L’Oréal advances its commitment to promoting sun safety with La Roche-Posay UV Sense, the first battery-free wearable electronic UV sensor — L’Oréal — “The wearable is less than two millimeters thick, nine millimeters in diameter and designed to be worn for up to two weeks on the thumbnail… Powered by the user’s mobile phone and activated by UVA and UVB rays, UV Sense is the first wearable electronic UV sensor powered without a battery.”
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KFC installs contactless donation stations across New Zealand
Tap to donate units in KFC support Surf Life Saving — SLSNZ — “The units will be placed at 40 selected KFC restaurants to enable customers to use their credit card and pay wave technology to make a quick and easy donation to Surf Life Saving New Zealand… The Donation Point Tap back end system feeds into the existing New Zealand Eftpos network, feeding funds straight to Surf Life Saving New Zealand’s bank account overnight, eliminating cash collection costs or risk of coin box theft.”
Bank of Cyprus to issue biometric cards to customers
Gemalto launches the first biometric EMV card for contactless payments — Gemalto — “When customers place their fingerprint on the sensor, a comparison is performed between the scanned fingerprint and the reference biometric data securely stored in the card. The biometric sensor card is powered by the payment terminal and does not require an embedded battery; this means there is no limit from battery life nor on the number of transactions.”
Bank Hapoalim to investigate potential of blockchain for user authentication
Bank Hapoalim, IAI team on blockchain for cybersecurity — Globes — “The joint research undertaken by the two companies will examine how blockchain, the technology at the basis of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, could be used for developing innovative cybersecurity solutions, such as secure transmission of information between services and supply chains, user authentication, critical devices and elements that run with no human intervention and additional solutions for the cyber challenges in a hyper-connected world.”
Alipay reports mobile payments adoption stats
Mobile devices handle some 80% of Alipay’s online payments in 2017 — ECNS — “New data from Alipay show 82% of the transactions on its platform in 2017 were made through mobile devices, mostly smart phones. This ratio is said to be an all-time high… There were 520m Alipay users in China, or around 37% of the country’s population, in 2017… More than 40m small retailers across China, according to Alipay, established their own quick response codes in 2017… Bus and subway networks in more than 30 Chinese cities began allowing passengers to pay fares via Alipay through 2017.”
Honda to let drivers use Alipay to make payments from cars
Honda to team up with Alibaba in connected cars — Nikkei Asian Review — “The Japanese automaker will work with the Chinese e-retailing titan’s AutoNavi business. They plan to develop a service that lets drivers make reservations using AutoNavi maps and make payments via Alibaba’s online platform Alipay. Decisions will be made soon on when to make the service available on which vehicles.”
China’s central bank to begin testing QR code payments registration and settlement regulations from April
China’s central bank to standardize QR code payment — Xinhua — “The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) announced plans Wednesday to regulate QR code payment to contain risks arising from the popular service. Payment institutions must obtain proper permits to offer barcode-based payment services, according to a document released by the PBOC. Both banks and non-banking payment institutions must channel cross-bank transactions involving barcodes through the clearing system of the PBOC or other legal clearing houses… The standards will be put into trial use from April.”
Guangzhou pilot lets consumers use WeChat to create an official digital ID
WeChat poised to become China’s official electronic ID system — South China Morning Post — “The WeChat ID programme was co-developed by the research institute of the Ministry of Public Security and Tencent’s WeChat team, and supported by various banks and several other government departments. The project is expected to help deter online identity theft, as facial recognition technology is used to verify applicants before their virtual ID cards get authorised. Those verified will be able to use their WeChat ID to register in hotels and apply for government services without the need of bringing their physical ID cards.”
China’s central bank caps static QR code transactions at US$76
China begins regulating QR code payments — The Verge — “The regulations will initially cap payments by traditional QR codes to 500 yuan, or about US$76. When additional security measures are applied, the cap can raise to 5,000 yuan, or around U$765. At an even higher security level, banks and payment processors are given discretion over the cap.”
Seat tests grocery deliveries direct to customers’ cars
Seat and Saba present Droppit, the app that delivers your grocery shopping directly to your parked car — Seat — “The six-month pilot test of this project, in collaboration with virtual supermarket Deliberry and courier company Glovo, will be carried out in two car parks managed by Saba in the city of Barcelona… The customer leaves their car keys with Saba staff, who are responsible for accompanying the delivery person, identifying the car and placing the order in it. In the future, the aim is to make the process easier using technology that enables the service providers to access cars using fingerprint recognition supported by the app itself.”
Israel considers issuing a digital currency to speed up payments
Israel central bank mulls issuing digital currency for faster payments — Reuters — “The Bank of Israel is examining issuing digital currency as a means of creating a faster payments system as well as reducing the amount of cash in the economy, a central bank source said… The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, also said the government was ready to legislate or include the issue in its 2019 budget and economic package if the central bank gave the green light.”
Bankwest offers customers a contactless payment ring
Bankwest Halo: Make simpler, faster payments with our wearable payment ring. — Bankwest — “Bankwest Halo is the latest in wearable payment tech. It works exactly like your contactless cards, just grab the things you need, fist-bump the terminal and go… Your personalised ring has a payment device fee of A$39 which is payable for its manufacture, use and setup… There is no fee to register your interest or to receive your free sizing kit.”
Restaurants report on benefits of going cash-free
Plastic is king at New York restaurants that no longer accept cash — CBS — “Restaurants said no cash means no wasting time running to the bank for change, or spending hours counting money. They also say business is up. ‘So much faster. With one person on one register we can move 150 people through here in an hour. It’s insane how much faster it is.’
Central bank requires Chinese mobile payments providers to set aside customers’ prepaid funds
China’s central bank to raise reserve funds ratio of third-party payment firms to 50% — Reuters — “China’s central bank said it will gradually raise the reserve funds ratio of third-party payment firms to 50% by April 2018 from a current rate of 20%, as it continues to ramp up regulation of the industry… It will eventually ban non-bank payment firms from making any private investments with money deposited by users, which would see the reserve rate at some point increased to 100%.”
Survey finds high level of consumer satisfaction with mobile payments in US and UK
Auriemma Consulting Group conducts parallel study of mobile pay usage in the US and the UK — Auriemma Consulting Group — “While UK cardholders are slightly more likely than their US counterparts to have used Apple Pay (12% v 9%) and Visa Checkout (9% v 6%) within the past month, other options, such as PayPal In-Store Checkout (5% each) and Android Pay (4% each) show similar usage patterns. Although usage metrics are low, satisfaction with each technology is extremely high.”
Happy holidays from the NFC World team
NFC World is taking a short break for the festive season... More
Ikea calls for innovative ‘digital communication carrier’ solutions
Ikea Open Innovation Challenge in printed electronics — Printed Electronics World — “Ikea has invited a selection of companies to propose innovative ideas and technologies aiming at e-labels and/or digital communication carriers… The communication carriers are media conveying information, analog today, attached to Ikea products or as in-store communication.”
Visa reports 66% drop in fraud at US merchants equipped to accept chip cards
Counterfeit fraud at US chip-enabled merchants down 66% — Visa — “With EMV chip transactions continuing to grow in the US, counterfeit fraud volume decreased 66% at chip-enabled merchants in June 2017 compared to June 2015. US financial institutions have issued 462m chip cards to consumers, and 2.5m, or 55% of US storefronts, accept chip cards.”
Australian transit authority uses open APIs to expand ticketing network to private operators
Transport for New South Wales opens up its Opal payments system to privately-operated transport services — Open Gov Asia — “Open APIs allow other companies using their own terminals and equipment to connect to the Opal payments system. This allows them to simplify their operations, reduce operating costs and provide a quick and convenient way for commuters to pay for travel across a range of transportation modes.”
UK banks to begin rollout of world’s first standardised open banking system
UK’s Open Banking to launch on 13 January 2018 — Open Banking — “The UK is the first nation to implement a standardised open banking solution. In the UK we are creating a single technology standard enabling new services to be easily built and offered to consumers and small businesses… The first set of Open Banking APIs will go live to third party providers on 13 January.”