inside and outside the venue as well as after the event... More
Kochi Metro promotion drives upsurge in mobile ticketing adoption
The number of passengers purchasing QR code mobile tickets for journeys on Kochi Metro services in the Indian state of Kerala has increased twenty-fold since the rapid transit system launched a promotion offering a 10% discount for peak-time and 50% discount for off-peak travel to mobile ticketing users... More
NFCW welcomes 33 new members in March 2023
Welcome to the 33 new members who joined the NFCW Knowledge Centre in March, representing private, government and academic organisations in 17 countries and at all stages of their contactless journeys... More
EU begins work on digital visas for Schengen visitors
The European Union is to begin negotiating a proposal to enable travellers who require a visa to transit through — or make a short stay in countries within — the border-free Schengen area of Europe to apply for and store a digital version of the credential on their smartphone... More
North Wales buses get interoperable fare-capped contactless payments
Passengers on buses in North Wales can now make contactless fare payments on services run by 25 different local operators with their debit or credit card using an interoperable fare-capped ticketing system rolled out across nearly 200 routes in the region... More
Singapore lets taxi and bus drivers store digital vocational licences on their smartphone
Bus, taxi and private hire car drivers as well as school bus attendants in Singapore can now add a digital version of their vocational licence to the country’s Singpass app on their smartphone and use it to verify their identity and licence status, gain access to restricted areas and earn loyalty points when purchasing fuel... More