Bundesbank sees benefits in blockchain technology — Deutsche Bundesbank — “The Bundesbank’s experts see little prospect of DLT [distributed ledger technology] being put to widespread use in the field of individual and retail payments given the current state of the art… They see more potential for DLT in payments beyond the European currency area… There is currently no realistic prospect of central bank-issued digital currency being rolled out in the foreseeable future.”
Germany
Deutsche Telekom to deploy smart parking and payments across the German city of Bonn
Mobile network operator Deutsche Telekom has signed a deal with the city of Bonn to install a network of sensors that will alert drivers to available parking spots and enable them to pay for their space using their mobile phone... More
Survey finds consumers view contactless shopping as both ‘cool’ and ‘creepy’
A survey of consumer attitudes to emerging technologies has found that the majority of both US and European consumers now believe that using fingerprint scanning to pay for purchases is ‘cool’ — but UK and European consumers are divided on the idea of contactless shopping services like Amazon Go, with 40% considering the technology to be ‘cool’ and 31% seeing it as ‘creepy’... More
Hackers defeat Samsung Galaxy S8 iris scanner
Hackers defeat Samsung Galaxy S8 iris scanner — Security Week — “Hackers of the Chaos Computer Club (CCC) in Germany have managed to defeat the iris recognition system on Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S8 smartphones… While an individual’s iris is unique, researchers from CCC showed that Samsung’s iris scanner can be defeated by showing it a picture of the victim’s eye.”
Apple Pay launches in Italy with support from UniCredit and Carrefour Banca
Apple Pay has begun rolling out across Italy with support for Mastercard and Visa cards issued by Carrefour Banca and UniCredit, with American Express, CartaBCC, ExpendiaSmart, Fineco Bank, Hype, Banca Mediolanum, N26 and Widiba listed as “coming this year”. The launch takes Apple Pay to a total of 16 markets globally. More
Gemalto powers Daimler’s NFC car keys for Mercedes E-Class
PARTNER NEWS: German car manufacturer Daimler’s smartphone-based digital vehicle key for its Mercedes-Benz E-Class range that lets drivers lock and unlock their cars as well as start the engine using an NFC device is being supported by digital security giant Gemalto’s Trusted Services Hub (TSH). More
European consortium to develop pan-industry online identity platform
A group of German and other European companies including banks, vehicle manufacturers and technology providers have signed a “corresponding declaration of intent” to establish a joint, pan-industry platform that will let their customers use a “so-called master key” for registration and identification when accessing online services across a range of sectors including government, aviation and retail. More
Germany slowly catching up on mobile payments
More than one in ten German mobile phone users (11.4%) will make a “proximity mobile payment by tapping, swiping or checking in with that device” while in a store in 2017, compared to 20.5% in the US, research released by eMarketer reveals... More
Deutsche Bank customers get HCE mobile payments
Customers of Deutsche Bank in Germany can now make host card emulation (HCE) based mobile payments using their Mastercard credit or debit card through the bank’s Deutsche Bank Mobile app... More
Vodafone Wallet adds PayPal in the Netherlands
Vodafone has added PayPal as a payment option to its NFC-based Vodafone Wallet mobile payment service in the Netherlands... More
Vodafone Germany offers mobile wallet support for PayPal and Visa
Vodafone Germany customers can now make NFC mobile payments using PayPal or a Visa credit card installed in the mobile network operator’s Vodafone Wallet... More
Google Assistant comes to more Android phones
Google Assistant will be made available to all phones running Android 7.0 Nougat and Android 6.0 Marshmallow operating systems, Reuters reports... 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
Mobile to account for 28% of online retail spending in Europe this year
More than a quarter of all online retail sales across Europe (27.9%) will be done using a mobile device in 2017, with UK consumers spending more money in-store, online and in-app using mobile devices than any other Europeans, research released by VoucherCodes.co.uk and the Centre for Retail Research (CRR) shows... More
One fifth of global consumers have made an in-store mobile payment as China leads the way
Nearly one fifth of global consumers (18%) have made an in-store mobile payment in the past six months, representing an increase of 10% from the same period in 2014, research released by trade body Mobile Ecosystem Forum (MEF) reveals. Chinese consumers lead the way, with 38% of them having paid with their phone at the point of sale — nearly double the global average. More
Boon launches in France for Apple Pay users
France has become the first eurozone country in which consumers with iOS devices can use Wirecard’s Boon service to make purchases with Apple Pay, by adding a virtual Boon card to the mobile payment service... More
Germany to get nationwide mobile ticketing system
The German transport minister has unveiled plans to launch a single ticketing system across “almost all” cities in Germany that will enable commuters to pay with a chip card or mobile phone by 2019... More
Deutsche Telekom shuts down NFC SIM-based mobile payments service in Germany
Deutsche Telekom has discontinued its NFC-based MyWallet mobile payment service in Germany, citing a lack of customer use and doubts over whether a SIM-based solution is going to be adopted as a standard in light of “internationally competing companies” investing heavily in competing approaches... More
Wirecard adds backing to Pay by Bank
German payments technology provider Wirecard has become the latest to announce its support for Pay by Bank, the mobile payments app developed by VocaLink’s Zapp... More
German MNO begins SIM-based NFC mobile payments pilot
Vodafone Germany customers are testing NFC mobile payments using their Girocard — the most common debit card in the country — through Vodafone Wallet... More