Google has confirmed it is developing a “brand new” Google Wallet app for Android and iOS that will allow anyone with a US debit card to send and receive money for free “within minutes”, even if the other person doesn’t have the app... More
Host Card Emulation (HCE)
TAG Systems acquires shares in Seglan
Smart card-based solutions provider TAG Systems has entered into the mobile payments space by acquiring shares in Seglan, the company behind Spanish bank Bankinter’s HCE-based mobile payments service... More
Google unveils Android Pay
Google is to introduce a new NFC mobile payments platform called Android Pay with the release of Android M later this year, vice president of engineering Dave Burke has revealed during the Google I/O 2015 keynote. More
Asia Pacific banks begin testing HCE mobile payments
PARTNER NEWS: Several major banks in the Asia Pacific region have begun piloting NFC mobile payment services based on host card emulation, using an end-to-end, cloud-based payments solution put in place by HCE specialist SimplyTapp in partnership with mobile technology solution provider PromptNow and IT solution services provider TIS... More
Postbank begins HCE pilot in Germany with Worldline
Employees of Germany’s Postbank have begun piloting a mobile payment service based on host card emulation (HCE) that makes use of tokenization to allow NFC payments to be made at any Visa payWave terminal... More
PayPal begins piloting NFC and records 40% growth in mobile payments
Online payments giant PayPal has revealed it is again testing NFC, though the company’s president has made clear that he’d like the company’s platform to be technology agnostic and he doesn’t see the long-term success of NFC as assured... More
Kairos mechanical smartwatches get NFC payments
Luxury watchmaker Kairos is to add NFC payments to its hybrid “mechanical smartwatches” and smart wristbands using a host card emulation-based wearable payments solution from German payments technology provider Wirecard... More
Sabadell HCE wallet to go live in July
Spain’s Banco Sabadell is to make its HCE-based mobile payments service, developed in partnership with MasterCard, available to customers in July... More
Microsoft seeks US payments licenses
Microsoft could be poised to enter the payments business after it emerged the software giant has applied for licenses to operate as a money transmitter in all 50 US states... More
French banks begin HCE payments pilot
BNP Paribas, Groupe BPCE, La Banque Postale and Société Générale have begun piloting HCE mobile payment services with Visa Europe and payment and transaction services provider Worldline... More
New Zealand NFC wallet venture Semble goes live
Close to one million New Zealanders now have the ability to make NFC payments with the nationwide launch of Semble, a SIM-based mobile wallet introduced by two New Zealand banks, three carriers and payments network Paymark... More
AMP Bank adds HCE payments to mobile app
Australia’s AMP Bank has added HCE-based NFC mobile payments to its banking app for Android, allowing AMP Visa debit card holders to make payments with their phone at any contactless terminal... More
Vodafone combines tokens and SIMs for NFC payments in Europe
Vodafone customers in five major European markets will be able to use their Visa cards to make NFC mobile payments from the second quarter of this year with a new SIM-based service that makes use of tokenization technology. More
TEB to roll out HCE payments in Turkey
Turkey’s Türk Ekonomi Bankasi (TEB) has become the latest European bank to announce plans to launch a host card emulation (HCE) based mobile payments service using a tokenization platform unveiled by Visa Europe in February... More
ANZ to add HCE payments to mobile banking app
ANZ Bank New Zealand is to add NFC mobile payments to its popular goMoney mobile banking app later this year... More
Windows 10 for mobile gets HCE
Microsoft is to introduce support for host card emulation (HCE) payments in the mobile version of its Windows 10 operating system... More
Bell ID reports 75% growth in orders
PARTNER NEWS: Orders are up 75% year-on-year at HCE and tokenization specialist Bell ID, the company reports, “with 90% of all new orders and requests for proposals focusing on mobile solutions.”... More
PayPal explains why it’s buying mobile wallet provider Paydiant
“What Paydiant has is a clarity of focus on mobile and how large merchants need to utilise mobile to connect with their customers — they’re a small company doing that very successfully with some really cool brands,” Anuj Nayar, senior director of global initiatives at PayPal, has told NFC World as the payment giant prepares to complete its acquisition of the payments platform provider for a reported US$280m... More
Finnish banks add HCE payments to Pivo mobile wallet
Finland’s largest financial services group is to add support for HCE payments to the mobile wallet app it introduced two years ago... More
Commbank turns on HCE
Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) is now offering customers with an NFC mobile phone running Android 4.4 KitKat or higher the ability to make mobile payments using host card emulation... More