Korean internet and messaging giant Daum Kakao has launched BankWalletKakao, a mobile wallet service provided in partnership with 16 Korean banks and Korea Financial Telecommunications and Clearing Institute (KFTC). The service leverages instant messaging technology to let users make online payments, transfer funds to friends and make ATM withdrawals with their mobile phone. More
Samsung has unveiled Proximity, a location-based marketing platform that uses Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons and works in a similar way to Apple’s iBeacon system — but without the need for consumers to be persuaded to download a marketer’s own app to access the service. More
MasterCard is working with Visa to create a new authentication standard for online payments that will gradually replace the 3D Secure protocol with “invisible authentication”, far fewer prompts for passwords and support for a range of biometric technologies. More
McDonald’s sees accepting NFC mobile payments as part of its on-going customer service improvement remit, the fast food giant’s Anja Carroll has told NFC World+. “We can accept all payment products that leverage standard NFC and we prefer to allow our customers to choose how they prefer to pay,” she explained. More
NFC-on-microSD pioneer DeviceFidelity has been acquired by Kili Technology, a payments processing solution provider which launched an mPOS “solution-on-a-chip” range last month. More
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PARTNER NEWS: Host card emulation (HCE) specialist SimplyTapp has closed a US$6m Series B funding round. The round was led by a new, undisclosed lead investor with both Lightspeed Venture Partners and Blue Sky Capital participating. The funds will be used to expand operations, CEO Doug Yeager has told NFC World+. More
The Canadian government is preparing to give merchants the ability to refuse to accept a particular NFC payment service if it attracts higher than usual fees — should that situation ever arise in the future, a document obtained by the WSJ reveals... More
Powa Technologies has raised US$80m from Wellington Management to launch its PowaTag mobile payments platform in the US... More
Four in ten (42%) of the 200 cardholders who took part in a trial of Zwipe’s biometric payment card conducted by Norway’s Sparebanken say they think the fingerprint security solution is more secure than using a PIN code to verify a transaction... More
Whole Foods Market has processed more than 150,000 Apple Pay transactions since the mobile payment solution launched in October, the US supermarket chain has told NFC World+... More
UK supermarket chain Sainsbury’s is to pilot a mobile shopping app that allows customers to build a virtual basket of favourite products from anywhere before they visit a store, get directions when they arrive at the store to find the items in their virtual basket, scan selected items as they shop, and then check out and pay with their mobile phone. More
A care worker tracking pilot that used a Medicaid-compliant NFC tag platform developed by HID Global has cut 30 seconds from the time taken for a carer to check in to a client’s location and resulted in a 100% authentication accuracy rate, the company reports... More
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The Bluetooth-based mobile keyless entry solution unveiled by Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide earlier this month is now live in 10 hotels in Beijing, Hong Kong, New York, Los Angeles and Doha and will be rolling out to Aloft, Element and W Hotels across the globe... More
Paris area transport authority RATP has begun installing NFC tags at bus and tram stops in the Ile-de-France region to deliver real-time information and route maps to passengers’ smartphones... More
The GSMA has launched a Code of Conduct for Mobile Money Providers, laying down eight common business principles designed to ensure the development of safe and responsible digital financial services... More
Google Wallet has seen an uplift of 50% in transactions on a weekly basis since Apple Pay’s launch, with users almost doubling on a monthly basis “in the recent couple of months”, reports Ars Technica... More
US mobile payments provider Square has now processed a total of one billion payment transactions... More
US carrier joint venture Softcard’s NFC mobile payments service will be available on more than 100 devices by the end of the year... More
US fast food chain Dairy Queen has expanded pilot testing of its myDQ mobile loyalty, offers and payments service to more than sixty locations in the states of Colorado and Nebraska ahead of a planned rollout of the solution to all its 4,500 US franchise locations. More
Costa Rican bank Grupo Mutual has worked with biometric technology provider FacePhi to build face recognition into its mobile banking app... More