Apple Pay will go live in South Korea with support from Hyundai Card in the next few months, according to local media reports that cite statements from the two companies... More
Apple Pay set to launch in Korea
Digital wallet
MEPs approve draft legislative framework for European Digital Identity Wallet
The European Union’s Industry, Research and Energy Committee has approved a proposed update to the European Digital Identity Framework that will enable the issuance and usage of the EU’s European Digital Identity Wallet and enable EU citizens to store digital identity credentials on their smartphone... More
Indian banks begin testing digital rupee for contactless in-store payments
India’s ICICI, IDFC First and Kotak Mahindra banks have begun enabling selected merchants to accept contactless in-store payments made using the retail version of the prototype digital rupee as part of the first phase of the Reserve Bank of India’s retail central bank digital currency pilot... More
Samsung Wallet to go live in eight more markets
Samsung Wallet will soon go live in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan, enabling users to store and use digital payment, loyalty, membership and identity cards, digital keys, boarding passes and other credentials on their compatible Samsung Galaxy smartphone... 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
China lets Android users use NFC to make offline digital currency payments
The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) has added a function to its digital yuan payment app that allows users to continue to make offline payments using the central bank digital currency (CBDC) from their Android NFC smartphone even if their device has no power... More
California to roll out digital driving licences that users can store on their mobile phone
The US state of California is planning to launch a digital driving licence that users will be able to store in a digital wallet on their smartphone, the state governor Gavin Newsom has revealed... More
Six in ten in-store card payments in Europe are now contactless
More than six in ten card payments made at the point of sale (POS) across European countries within the eurozone are now contactless (62%) compared with just over four in ten in 2019 (41%), a European Central Bank (ECB) survey reveals... More
Half of UK consumers think digital payments are making physical wallets irrelevant
Just over half of UK consumers believe that the growing popularity of digital payments is making physical wallets irrelevant (51%) and one in five say they do not expect to carry a wallet or purse within five years (21%), a figure that rises to 38% among millennials, according to a Mastercard survey... More
EU to begin large-scale European Digital Identity Wallet pilots for multiple use cases
The European Commission has selected four proposals for large-scale pilot programmes to test the European Digital Identity Wallet across multiple use cases, including in-store, online and cross-border payments, travel, ecommerce, access to services and credential verification... More
Bank of England to trial proof of concept CBDC wallet
The Bank of England has issued a tender inviting suppliers to design and produce a proof of concept central bank digital currency (CBDC) wallet, sample user and merchant websites and a back-end server that can be implemented as a prototype for future user testing of a digital pound in the UK... More
Central Bank of Nigeria limits cash withdrawals to drive CBDC and digital payments adoption
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is restricting the amount of cash that consumers and businesses can withdraw from ATMs to 20,000 naira (US$45) per day and 100,000 naira (US$225) per week... More
Las Vegas casino adds remote identity verification, biometric authentication and digital wallet payment for contactless gaming
Gamblers visiting Resorts World Las Vegas can now register, verify their identity, join a loyalty program and upload funds to a dedicated digital wallet before they arrive at the resort, and will no longer have to confirm their identity with casino staff prior to purchasing gambling chips and placing contactless cashless bets at slot machines directly from their smartphone... More
India pilots digital rupee for contactless in-store and P2P payments
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is this week launching a pilot scheme in four Indian cities to test the retail version of its prototype central bank digital currency (CBDC) for both in-store and peer-to-peer transactions, the central bank says... More
Google Wallet arrives on Fitbit devices and expands to 12 more countries
Fitbit users are now able to add Google Wallet to Sense 2 and Versa 4 smartwatches and then use their wearable to make contactless payments in 45 countries, including 7 of the 12 countries where Google Wallet is now available for the first time... More
Samsung Wallet goes live in Qatar and South Africa
Samsung Wallet has gone live in Qatar and South Africa, enabling users to store and use their digital payment, loyalty, membership and identity cards, digital keys, boarding passes and other credentials on their compatible Samsung Galaxy smartphone... More
Google Wallet rolls out in Malaysia
Google Wallet has gone live in Malaysia, enabling users to store and use their credit and debit cards, boarding passes, tickets and other digital credentials on their Android NFC smartphone or Wear OS smartwatch... More
EU targets 2024 for European Digital Identity Wallet launch
The European Union is preparing to go live with its European Digital Identity Wallet in 2024, enabling all EU citizens to store digital identity credentials including their national ID, driving licence, and qualification and bank account details, according to EU sources... More
Hong Kong unveils prototype two-tier CBDC ecosystem for contactless payments in stores
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has unveiled a prototype two-tier central bank digital currency (CBDC) ecosystem that will enable end users to store digital HK dollars as either intermediated CBDC tokens or CBDC-backed stablecoins in a digital wallet and use them to carry out retail transactions... More
Green Payments to let consumers pay by fingerprint at US stores
Merchants across the US will soon be able to accept biometric payments authenticated by a customer’s fingerprint using a point-of-sale (POS) solution launched by payment processing provider Green Payments... More