The Chengyang District of the city of Qingdao has become the first in China to use a new WeChat service to issue government vouchers directly to residents’ mobile phones, in a bid to boost consumer spending as the Chinese economy begins to recover from Covid-19... More
- Bank of China lets taxi drivers accept central bank digital currency payments on NFC mobile phones
- Juniper forecasts 25% increase in POS terminal transaction values by 2028
- STMicroelectronics launches NFC tag chip with elliptic curve cryptography
- NFC Forum survey finds majority of consumers now prefer making payments with their mobile phone
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Egypt promotes cashless payments with increased contactless transaction limit, free prepaid cards and mobile wallets
The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) has introduced a series of measures designed to reduce the need for citizens to use cash to make payments, including a doubling of the contactless payment transaction limit and free access to both prepaid card and mobile wallet services. More
LibertyBus stops accepting cash payments for tickets
LibertyBus, the public bus service operator for the island of Jersey, has stopped accepting cash payments for tickets.... More
Metlink bans cash payments for transit tickets
Metlink, the transportation agency for the Greater Wellington region of New Zealand, has ceased accepting cash payments on all buses, trains, ferries and stations “to stay one step ahead of Covid-19 and give our passengers and staff more peace of mind”... More
Norwegian banks increase domestic contactless card transaction limit
Norway is increasing the transaction limit for BankAxept domestic contactless debit card payments from 400 kr (US$34.28) to 500 kr (US$42.84) “in order to minimise the number of physical touch points where infection can be transmitted”... More
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Turkey to double contactless limit as transaction volumes soar
Contactless transaction limits are to more than double from 120 Turkish lira (US$18.29) to 250 lira ($38.11), Soner Canko, chair of the Turkish Interbank Card Center (BKM) has announced. More
UAE urges consumers to use online banking services
The Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) has issued a statement strongly encouraging banking customers “to take advantage of digital and online banking services as a measure to protect the health and safety for UAE residents.” More
Poland doubles contactless payment transaction limit
Poland has doubled the country’s contactless card transaction limit from 50 zloty (US$11.85) to 100 zloty ($23.71)... More
Desjardins increases contactless limit for Canadian credit cardholders
Canadian financial services group Desjardins has increased the contactless transaction limit from C$100 (US$69.72) to C$250 ($174.31) “on Desjardins terminals for Desjardins credit cardholders.” More
National Bank of Georgia recommends contactless and mobile payments
“Whenever possible, use cashless payments, contactless and mobile payments,” Georgia’s central bank has urged the country’s citizens... More
ANZ waives contactless debit card fees for small businesses in New Zealand
ANZ is to provide free contactless debit transactions “for eligible small business customers” in New Zealand until 30 June, the bank has announced... More
Ireland to raise contactless transaction limit to €50
Banks in Ireland have agreed to increase the contactless transaction limit from €30 (US$32.17) to €50 (US$53.54) “to minimise the handling of cash amid Covid-19”, The Irish Times reports... More
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Saudi Arabia triples contactless card transaction limit
The Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) has increased the purchase limit for Atheer contactless domestic debit card transactions from SAR 100 (US$26.61) to SAR 300 (US$79.84), in a bid to reduce the spread of novel coronavirus. More
Dutch banks raise cumulative contactless payments limit to €100
Banks in the Netherlands are seeking to combat the spread of Covid-19 by increasing the maximum value of contactless transactions that a cardholder can make before needing to enter a PIN to €100 (US$107.07), up from the previous €50 (US$53.54)... More
RBC speeds up bank account opening with NFC passport reading
Royal Bank of Canada has added new features to its mobile app that make it quicker and easier for customers opening a new bank account at a branch to prove their identity... More
Cole Haan deploys NFC tags across Santa Clara store
Performance lifestyle brand Cole Haan is deploying NFC tags across its new Grandshop outlet in Santa Clara, California, to enable shoppers to find out more about the range of products available for sale... More
OTG to roll out Amazon Go cashierless shopping technology at New York airports
Airport hospitality group OTG is adopting Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology, enabling passengers shopping at its CIBO Express Gourmet Markets at New York’s Newark and LaGuardia airports to more quickly make last-minute purchases... More
Barclays lets UK customers use its mobile banking app to make payments from accounts held at other banks
Barclays has become the first UK high street bank to leverage open banking APIs to enable its customers to use its mobile banking app to make payments from accounts they hold with other banks. More
Merchants in four European countries to pilot dongle-free contactless payments on Android NFC phones
Merchants in the UK, Germany, Bulgaria and Romania are to participate in the pilot of a new mobile POS (mPOS) service that enables contactless payments to be accepted on Android mobile devices “without the need for any additional hardware”... More
Dual NFC and QR mobile payments service launches in Pakistan
UnionPay, Huawei and National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) have launched a mobile payments service that lets owners of Huawei and Honor NFC phones use a single mobile wallet app to pay at any merchant equipped to accept either contactless or QR code payments. More