Apple is celebrating Earth Day by donating US$1 to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) whenever a customer makes a purchase in an Apple store using Apple Pay... More
Mobile wallet
Amazon gets approval for digital wallet in India
Amazon India has been granted a payment license by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to operate its own prepaid wallet in the country... More
Mastercard rolls out Messenger payment bots with US retailers
Subway, FreshDirect and The Cheesecake Factory have begun rolling out payment bots for Facebook Messenger across the US, allowing their customers to secure and complete payments using Mastercard’s Masterpass digital payment platform without having to leave the instant messaging service. More
Android Pay links to mobile banking apps to simplify setup process
Android Pay has been integrated into the mobile banking apps of “several banks around the world” so that users can add their cards to the mobile payment service with “just the click of a button”. The feature will also work for those who have not installed Android Pay on their handset, giving them access to “the capabilities of Android Pay” without having to leave their mobile banking app. More
More than 150m people to use Apple Pay, Samsung Pay and Android Pay by end of 2017
The number of consumers using OEM Pays — mobile payment services delivered by handset manufacturers — such as Apple Pay, Samsung Pay and Android Pay will exceed 100m for the first time during the first half of 2017 and is expected to surpass 150m by the end of the year, Juniper Research reveals, while host card emulation (HCE) adoption is set to rise five-fold over the next four years. More
Samsung Pay to launch in Ireland after UK?
Samsung Pay is to launch in Ireland later this year, following its expected launch in the UK this summer, according to The Irish Times... More
Westpac adds Samsung Pay in Australia
Westpac has become the first of Australia’s big four banks to begin supporting Samsung Pay, taking the service to “millions of Westpac Mastercard and Visa debit and credit cardholders” following its launch in the country with support from American Express and Citibank in June 2016... More
CaixaBank explains why it sees mobile payments as the key to adding value to its banking service
Mobile payments are the best example of how technology can add value to traditional banking services, says CaixaBank Payments’ head of mobile — and benefits will come not only in the form of increased revenues but also in the form of improved customer satisfaction, reputation and loyalty. More
UAE residents to use NFC for ‘a wide range’ of mobile payments services
Consumers across the United Arab Emirates will soon be able to make payments across a “variety of services” using their mobile phone and Empay, a common mobile payment platform based on NFC. The solution forms part of Dubai’s Smart Government Initiative which aims to transform Dubai into the world’s smartest city. More
Apple Pay gets positive start in Taiwan
Some 415,000 cards were registered to Apple Pay two days after it launched in Taiwan in March 2017, the Financial Supervisory Commission has revealed... More
WhatsApp to launch UPI-based payments in India?
Messaging app WhatsApp is exploring India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) platform “among other payment modes” for launching a P2P mobile payment service in the country... More
Low uptake of SIM-based mobile payments leads to decrease in NFC SIM shipments in 2016
The global number of NFC SIM card shipments decreased in 2016 due in part to a “lower than anticipated” consumer uptake of SIM-based mobile payments and the impact of the closure of the Softcard mobile wallet in the US, the SIMalliance has revealed, despite reporting growth in NFC SIM shipments in key countries across Europe and the CIS regions, highlighting the demand in specific markets. More
Samsung Pay opens early access phase in the UAE
Samsung Pay has launched an early access program in the UAE with support from Mastercard and Visa and a number of banks including Mashreq Bank, ADCB, Rakbank, Emirates NBD, Standard Chartered and NBAD... More
Australian banks lose fight to gain access to NFC functionality in Apple iPhones
The group of Australian banks seeking stronger negotiating powers with Apple over the NFC technology within its iPhone handsets have been denied access to it by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) on the grounds that the proposed conduct would “reduce or distort competition in a number of markets” and that the benefits are “outweighed by the detriments”. More
Samsung Pay expands on online payments plan
Samsung Pay will be available for online payments at “hundreds of thousands of merchants around the world” where Visa Checkout is accepted later this year. The news follows an announcement by the company’s Justin Denison at Samsung Unpacked 2017 last week that the service was heading online through “strategic partnerships”. More
Apple Pay in-store adoption is “growing nicely”
Apple Pay adoption at the point of sale is “growing nicely” and is “in-line with growth among other digital payment players” such as Google and Samsung, long-time Apple analyst Gene Munster reveals... More
Apple details Touch ID and PC-to-phone payment security features
A new security white paper on Apple’s iOS 10 provides details about security improvements made to Touch ID as well as insight into the security infrastructure behind a feature of the operating system that makes it possible for developers to enable Apple Pay users to start a payment on a computer and finish it on their phone, Techcrunch reports... More
Samsung reveals S8 with multi-biometrics, Samsung Pay reaches quarter of a billion transactions and adds online payments
Samsung has unveiled its latest Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus flagship devices, with support for iris and facial recognition technology and a fingerprint sensor which is now located on the back of the phone. Samsung Pass deals with major banks, an expansion of Samsung Pay to include online payments and details of its Bixby virtual assistant have also been announced. More
Apple Pay goes live in Taiwan with support from seven banks
Apple Pay has launched in Taiwan with support from Mastercard, Visa and seven banks including Taipei Fubon Commercial Bank, Cathay United Bank, E.Sun Commercial Bank, Taishin International Bank, CTBC Bank, Standard Chartered Bank and Union Bank of Taiwan. More
Nordic banks roll out first mobile payment services with support for Dankort
Customers of more than 60 banks belonging to The Bokis Partnership have become the first in Denmark to be offered a mobile payment service for Dankort, the country’s national debit and credit card. The service is available through the mobile apps offered by each of the supporting banks and works on Android handsets through host card emulation (HCE) and on iOS through a Bluetooth acceptance device at the point of sale. More