A pilot test of a cryptocurrency based on blockchain technology has taken place in the canton of Ticino, Switzerland... More
Archive: News in brief
ING Direct and Macquarie support Apple Pay in Australia
ING Direct and Macquarie Bank are now rolling out support for Apple Pay in Australia, with 47 financial institutions now supporting the mobile payments service in the country... More
Apple Pay coming soon to Germany and Italy?
Apple Pay could soon be launching in Germany and Italy, after German and Italian language instructions on how to use the mobile payment service were discovered on Apple’s website by Polish website iMagazine... More
Serbian bank launches HCE mobile payments
Customers of Kombank in Serbia can now make host card emulation (HCE) based mobile payments through a new feature added to the bank’s mobile banking app... More
Magazine focuses on Indian demonetisation and mobile money
PARTNER NEWS: A 36-page magazine featuring articles about the post-demonetisation era in India and the best practices for enhancing the customer experience of using mobile money is now available to download from the NFC World Knowledge Centre... More
Apple buys facial recognition startup
Apple has acquired RealFace, an Israel-based facial recognition technology startup, in a deal estimated to be “several million dollars,” Israeli financial website Calcalist reports... More
TfL and Barclaycard to extend contactless network
Transport for London (TfL) is aiming to extend contactless payments on its network to further areas outside of the capital, after Barclaycard announced it has retained its contract to provide payment processing solutions to TfL for at least another seven years... More
EMV card shipments grow less than 1% in 2016
Global EMV payment card shipments increased by less than 1% year-on-year in 2016, reaching nearly 3bn, ABI Research says... More
Google Home owners get voice commands for grocery shopping
Owners of the Google Home speaker powered by Google Assistant can now buy groceries using voice commands... More
Fashion retailers test smart mirrors for mobile payments
Fashion retailers Ralph Lauren and Rebecca Minkoff are testing smart dressing-room mirrors that will soon allow shoppers to “wave their phones in front of the mirror and make a purchase using Apple Pay or Android Pay”, Bloomberg reports... More
New iPhone to feature 3D laser facial recognition scanner?
Apple’s iPhone 7S, 7S Plus and 8 will come with a 3D laser scanner for facial recognition later this year to replace the Touch ID fingerprint scanner, JPMorgan analyst Rod Hall has told MacRumors... More
Amazon and Google to add phone calls for virtual assistants?
Consumers with Amazon Echo or Google Home could use the virtual assistant devices to make or receive phone calls later this year, the Wall Street Journal reports... More
Paytm expects up to 30% fall in offline customers
Indian mobile wallet Paytm “expects to lose 20-30%” of customers making offline payments using QR codes, OTP or mobile-to-mobile transfers when the Reserve Bank of India removes cash withdrawal limits on March 13, The Financial Express reports... More
Smart home owners can ask Alexa to unlock front door
Homeowners with smart home company August’s Smart Lock system are now able to ask an Amazon Alexa-enabled device to unlock their front door using their voice and a secure voice PIN of four to 12 digits... More
Mobile payments service for children to begin beta trials
Beta tests of the Virtual Piggy mobile payments platform for children, which “offers the ability for children to learn how to use the payment tools of the digital economy” with parental controls built in, will begin in April... More
Apple patent shows touchscreen fingerprint scanner
A patent shows Apple is working on a “micro-LED active matrix display panel” that would allow a fingerprint scanner to be integrated into an iPhone touchscreen and could eventually replace the current Touch ID button... More
NFC SIM ‘losing its fight’ against HCE
The NFC SIM card is losing its fight against embedded secure elements and host card emulation (HCE) technologies which are “continuing to gain momentum due to ongoing interest from banks, financial institutions and transportation authorities,” ABI Research says... More
Apple Pay and Android Pay prepare for Korea launch
Apple Pay and Android Pay are preparing to launch in Korea, according to The Korea Herald... More
Citi and Wells Fargo cards ‘not supported’ by Android Wear
Credit cards provided by US banks Citi and Wells Fargo are not supported by Android Wear 2.0, Google’s new version of its wearables operating system which brings host card emulation (HCE) based NFC payments to smartwatches... More
Turkish bank adds iMessage payments
Customers of Isbank in Turkey can now send and receive money using Apple’s iMessage... More