Employees at Panasonic Taiwan’s head office in New Taipei City will soon be able to order and pay for meals online and collect them from on-premises contactless smart lockers by scanning a unique QR code... More
Pilot
Iraqi bank to pilot biometric payment cards
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
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
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
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
Taiwan to complete central bank digital currency pilot by September
The Central Bank of Taiwan (CBT) has accelerated its research into the development of a Taiwanese central bank digital currency (CBDC) and expects to complete the second phase of its pilot programme by September this year... More
Genoa trials open loop contactless fare payments with group ticketing and fare capping
Passengers travelling on public transport services in the Italian city of Genoa can now use their physical debit or credit card or a digital version stored in an NFC wallet to make contactless fare payments for bus journeys on its urban network and on Volabus and Airlink airport bus services... More
Paris to add support for NFC transit ticketing on Apple devices ‘by 2024’
Apple users travelling on public transport services in the greater Paris region will be able to store a digital version of their Navigo transit card on their iPhone or Apple Watch, as well as purchase tickets and passes and validate them using their Apple device, “by 2024”, according to a tweet posted by the Île-de-France Mobilités (IDFM) transit authority... More
IMF reports on digital currencies
Around 100 countries are now exploring the potential development and issuance of a central bank digital currency (CBDC), and the challenges and opportunities identified by these research projects reveal a need for “increased international information-sharing of insights learned”, according to an International Monetary Fund (IMF) report... More
Canadian meal ordering app tracks reusable food containers using NFC
Customers ordering takeaway food from restaurants in Toronto in Canada can now collect their orders in a reusable food container embedded with an NFC tag that enables them to confirm they have returned the container after use at a “contactless return station”... More
Scotland trials digital micropayments as rewards for recycling plastic
Consumers in Glasgow in Scotland can now take part in a pilot scheme that rewards participants with a micropayment made directly into a digital wallet on their smartphone every time they recycle a single-use plastic bottle... More
Touch&Heat pilots electric radiators with NFC controls
Householders in Germany, France and the UK are trialling NFC-enabled electric radiators that let users configure the daily heat settings on individual appliances with a tap of their mobile phone... More
South Korea pilots mobile driving licences
South Korea’s Ministry of the Interior and Safety and the Korean National Police Agency have begun trialling a mobile driving licence prior to a national rollout and as a first step towards the introduction of other state-issued digital ID documents... More
Russia launches digital ruble pilot with 12 banks
The 12 Russian banks taking part in the first phase of the Central Bank of Russia’s digital ruble pilot scheme have started or are ready to start trialling the central bank digital currency (CBDC) across a range of payment types... More
Aldi lets customers authorise age-restricted purchases with their face in London contactless store pilot
Customers wishing to purchase alcohol and other age-restricted products in Aldi’s first contactless store on Greenwich High Street in London can authorise their purchase using facial age estimation technology... More
China launches digital currency app for Android and Apple users in 10 cities
Android and Apple users in 10 Chinese cities can now download a pilot version of the country’s digital yuan wallet app directly from the iOS and Android app stores that enables them to acquire, store and use China’s central bank digital currency (CBDC)... More
Banks to pilot biometric payment cards in India, Poland, Iraq, Mexico, Lebanon and Egypt
Banks in India, Poland, Iraq, Mexico, Lebanon and Egypt are among those set to trial biometric payment cards that enable customers to authenticate contactless payments with their fingerprints... More
TSA to begin Apple digital ID pilot in February
Air passengers with Apple devices will soon be able to verify their identity at Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checkpoints at two US airports by presenting a digital ID document such as their mobile driving licence (mDL) or state ID stored in Wallet... More