Mumbai bus operator BEST is to begin a pilot of India’s ‘One Nation One Card’ national transit card system in November this year... More
Retail
China sets out plans for two-tier digital currency
China’s central bank has completed a five-year project to develop a digital currency that can be processed at a speed which is fast enough for it to be used in a retail environment, a senior People’s Bank of China (PBOC) official has revealed... More
NFC mobile payments to account for ‘just 1.6%’ of in-store transactions this year
Payment methods like Apple Pay and Google Pay will be used by US consumers to make transactions valued at a total of US$78.6bn this year, representing 1.6% of all US brick-and-mortar retail sales, according to a new forecast from 451 Research... More
Shinhan pilots face recognition payments in Korea
Korea’s Shinhan Card has begun testing Shinhan Face Pay, a face recognition payments system that it is developing with CU convenience stores operator BGF Retail “to identify customers who visit unmanned convenience stores in the future”... More
CaixaBank reports 87% rise in mobile payments users
One million CaixaBank customers are now using their mobile phone to make in-store payments, up 87% on this time last year, and 100,000 customers are making payments using wearable devices, the Spanish bank has reported... More
Face recognition to replace QR codes in China?
As China turns towards facial recognition payments, are QR codes on their way out? — South China Morning Post — “As the familiar square mosaic gains greater popularity outside China, the tech giants that helped to drive its adoption are already moving away from the app-based payment method to something even more portable: your face.”
Mastercard pilots blockchain product provenance platform
Mastercard enables luxury shoppers to purchase with confidence — Mastercard — “Consumers will be able to shop the exclusive Rodarte pieces at Fred Segal Sunset with the ability to scan a QR code on the garment’s tag to trace each step of the product journey. Consumers who purchase from Fred Segal’s online store can learn more about the product journey and verify authenticity by scanning the QR code when their package arrives at home.”
Samsung lets Canadian merchants accept contactless payments on Galaxy smartphones
Samsung Pay Touch app turns your Galaxy smartphone into a PoS terminal — SamMobile — “Samsung has quietly launched the Samsung Pay Touch app to target small businesses in Canada. The app transforms compatible Galaxy smartphones into POS (point of sale) terminals that can accept contactless payments from customers… The biggest advantage of Samsung Pay Touch is that it doesn’t require any additional hardware to set up. As long as you have a compatible Galaxy smartphone, you can download the app and complete the registration to start using it right away.”
Co-op extends mobile self-checkout trial to 30 UK supermarkets
Co-op Group expands till-less payment tech to more stores — Co-op Group — “The retailer is extending its pay-in-aisle technology trial, with time-pressed shoppers able to access the easy to use app on their phones and devices in over 30 Co-op food stores… It enables customers to scan products on their own device as they walk around the store, with the cost of the shop deducted from their Apple or Google Pay account with the touch of a button. Without the need to visit a till.”
Kobelli to use NFC to track diamonds on the blockchain
Diamond jewellery maker Kobelli is to use a blockchain-based NFC platform to provide its customers with a way to securely verify the authenticity of their purchases... More
Huawei expands NFC mobile payments to Hong Kong
Huawei rolling out new products to enhance user stickiness — Hong Kong Economic Journal — “Huawei Pay, which was launched in Hong Kong on Monday, allows users to settle bills in more than 40,000 retail spots accepting the UnionPay contactless card payment… Earlier this year, Huawei Pay was launched outside China for the first time. In Russia, 66 banks are now supporting the technology. Both Huawei and Honor smartphones will carry the new service, which is compatible with 20 mobile devices, including several smartwatches.”
Giant Eagle trials scan-free self-checkout in US supermarket
US supermarket chain Giant Eagle is piloting a checkout-free shopping and payments system that uses a network of cameras and sensors to let customers enter a store, select and place items in their shopping basket as normal, check out from their mobile phone and then simply walk out of the store... More
LG Pay goes live in the US with NFC and mag stripe mobile payments
LG has launched its LG Pay mobile payments service in the US, enabling owners of its G8 ThinQ smartphone to make payments via NFC in stores equipped with a contactless POS terminal — and in stores with a magnetic stripe terminal using Wireless Magnetic Communication (WMC)... More
Hong Kong commuters to get iPhone and Apple Watch ticketing ‘later this year’
Octopus coming soon to iPhone and Apple Watch — Octopus — “Octopus Cards Limited is excited to announce that customers will be able to use their Octopus on their iPhone or Apple Watch for transit and retail payment with Apple Pay later this year. More details will be shared soon.”
Merchant payments association calls for 18 month delay on strong customer authentication
EPSM recommends harmonised migration plans on PSD2-SCA — EPSM — “To avoid significant acceptance disruptions, EPSM recommends that all regions should agree an additional timeframe of 18 months for standard applications, as well as up to 36 months for challenging applications, such as those in the travel and hospitality sector. This will deliver an EU-wide harmonised migration approach by the EBA and the 28 national regulators for remote card payments.”
7-Eleven Japan halts QR payments rollout after hackers steal $500k in two days
Seven-Eleven mobile pay hack hits Japan’s drive to go cashless — Nikkei Asian Review — “Japan’s second-largest retail group by sales on Monday rolled out 7pay, which lets users make purchases with a smartphone app at Seven-Eleven Japan’s roughly 21,000 stores nationwide… By early Thursday, Seven & i had confirmed about 55 million yen ($510,000) stolen from 900 or so 7pay users. The company has in effect suspended the service by stopping users from adding money to their accounts.”
Swish pilots Bluetooth boxes for mobile payments in Swedish stores
Swedish P2P and online payments app Swish is moving into in-store payments with a pilot test of a Bluetooth box that can be added to merchants’ existing POS terminals to deliver “an NFC-like ‘tap and pay’ experience”... More
Walmart combines blockchain and QR codes to let Chinese consumers verify source of fresh produce in stores
Walmart customers in China will soon be able to scan QR codes on stickers attached to fresh meat, rice, mushrooms, cooking oil and other produce to acquire detailed product information including “the source of the scanned products and geographic location received by Walmart, logistics process, product inspection report, and many more data points”... More
Chinese retailers use face recognition to link shoppers’ online purchase history to in-store services
Data ‘R’ Us: Alibaba, JD.com seek to lock in merchant loyalty with new services — Reuters — “One of the first firms to join an Alibaba Group Holding Ltd programme that provides years of consumer shopping history, snack food chain, Bestore Co Ltd plans to link facial recognition technology with the e-commerce giant’s account data by the year’s end. For customers opting to have their facial data in Bestore’s systems, that means shop assistants will be able to check on what food they like the moment they enter one of its stores.”
Fiat Chrysler to let drivers order and pay for fuel, food and parking from their vehicles
Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram vehicle owners will be able to use a new Fiat Chrysler mobile wallet to order and pay for a range of services from their vehicles “in the second half of 2019”... More