Customers of Africa’s Absa Bank can now conduct banking transactions through Facebook Messenger using the bank’s ChatBanking feature... More
Archive: News in brief
BBA reports UK contactless increase
The annual use of contactless cards across the UK has risen 250%, with £1.1bn spent in March 2016 alone, research released by the British Bankers Association (BBA) reveals... More
Mastercard planning to become a PSP in China
Mastercard is planning to apply to become a payment service provider (PSP) in China this year but is still deciding whether to do so alone or with a partner, according to Reuters... More
PBOC working to regulate QR code mobile payments in China
People’s Bank of China (PBOC) is working to create a system for regulating QR code mobile payments in the country, after it suspended QR code-based services run by third-party payment providers in March 2014... More
Scotiabank gives Apple Pay users 10% cashback
Canada’s Scotiabank is offering its customers a 10% cashback on everyday purchases of up to US$20 whenever the payment is made using Apple Pay... More
Mastercard takes majority stake in VocaLink
Mastercard has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire 92.4% of UK payments infrastructure operator VocaLink for approximately £700m (US$920m)... More
Visa reports EMV uptake in the US
There were 326.8m chip cards in the US as of the end of June 2016, exceeding the number of people who live in the country, Visa has reported... More
Apple Pay adds 13 US banks
Apple has added a further 13 banks and credit unions to its list of Apple Pay supporting financial institutions in the US... More
Square preparing for European launch
Mobile POS provider Square has incorporated a business called Squareup Europe in the UK, suggesting that the company could be setting itself up for its first European launch... More
Apple promotes Apple Pay with iTunes gift cards
UK and US consumers are being encouraged to sign up and use Apple Pay with a £5 or $5 iTunes gift card at Apple retail stores across both countries... More
Samsung Pay prepping rewards programme
Samsung is preparing to launch its own rewards program that will let consumers earn and redeem points each time they use Samsung Pay... More
Safaricom pilots M-Pesa NFC cards
Kenyan carrier Safaricom is testing a new PIN-based NFC-enabled ‘Tap-and-Go’ card for its M-Pesa mobile money service... More
Samsung Pay Beta goes live on Gear S2
An update to the Samsung Gear app is adding access to Samsung Pay for the Gear S2 smartwatch... More
Android Pay adds 19 banks
Google has added a further 19 banks and credit unions to its list of US financial institutions that support Android Pay... More
Brazilian mobile bank launches with biometric authentication
Brazilian consumers can now sign up to mobile and online only bank Neon by taking a selfie with their mobile phone... More
Cardless Cash heads to 70,000 additional ATMs
US consumers will soon be able to withdraw cash from 70,000 ATMs belonging to Payment Alliance International (PAI) using their mobile phones through banking and payment technologies provider FIS’ Cardless Cash ATM functionality... More
Pokemon Go to add NFC for trading
Players of augmented reality mobile app Pokemon Go will soon be able to trade the Pokemon they catch with other players through NFC, according to PokeGoFans... More
Videotron launches SIM-based NFC mobile payments
Customers of Canadian mobile network operator Videotron with a Desjardins Visa card can now use their mobile phones to make NFC payments of up to $100 (US$77) at any contactless terminal... More
Droplet to close down
UK-based mobile payment and rewards platform Droplet is to be discontinued... More
Pizza Hut enables orders on social media
Customers of Pizza Hut will soon be able to place orders using Facebook Messenger and Twitter through a new chatbot launched by the pizza chain and technology provider Conversable... More