NFC World

Google offers $1m Titan M secure element bug bounty

Expanding the Android Security Rewards Program — Google — “The Android Security Rewards (ASR) program was created in 2015 to reward researchers who find and report security issues to help keep the Android ecosystem safe… Today, we’re expanding the program and increasing reward amounts. We are introducing a top prize of $1 million for a full chain remote code execution exploit with persistence which compromises the Titan M secure element on Pixel devices.”


Brits warm to biometric verification

Just under half of British consumers are ready to completely replace traditional verification methods with biometrics for withdrawing cash (46%), starting their car (45%) and unlocking their front door (41%), according to new research from Equifax... More


What's New in Payments

RBR reports 10% growth in global payment card market

Continued growth in China cements UnionPay as the world’s largest card scheme — RBR — “There were 16bn payment cards in circulation at the end of 2018, up by 10% since a year earlier… The largest scheme worldwide is UnionPay, which accounted for 45% of cards in circulation at the end of 2018… Visa (including Visa, Visa Electron, V Pay and Interlink) made up 20% of the world’s cards… Mastercard (Mastercard, Maestro and Mastercard Electronic) accounts for 16% of all cards.”






What's New in Payments

Researchers showcase method for bypassing contactless card limit

Hack breaks your Visa card’s contactless limit for big frauds — Forbes — “To carry out their hack, the researchers used a specialised piece of hardware to intercept and insert messages in the communications between the card and the reader. For instance, they could tell the card that verification — like a PIN — wasn’t needed, even though the requested amount was more than £30. They then told the terminal that verification has already been made by another means.”


What's New in Payments

Digital wallets to be used by half the world’s population by 2024

Half the world’s population to use digital wallets by 2024 — Juniper Research — “A new study from Juniper Research has found that the number of people using digital wallets will increase from 2.3bn this year to nearly 4bn, or 50% of the world’s population, by 2024. This in turn will push wallet transaction values up by more than 80% to more than $9tn per annum.”


What's New in Payments

Four in ten POS terminals now accept contactless payments

Have contactless cards become the tool of choice for low-value payments? — RBR — “At the end of 2017, there were 5.3bn contactless cards in circulation worldwide — this represents 35% of all cards, a share that RBR forecasts will increase to 57% by 2023… The number of eftpos terminals worldwide which allow contactless payments rose by 41% in 2017 to reach 40.9m.”



What's New in Payments

Analysts: 43% of iPhone users have now enabled Apple Pay

Apple Pay adoption continues to climb — Loup Ventures — “We estimate, based on our survey work as well as the growth in transactions, countries, locations, and banks, that 43% of global iPhone users have enabled Apple Pay. This is up from 36% in Sep-18 and 20% in Dec-17. That implies there are currently 383m Apple Pay users, up 21% sequentially and 135% y/y… We estimate that 24% of US iPhone users have used Apple Pay vs 47% of international users.”


What's New in Payments

US consumers to pass on mobile payments?

Instore mobile contactless services used by only 14% of online US customers, Juniper survey finds — Juniper Research — “Time is running out for OEM Pay providers to establish a dominant position in the US… Our survey shows that the majority of users who have not adopted OEM Pay are more interested in services like contactless cards than mobile-based payments.”


What's New in Payments

Chinese mobile payment users set to double by 2023

Mobile payments market in China is expected to witness three-fold growth with doubling of active mobile payment users by 2023 — Frost & Sullivan — “The market of mobile payments services in China is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 21.8% from 2017 to 2023, growing three-fold from US$29.93 trillion to US$96.73 trillion. The total number of active mobile payment customers is expected to reach 956 million by 2023 from 562 million in 2017 which will attract additional investments from mobile payments market participants.”


What's New in Payments

IMF report finds digital currencies are gaining ground with central bankers

At least 15 central banks are serious about getting into digital currency — MIT Technology Review — “There are two main reasons for the trend, according to the report. First, new forms of digital money are ‘shrinking the role of cash’. Besides that, some central banks are interested in using the technology to reach the hundreds of millions of people who do not have a bank account or access to modern financial services. Finally, most central banks see the potential to reduce costs by replacing physical banknotes with digital ones.”




What's New in Payments

Survey finds Apple Pay is used for three in four US debit card mobile wallet transactions

Apple Pay makes up 77% of mobile payments among debit card users — Auriemma Consulting Group — “An Auriemma study of debit card issuers shows that Apple Pay makes up 77% of mobile wallet transactions. Samsung Pay and Google Pay, Apple Pay’s main competitors, make up 17% and 6% of transactions, respectively… While Apple Pay has the most market share, Samsung Pay users are the most engaged. In fact, the average Samsung Pay user makes 7.3 transactions each month, compared to 5.5 transactions for Apple Pay and Google Pay users.”



Survey: Merchants are winning the US mobile wallet adoption battle

Merchants winning the battle for mobile wallet supremacy — Javelin Strategy & Research — “In the rush to market, the main wallet value proposition, paying at the POS, wasn’t particularly compelling. In reality, loyalty and rewards will drive adoption, something merchants are doing particularly well,” said Krista Tedder, director of payments at Javelin Strategy & Research.”