Customers of Al-Mansour Bank in Iraq will be among the first in the country to be able to trial biometric payment cards that allow them to authenticate contactless payments with their fingerprints... More
Contactless
Korean buses roll out ‘tagless’ Bluetooth fare payments
Gyeonggi-do Province Transportation Bureau in South Korea has officially launched a ‘tagless’ fare payment system that uses Bluetooth technology to detect a Bluetooth signal from a passenger’s smartphone when they board and alight from the vehicle and then automatically charges their pre- or post-paid transit card for their fare... More
Bank of Ghana lays out core design principles for CBDC pilot
The Bank of Ghana (BOG) is to pilot a two-tier token-based retail central bank digital currency (CBDC) that can be used with either a digital wallet app managed by a financial institution or a physical hardware wallet such as a contactless smart card that can be used offline and by unbanked consumers... More
Average UK contactless transaction value rises by 30%
The value of the average contactless payment made in the UK has risen by 30% since the country increased its contactless spending limit from £45 (US$59) to £100 (US$132) in October last year, according to figures from UK Finance... More
Apple Pay goes live in Argentina and Peru
Apple Pay has launched in Argentina and Peru with support for Mastercard and Visa cards issued by six banks in Argentina and five in Peru. It has confirmed the service is now live in both countries. More
China to roll out digital ID cards nationwide
China is to roll out a digital version of its national identity card that residents can store and access on their smartphone across the whole country “this year”, the Chinese premier Li Keqiang has told a press briefing... More
Rhode Island trials geofenced free contactless ticketing
Passengers using transport services provided by Rhode Island Public Transit Authority (RIPTA) in Central Falls in the US will soon be able to travel for free when they scan their Wave smart transit card or mobile app on services originating and operating within the city... More
Citi to roll out NFC mobile payments to corporate cardholders in 40 countries
Citi Commercial Cards is to enable its business customers in more than 40 markets worldwide to digitise their plastic corporate payment card or provision a virtual card into a mobile wallet and use it to make NFC mobile payments... More
Seattle boutique opens contactless clothing rental store
Customers using Armoire clothing rental store in Seattle in the US can now collect and return fashion items by simply picking them up or leaving them on a table in the store... More
UK government unveils plans for secure and trusted digital identity standards
The UK government is to set up an Office for Digital Identities and Attributes (ODIA) and introduce legislation establishing an accreditation process for organisations handling identity data and making digital IDs “as trusted and secure as official documents such as passports and driving licences”... More
7-Eleven Japan trials holographic contactless self-checkout
Customers at six 7-Eleven convenience stores in Tokyo, Japan, can now make cashless payments for their purchases by interacting with a holographic screen projected from a contactless self-checkout kiosk... More
Libyan bank to pilot biometric payment cards
Mediterranean Bank in Libya will be the first in the country to trial biometric payment cards that enable customers to authenticate contactless payments with their fingerprint... More
President Biden lays out US digital currency strategy
US President Joe Biden has signed an executive order (EO) “outlining the first ever, whole-of-government approach to addressing the risks and harnessing the potential benefits of digital assets and their underlying policy” including the possible issuance of a US central bank digital currency (CBDC), the White House says... More
Tortoise to roll out robotic mobile smart stores in the US and UK
Consumers in New York, Chicago, Denver and other US cities as well as in London in the UK will soon be able to purchase items from remotely controlled robotic mobile vending machines with a tap of their contactless payment card or mobile wallet... More
Banco Central do Brasil names CBDC project partners
The Banco Central do Brasil (BCB) has named the partner organisations that will support the next phase of its central bank digital currency (CBDC) project... More
UK diabetes patients to get NFC insulin pens
Diabetes patients in the UK will soon be able to receive smart insulin pens that enable them to self-administer insulin, record dosing information for each injection and communicate data to a smartphone, tablet or other compatible device using NFC... More
Singapore adds digital driving licences to Singpass app
Residents of Singapore can now add a digital version of their driving licence to the country’s Singpass app and use it to verify their identity, the classes of vehicles they are certified to drive and updated information about merits or demerits they have accumulated... More
China to roll out next phase of digital yuan testing
China is to launch trials of its central bank digital currency (CBDC) in more cities and regions across the country after rolling out a pilot version of the digital yuan wallet app in January and trialling the CBDC during the Beijing Winter Olympics... More
Delhi lets tourists top up metro fare payment cards from official tourism app
Tourists in India can now top up their contactless Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) transit card and receive information about routes and fares from their Apple or Android mobile device via the official Delhi Tourism app... More
Santiago metro and suburban rail services add mobile fare payments
Passengers travelling on Metro de Santiago services and EFE suburban rail lines in Chile can now pay their fares at station ticket gates with their mobile device as well as with a contactless bank or transit smartcard... More