Morgan Stanley customers in the US can now add their debit cards to Apple Pay... More
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Chase discusses Apple Pay and its own mobile wallet plans
More than a million JPMorgan Chase cards have now been activated for use on Apple Pay since the mobile payment service launched last year, the bank has revealed, and 69% of the activated cards are credit cards... More
MasterCard reports on HCE payments tests in 15 countries
MasterCard is currently conducting more than 25 host card emulation (HCE) projects in 15 countries, the payments network has announced, with multiple issuers now moving close to commercial deployments... More
Softcard confirms it is to shut down
Google’s deal with AT&T Mobility, T-Mobile USA and Verizon Wireless to have Google Wallet pre-installed on their Android phones marks the end of the road for Softcard, the NFC payments joint venture set up as Isis by the three US carriers in 2010... More
Consultant: Apple Pay fraud “rampant”
Apple Pay fraud levels are now “rampant” with every Apple Pay (AP) issuer having seen “significant” provisioning fraud, payments consultant Cherian Abraham claims in a detailed blog post... More
Google teams up with US carriers for NFC mobile payments
Google Wallet will be pre-installed on all Android phones supplied by Softcard partners AT&T Mobility, T-Mobile USA and Verizon Wireless from “later this year”, Ariel Bardin, Google’s vice president of payments, has announced... More
Six in ten US terminals to support EMV chip cards by year end
About 59% of US point-of-sale (POS) terminals will be EMV-enabled by the end of this year, research by Aite Group has revealed, with NFC distribution projected to “ramp at the same rate as EMV distribution,” senior analyst Thad Peterson tells NFC World... More
Nintendo sells 5.7m NFC figurines
The US and Canada accounted for 63% of a total 5.7m NFC-enabled Nintendo Amiibo figurines sold at the end of 2014, followed by Europe in second place with 23%, Japan with 11% and Australia with 3%... More
Brooklyn Museum reports on BLE issues
Brooklyn Museum has produced an in-depth report that examines the practical issues it experienced implementing and managing a network of Bluetooth beacons... More
Bluetooth beacons to generate new revenue stream for mobile banking apps
2,500 US banks and credit unions will soon be able to add an “additional potential revenue source” by sending out branded, local offers to users of their mobile banking apps... More
US Federal Government turns to Apple Pay
Apple Pay will be available as a payment option for US Federal Government services from September, CEO Tim Cook has revealed during a White House Summit on cybersecurity and personal privacy... More
First Tech to run biometric triple test
First Tech Federal Credit Union is to run a pilot later this year in partnership with MasterCard that will see cardholders being given the ability to authenticate and verify their transactions using a combination of face, voice and fingerprint verification... More
NFC gets 75% approval rating from US consumers
The speed, convenience and control of NFC have made it a clear winner with the American public in a study conducted by Strategy Analytics for the NFC Forum... More
Starbucks adds Apple Pay to app
Starbucks has updated its iOS app to add support for Apple Pay, making it possible for users to reload their Starbucks cards using Apple’s mobile payments service.“There has been no word on whether Starbucks plans to implement NFC and support for in-store use of Apple Pay,” MacRumors says... More
LA Metro to get Bluetooth beacons
The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority is planning to pilot Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons in Los Angeles’ Union Station to track a commuter’s journey and send out relevant information directly to their smartphone... More
Google testing new payments service?
Google is testing a service called Plaso “that allows people carrying Android phones to pay at retailers like Papa John’s and Panera Bread by saying their initials to employees at the cash register,” The Information reports, citing “four people who have been involved in or briefed about it.” The pilot has been live since “last fall”... More
USA Technologies reveals secret of success for Apple Pay branding
“Certification work” with Apple was all that was needed to add 200,000 vending and other self-service machines supplied over the last five years to the list of Apple Pay acceptance points, USA Technologies (USAT) has told NFC World+... More
BBVA joins Apple Pay
BBVA Compass cardholders in the US can now add their cards to Apple Pay as the bank has become the latest to join more than 60 banks in supporting the mobile payments service... More
JetBlue to accept Apple Pay
JetBlue Airways is to become the first major US domestic carrier to accept Apple Pay for onboard purchases such as food and drink... More
Contactless payment card shipments grow 35%
Four out of every 10 smart payment cards shipped in 2014 (40%) were contactless, representing a year-on-year growth of 35% with much of the increase driven by Europe and Asia, the Smart Payment Association’s annual review of the card payment market has revealed... More