Mastercard, Visa and UnionPay International have introduced a standardised QR code platform for payments in Thailand that will let consumers make a transaction with their mobile device at any supporting location. The service has been designed to support the Bank of Thailand’s cashless agenda which aims to “drive innovation, interoperability and security in payments” across the country. More
QR Codes
Facebook tests in-store QR code rewards
Social media giant Facebook is testing a Rewards feature that lets users scan a personalised QR code to get discounts or bonuses when they make an in-store purchase... More
Six Dutch banks to take Belgium’s Payconiq to the Netherlands
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
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
Masterpass QR expands to merchants across Sub-Saharan Africa
More than 250,000 micro and small businesses across 11 markets in Sub-Saharan Africa will soon be able to accept in-store mobile payments through Mastercard’s Masterpass QR service... More
Boston Fed calls for clearer value proposition to encourage mobile payments
The value proposition for using mobile payments must be clearly stated to customers in order to change their behaviour from using plastic cards to mobile phones, says the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston following the completion of a research project that tested four mobile wallet models including NFC and QR codes... More
Samsung Pay goes live across India with support for Paytm and UPI money transfers
Samsung Pay has launched in India with support from Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, SBI Cards and Standard Chartered Bank, with Citibank India support expected “shortly”. The service has also integrated India’s leading mobile wallet Paytm and comes with support for peer-to-peer money transfers through the Indian government’s Unified Payments Interface platform. More
QR code security under scrutiny in China
A recent spate of scams involving QR code mobile payments in China has sparked calls for the authorities to “do more to protect consumers”, according to the South China Morning Post... More
McDonald’s adds mobile ordering in the UK
Customers at select McDonald’s restaurants across the UK can now order ahead using their mobile phone... More
Paytm ‘goes global’ with payment app in Canada
Indian mobile wallet provider Paytm has launched in Canada, marking the service’s first expansion outside India... More
Samsung Pay to launch in India with support from five Visa and Mastercard issuers — and Paytm
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
Mastercard and Visa expand availability of QR payments
Visa’s mVisa QR-based mobile payment service is now live in India, Kenya and Rwanda and will soon be available in Egypt, Ghana, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Nigeria, Pakistan and Vietnam, the company has announced at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona... More
NPCI, Mastercard and Visa unveil standardised QR code mobile payments for India
Indian consumers can now make QR code-based mobile payments using BharatQR, a “low cost, interoperable mobile acceptance solution” backed by the Indian government and developed by Mastercard, Visa and National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI)... More
Paytm expects up to 30% fall in offline customers
Indian mobile wallet Paytm “expects to lose 20-30%” of customers making offline payments using QR codes, OTP or mobile-to-mobile transfers when the Reserve Bank of India removes cash withdrawal limits on March 13, The Financial Express reports... More
More than 150,000 Kenyan merchants to get mobile payments with Masterpass QR
More than 150,000 micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Kenya will be able to accept in-store mobile payments using QR code technology in 2017, using Mastercard’s Masterpass QR platform... More
Paytm targets 10m Indian mobile payments merchants
Indian mobile wallet provider Paytm wants to increase the number of stores where its QR code-based service is available from 3.5m to 10m... More
Indian mobile wallets seek common QR code
Indian mobile wallet providers have approached the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to identify how to develop a common QR code for NPCI’s Unified Payment Interface (UPI) platform... More
Bus operator reports QR and NFC adoption stats
Bus passengers in the UK county of West Yorkshire are using QR codes and NFC at bus stops 10,000 times every week to retrieve travel information... More
Turkish bank offers ATM cash withdrawals with eye scans
Customers of Turkish bank Yapı Kredi can now log in to their mobile banking app and withdraw cash from ATMs with a scan of their eyes through an integration with EyeVerify’s Eyeprint ID platform... More