Transport for Wales (TfW) has issued a tender inviting suppliers to propose and develop a national Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) app that will enable door-to-door journey planning and payments for bus, rail, coach and taxi fares as well as for bicycle and e-scooter hire, car sharing and demand-responsive transport schemes... More
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Bank of England and UK Treasury launch consultation on digital pound
The Bank of England and UK Treasury have launched a consultation on the design of the proposed digital pound and could roll out the central bank digital currency (CBDC) during the second half of the decade, according to bank and government officials... More
Nepal introduces in-store NFC mobile payments
Consumers in Nepal can now make contactless NFC payments by tapping their smartphone on an NFC reader at the point of sale (POS) without needing an internet connection... More
Eight in ten drivers in New South Wales now store their driving licence on their smartphone
Nearly eight in ten drivers in the Australian state of New South Wales now have a digital version of their driving licence stored on their smartphone that they can use in cases ranging from police checks to age verification in shops and bars and identity authentication when collecting postal deliveries, according to state minister Victor Dominello... More
Researchers unveil system that enables users to feel touch at a distance
Researchers in Japan have unveiled a system that allows users to communicate physical sensations and haptic information between devices and could enable contactless augmented interactions across a range of use cases including healthcare, sport, education and ecommerce... More
Number of credit cards issued via digital platforms to top 320m globally by 2027
The number of credit cards issued via digital card issuance platforms worldwide will rise from 120m in 2023 to more than 320m by 2027, according to a Juniper Research forecast... More
More than half of payments made with First National Bank cards in South Africa are now contactless
More than 50% of all payments made with physical or digital payment cards issued to customers of South Africa’s First National Bank (FNB) are now contactless, the bank reports... More
Dutch rail network begins national rollout of contactless open loop fare payments
Passengers travelling on rail services in the Netherlands can now pay for full-fare second-class train fares with their physical or digital debit or credit card by tapping a reader at the beginning and end of their journey... More
Central Bank of Jordan doubles daily contactless limit
The Central Bank of Jordan (CBJ) has increased the limit for individual contactless transactions made without a PIN from 55 Jordanian dinars (US$77) to 100 Jordanian dinars (US$141) and doubled the country’s daily contactless limit from 150 Jordanian dinars (US$212) to 300 Jordanian dinars (US$423)... More
Trust Payments to share lessons learned from developing a softPOS solution for merchants across Europe
Russel Luis E Fernandes, head of product for card present payments at European omnichannel payments leader Trust Payments, will share the lessons learned from developing a software-only POS solution for large and small merchants across Europe at NFCW’s next Contactless World Congress event on 21 February... More
European Central Bank draws up plans for digital euro app for contactless and QR code payments
The European Central Bank (ECB) is considering plans to develop a digital euro app that would enable consumers to use the proposed central bank digital currency (CBDC) to make contactless and QR code-based payments and “facilitate a standard approach to connecting end users to intermediaries” including banks and other payments processors... More
Washington Metro lets students add digital transit passes to Apple Wallet via NFC
College students with a physical prepaid U-Pass SmarTrip transit card can now generate, store and use a digital version of it in Apple Wallet... More
Russian banks pilot contactless payment stickers for iPhone users
Apple users with accounts at two Russian banks will soon be able to attach an NFC payment sticker to the back of their iPhone that enables them to make contactless payments for goods and services with their smartphone... More
Qatar National Bank rolls out contactless biometric payments
Customers of Qatar National Bank (QNB) can now authenticate contactless payments for purchases at merchants in Qatar using their face and without needing to use a physical payment card or smartphone... More
Bangladesh central bank pilots interoperable national QR code payments system
The Central Bank of Bangladesh is trialling an interoperable payments system that will enable customers of more than 15 major banks and payment service providers to pay for their purchases by scanning a standardized QR code at a participating merchant’s point of sale with their smartphone... More
Interactive contactless card innovator ThothTrust opens NFCW Expo showcase
EXHIBITOR NEWS: Contactless card innovator ThothTrust has opened a booth in the NFCW Expo, showcasing its range of next-generation contactless cards containing displays, keyboards, fingerprint readers, and more... More
Penn State launches contactless mobile student IDs for NFC devices
Penn State University in the US has launched a digital student identity card that students can store on their Apple or Android NFC smartphone or smartwatch and use to access campus buildings and to make contactless on-campus purchases... More
Queensland to expand mobile driving licence pilot
Residents of Townsville in northern Queensland will soon be able to store and use digital versions of their driving licence, marine licence and photo ID cards on their smartphone when the Australian state launches the next phase of its Digital Licence app trial prior to a state-wide rollout due later this year... More
Prague extends open loop contactless fare payments to city buses
Passengers travelling on buses, electric buses and trolley buses in Prague in the Czech Republic can now use their physical or digital debit or credit card to purchase tickets for their journeys from onboard contactless self-service terminals rather than in advance or from the driver... More
Consortium to test digital driving licences and medical prescriptions as part of EU’s European Digital Identity Wallet pilot
An international consortium of 148 public and private sector organisations from 19 European Union member states and Ukraine is to develop and test digital identity prototypes across six use cases including digital driving licences and medical prescriptions as part of the EU’s large-scale European Digital Identity Wallet pilot programme... More