About Sarah Clark
Sarah is NFCW's editor.
Email sarah@sjb.co.uk

Wells Fargo accelerates customer checkout experience with new tap-to-pay contactless cards — Wells Fargo — “This week, new Wells Fargo consumer credit cardholders began receiving cards with the contactless feature when opening an account, and existing Wells Fargo consumer credit cardholders will receive a new contactless card when their current credit card expires. Consumer debit cards with the contactless feature will start to become available this summer.”
Want Walmart to help you grocery shop? With our new voice capabilities, just say the word — Walmart — “Beginning this month, customers can say: ‘Hey Google, talk to Walmart’ and the Google Assistant will add items directly to their Walmart Grocery cart. Best of all, customers can be extra confident that we can quickly and accurately identify the items they are asking for with the help of information from their prior purchases with us. The more you use it, the better we’ll get.”
Google Pay says G’day to Mobile Myki — Google — “If you’re a Myki user in Melbourne or regional Victoria, you can now skip the line and get there faster with Google Pay… Soon, you’ll also be able to see your current balance in Google Maps when you’re planning your Myki journey, and initiate your top-up from there.”
Amazon Pay makes an offline push with ‘scan and pay’ service — Livemint — “We have begun introducing Amazon SmileCode, a new way for our customers to shop and pay at physical stores like Shoppers Stop, among others,” said an Amazon spokesperson. “Customers will soon find Amazon SmileCodes in neighbourhood retail stores, where they can scan and pay for their purchases seamlessly.”
Although the physical version of Apple’s new credit card does not include support for contactless transactions, cardholders will be able to activate it by simply placing it in close proximity to their iPhone, code in the latest iOS beta release suggests... More
NXP takes Melbourne Transit (Myki) mobile with Google Pay integration for trains, buses and trams — NXP — PARTNER NEWS — “NXP’s Mifare 2GO cloud service is the first to work with Google Pay to enable mobile ticketing in multiple transportation modes and scalability across all compatible Android NFC-enabled phones, giving citizens convenient and efficient travel options in smart cities.”
Samsung Pay swipes into Indonesia — KrAsia — “Samsung Pay is partnering with Ant Financial-backed mobile wallet platform DANA to conduct closed beta testing on some devices… In the near future, Samsung Pay will collaborate with more digital payment platforms to expand its services in Southeast Asia’s most populous country… Samsung Pay is available in 24 markets. In Southeast Asia, the app has already landed in Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand.”
iPhone users want the Apple Card — here’s why its appeal could propel Apple Pay — Business Insider — “42% of iPhone users are ‘extremely interested’ in applying for Apple Card… Nearly 8 in 10 customers would be more likely to pay with their phones if they had Apple Card.”
Apple Pay is coming soon to Austria, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Estonia, Greece, and Romania — MacRumors — “Mobile banking service N26 today on its Twitter account announced that Apple Pay will soon be available in Estonia, Greece, Portugal, Slovakia, and Slovenia, one day after revealing that Apple Pay is coming soon to Austria. Likewise, ING Bank has announced that Apple Pay is coming soon to Romania… Slovakian bank Slovenská Sporiteľňa confirmed that it will start supporting Apple Pay later this year.”
Apple Pay is on track to be available in more than 40 countries this year, Apple CEO Tim Cook revealed during the launch of the company’s new Apple Card this week... More
Apple Pay is coming soon to Austria — MacRumors — “Austria’s largest bank Erste Bank und Sparkasse today announced that Apple Pay is ‘coming soon’ with a teaser on its Twitter account… German-based mobile bank N26 also announced today that Apple Pay is coming soon to customers in Austria.”
Mastercard introduces consumer-centric model for digital identity — Mastercard — “Mastercard’s model embodies privacy by design and does not aggregate identity data. It will enable digital interactions to occur with minimal data exchanged and only when needed, and will safeguard data and the use of data effectively such that the users are in control, with a person’s identity securely bound to their smartphone.”
Surprise from ING — Ziarul Financiar (Translation) — “We noticed that once they used mobile payments, customers no longer used their card except for ATM withdrawals. I think this year we will introduce the possibility to make ATM withdrawals with a mobile phone, without the need for a physical card… ING Bank Romania introduced mobile payments in the summer of 2018 and now has about 70,000 registered users.”
SBI Yono: The big security advantage for you with this new cardless cash withdrawal — Financial Express — “Customers can initiate the cash withdrawal process by installing the Yona App and setting a six-digit Yono Cash PIN for the transaction and another six-digit reference number for a transaction, which customers will get after initiating the cash withdrawal process on their registered mobile number via SMS, that has to be used within 30 minutes along with the PIN at the nearest Yono Cash point to get the cash… The SBI has enabled 16,500 ATMs for this service, called Yono Cash Points.”
WeChat Pay supports merchants expanding businesses by bringing its ecosystem to the world — WeChat Pay — “In 2018, the monthly average transaction volume saw an increase of 500% year on year, while the total transaction value increased 400%. Meanwhile, the number of service providers witnessed a year-on-year increase [of] 300%, and the number of merchants accepting WeChat Pay increased 700%. WeChat Pay is now available in 49 markets outside of the Chinese mainland, supporting cross-border payment transactions in 16 currencies.”
Mobile Myki — Public Transport Victoria — “Mobile Myki is a digital Myki on your Android phone. From Thursday 28 March 2019 it will be available on the Google Pay app… Mobile Myki uses all of the existing Myki gates and readers on Melbourne’s trams, at train stations and on Myki-enabled buses across Victoria. The new technology uses Google Pay on the Android operating system and allows passengers to purchase Full fare, Concession, Child and Senior Mykis using both Myki Money and Myki Pass.”
Samsung offers customers thousands of prizes with Samsung Pay — Samsung — “To enter the prize draw and be in with a chance to win, new and existing Samsung Pay users must enter the prize draw, then use Samsung Pay to make five transactions by 3 May 2019. Prizes include a 55-inch 2018 Q9F flagship QLED 4K television, a selection of 42mm Galaxy Watches and Samsung Level Box Slim Bluetooth speakers as well as 64GB Micro SD cards.”
GlobalPlatform has published two new standards designed to provide chip, device and firmware developers with an open, standardized way to load and manage firmware in a secure and isolated area of a device’s system-on-a-chip (SoC)... More
Air France, KLM, EasyJet, Lufthansa and Ryanair have all begun adding support for Google Pay, enabling flyers to save their boarding passes to the service when they use an airline’s app to buy a ticket... More
Technical Product Manager, Visa Fintech — Visa — “As a product manager on the Visa Crypto team, this person will have responsibility for executing Visa’s product strategy within the cryptocurrency ecosystem. This highly motivated individual will be responsible for managing a product roadmap and collaborating with key stakeholders across the strategy, risk, research and engineering organisations.”