Belfast City Council has partnered with Israel-based Colu for the launch of Belfast Coin, a city-wide rewards and payment platform that enables participants to earn rewards for taking part in ‘good citizen’ activities such as shopping at local businesses, volunteering and recycling... More
Google Pay preparing to launch its digital wallet service in Israel — Haaretz — “Google plans to launch by the end of this year its Google Pay digital wallet platform and online payment system in Israel… The giant US company has been undertaking a round of meetings with regulators, bank executives, credit card companies and financial technology startups. The campaign, which involves a team from Google Israel, includes playing a role in Israel’s rapidly growing e-commerce sector as well as in brick-and-mortar retail.”
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.”
Residents across East London can now make mobile payments at small businesses with a local currency launched by Tel-Aviv-based digital wallet provider Colu which makes use of blockchain technology... More
Leumi Card to use Feedzai’s artificial intelligence platform to fight fraud — Feedzai — “‘Fraud mitigation tools have not kept pace with today’s mobile-enabled, always-connected consumers,’ said Gilead Kehat EVP human resources and staff of Leumi Card, ‘Feedzai’s agile machine learning platform helps predict and prevent fraud before it impacts our customers.’”
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
A group of Israeli military cadets have developed a bracelet using NFC technology to store injured soldiers’ medical notes as they are transported from the battlefield to hospital, the Times of Israel reports... More
PayPal has enabled money transfers via Apple’s Siri voice command function, enabling users with iOS10 devices to make payments by speaking requests... More
Some 54% of European consumers are using a mobile device to make payments for a range of activities in-store, in-app and online, compared to 18% at this time last year, Visa’s 2016 Digital Payments Study has revealed... More
Customers of Israel’s Bank Hapoalim can now withdraw cash from ATMs using their NFC mobile phones at the bank’s newly opened digital branch... More
Swimmers will soon be able to use NFC wristbands to set up personal training regimes and measure their performance in the pool... More
Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba has invested an undisclosed sum in Israeli start-up Visualead, developer of the “visual” QR code technology adopted by Chinese social media site RenRen in May last year... More
Lithuania-based mobile wallet platform provider Worapay has raised €400,000 in new funding from Israel’s Entree Capital, Verslo Zinios reports... More
Mobile network operator Pelephone is to launch an NFC digital wallet in Israel, initially using contactless stickers, in partnership with credit card companies Leumi Card and Isracard... More
NFC Israel has teamed with printing and packaging provider Tadbik Group to launch FindMyPet, an NFC identification tag for pets... More
Orange Israel is offering customers packs of three NFC stickers that work with an NFC app that is pre-installed on all the carrier’s Android NFC phones... More
Israel Credit Cards-Cal (ICC-Cal) and mobile network operator Cellcom Israel have signed a letter of intent to jointly develop an NFC mobile payments product, Globes reports... More
Israeli mobile network operator Cellcom is set to launch an NFC payments service in collaboration with Israel Credit Cards Ltd (ICC-Cal) in the next few weeks, sources have told business publication Globes... More
Israel’s largest credit card issuer, Isracard, is to run a mobile payments trial using NFC stickers, Globes reports: ... More
The new service, to be launched by the end of 2010, will use technology developed by DigiMo to enable Israeli consumers to make payments at the point-of-sale with their mobile phone using their choice of an NFC phone, a sticker attached to their existing phone or a 2D barcode. More