Nine in ten consumers taking part in the first European trial of a biometric payment card developed by Mastercard say they “would upgrade or probably upgrade” their favourite card to one that includes the biometric security feature if it was available, a survey by issuing bank UniCredit Bulbank has found... More
Jiffy, the P2P payments service that lets 4.2 million Italian consumers send money from their bank account using just the contacts list on their smartphone, has begun rolling out to retail stores with an initial launch in 150 outlets in the cities of Milan, Rome and Turin... More
More than half of UK retailers that accept contactless payments would like to see the spending limit raised above the current £30 (US$40) cap, with 37% opting for £50 (US$66) and one in five hoping to see a £100 (US$132) ceiling, research released by Barclaycard ahead of the tenth anniversary of the launch of contactless payments in the UK reveals... More
Macau’s ATMs are using facial recognition to help follow the money — Bloomberg — “Chinese bettors withdrawing money from some ATMs in Macau need to do more than punch in their PIN code. They also have to stare into a camera for six seconds so facial-recognition software can verify their identity and help monitor transactions… China UnionPay Co’s network is the first to use the software, which will be installed in all the city’s 1,200 cash dispensers.”
Square gets green light to take on banks with ‘PIN on glass’ mobile technology — Australian Financial Review — “Banks are set to face more competition in the lucrative mobile point of sale technology game as secret trials featuring Twitter founder Jack Dorsey’s payments company Square are set to help credit card companies allow more payments through smartphone screens.”
Customers of Belgium’s Belfius Bank can now make host card emulation (HCE) based mobile payments using the bank’s mobile app, making it the “first solution available on the Belgian market” that enables contactless payments with the Bancontact debit card... More
Carrefour Banque offers instant activation of new C-zam account with Gemalto Digital PIN — Gemalto — PARTNER NEWS — “‘C-zam offers Carrefour customers the opportunity to buy in store a bank account and a banking card that can be activated on line,’ said Frédéric Mazurier, CEO of Market Pay. ‘With the support of Gemalto, we are innovating to evolve the French banking market by offering a new service in terms of accessibility, availability and usability.'”
Using your gait to power and secure devices — CSIRO — “Researchers from CSIRO’s Data61 have developed new technology which uses the way a person walks, their gait, to power wearable devices. The technology also has the potential to be used as a new authentication method, which could replace passwords, PINs or fingerprints.”
Samsung Pay is now available in the UK for customers of three financial institutions — MBNA, Nationwide and Santander — with “more on the way”. The service supports iris scan authentication as well as PIN and fingerprint authentication for Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ owners and offers a ‘transport card’ option designed to speed up transactions on busy Transport for London (TfL) services. More
A new range of wearable devices equipped with Barclaycard’s bPay contactless technology will enable UK consumers to automatically donate the small change from any contactless payment they make using the device to charities of their choice. More
Six Dutch banks including ABN Amro, ASN Bank, ING, Rabobank, Regiobank and SNS have announced their intention to launch Payconiq in the Netherlands this summer. Payconiq is a common mobile payment platform that lets customers make P2P payments as well as pay in-store and online and has been successfully piloted and launched in Belgium with support from ING, KBC and Belfius banks. More
The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority has set out measures it plans to tighten the processes banks undergo when a customer reports a stolen contactless card, which currently allow — in a “limited set of circumstances” — for a stolen card to be misused by fraudsters “several months after it has been cancelled”. More
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
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
Customers of US bank Wells Fargo will be able to withdraw cash from ATMs using an NFC-based mobile payments service such as Apple Pay, Android Pay and Samsung Pay when the bank rolls out an upgrade across the US “later this year”. More
Samsung has begun inviting Galaxy phone owners in India to register for early access to Samsung Pay. Customers can opt to pre-register Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Standard Chartered Bank debit or credit cards and SBI Cards credit cards today with support for American Express and Citibank to follow. Paytm’s market leading mobile wallet will also be supported by the service. More
Homeowners with smart home company August’s Smart Lock system are now able to ask an Amazon Alexa-enabled device to unlock their front door using their voice and a secure voice PIN of four to 12 digits... More
PARTNER NEWS: Proxama has signed a five-year contract with a “leading South African insurance and financial services provider” for the supply of in-house EMV card issuing, PIN management and card life cycle management... More
GlobalPlatform has released a new framework that gives consumers control over which secure applications can be used within part of the secure element (SE) of their trusted devices, without compromising security for the SE as a whole. More
US bank Wells Fargo expects to be the first bank to fully convert all its ATMs to support a mobile withdrawals service, allowing customers to get cash by entering an eight-digit code generated by the bank’s app plus their PIN into the machine, CNN Money reports... More