New payment method for air tickets successfully demonstrated — International Air Transport Association — “IATA Pay is an industry-supported initiative to develop a new payment option for consumers when purchasing a ticket directly from an airline website. It is made possible by the European Commission’s second Payment Services Directive (PSD2), and the UK’s Open Banking regulation. For airlines, the advantages of IATA Pay are: Cheaper payment option compared to other alternatives; Highly secure; Faster cashflow with instant/near instant payment to the merchant; Simpler payment process resulting in fewer lost sales.”
Cross-border digital identification for EU countries: Major step for a trusted Digital Single Market — European Commission — “As of 29 September, the EU-wide legislation on the electronic identification (eIDAS Regulation) will enter into force enabling cross-border recognition of the electronic ID and allowing citizens and business to share their identity data when necessary. People will be able to use their electronic ID (eID) such as ID cards, driver licenses, bank cards and fill tax returns online, access medical records and online public services across the EU.”
Payment Services Directive (PSD2): Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) enabling consumers to benefit from safer and more innovative electronic payments — European Commission — “The RTS makes strong customer authentication (SCA) the basis for accessing one’s payment account, as well as for making payments online. This means that to prove their identity users will have to provide at least two separate elements out of these three: something they know (a password or PIN code); something they own (a card, a mobile phone); and something they are (biometrics, eg fingerprint or iris scan)… The use of SCA will become mandatory 18 months after the entry into force of the RTS, ie once the RTS is published in the Official Journal of the EU, scheduled for September 2019.”
Ministerial declaration on eGovernment — the Tallinn Declaration — European Commission — “We will in our countries… enable the private sector to make use of national eID schemes and trust services in securing the delivery of their digital services, where beneficial to the citizen… We will in our countries… make it possible for citizens and businesses to digitally manage their personal data held by the public administration.”
Antitrust: Commission confirms unannounced inspections concerning access to bank account information by competing services — European Commission — “The European Commission can confirm that on 3 October 2017 its officials carried out unannounced inspections in a few Member States concerning online access to bank account information by competing service providers… These alleged anti-competitive practices are aimed at excluding non-bank owned providers of financial services by preventing them from gaining access to bank customers’ account data, despite the fact that the respective customers have given their consent to such access.”
The EU Agency for Network and Information Security (ENISA) is calling on the European Commission to define a policy framework ensuring minimal requirements for the security of Internet of Things (IoT) devices along with the development of mandatory staged requirements for security and privacy to give stakeholders a “level playing field” in implementing trust into connected devices and IoT systems. More
Fully flexible NFC antennas made from graphene could match the performance of conventional metallic antennas, making connected wearable devices cheaper and more energy-efficient, a consortium backed by the European Commission says... More
The European Commission has approved the proposed acquisition of Visa Europe by Visa... More
Visa has reached a preliminary agreement to amend the transaction details of its Visa Europe acquisition in response to feedback from the European Commission... More
The European Commission has given its unconditional approval for the UK’s three largest mobile network operators to form a joint venture company to introduce NFC mobile payments and promotional services in the UK. More
The European Commission is set to green light the creation of a joint venture company to bring NFC to market in the UK, according to the Financial Times... More
The European Commission has prolonged the deadline for a decision on whether to give the go ahead to the UK carrier-led ‘Project Oscar’ NFC joint venture, Bloomberg reports... More
Amid on-going delays for the UK mobile network operators’ Project Oscar NFC joint venture, O2 has moved ahead with the launch of a mobile wallet that offers a suite of payments and marketing services to any mobile phone user, regardless of the carrier they get their mobile service from — with NFC to arrive later. More
The European Commission (EC) has started a public consultation to find out what framework is needed to unleash the potential benefits of the coming ‘internet of things’... More
The European Commission has opened an in-depth investigation into the planned NFC joint venture between Everything Everywhere, Telefónica and Vodafone UK which will delay launch until after the London Olympics and casts doubts over the timetable for the introduction of similar projects in a number of other European countries. More
Orange plans to provide three million SIM-based NFC devices to customers based in the European Union in 2012, according to Stéphane Richard, chairman and CEO of France Telecom-Orange... More
The NFC joint venture between three UK mobile network operators has now filed for approval with the EU to go ahead with the scheme, code named ‘Project Oscar’, the Guardian reports, despite on-going objections from excluded carrier Three... More
Everything Everywhere, Vodafone and O2 will be submitting their plans for a UK-based NFC joint venture to regulators in Brussels next week, the Financial Times reports... More
The UK NFC joint venture announced last year by mobile network operators Vodafone, O2 and Everything Everywhere is expected to seek the official go ahead for the scheme, dubbed Project Oscar, in the next two weeks, according to a report in The Telegraph... More
The European Commission has published a green paper assessing the current card, internet and mobile payments landscape and is asking stakeholders to contribute their thoughts on how to ensure a modern, integrated payments environment can be implemented across Europe. More
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