eBay to intermediate payments on its Marketplace platform — eBay — “eBay intends to further improve its customer experience by intermediating payments on its Marketplace platform. In doing so, eBay will manage the payments flow, simplifying the end-to-end experience for buyers and sellers… eBay will move as quickly as possible to complete this process within the parameters of the operating agreement with PayPal, which remains in place through mid-2020.”
ecommerce
One in five Americans are using voice assistants and chatbots for commerce
Securing conversational commerce: How to make your interactions with virtual assistants safer — Mastercard — “Voice-based and text-based agents are commonly used for basic informational tasks ranging from performing an internet search, to finding the nearest restaurant and giving simple commands such as making a phone call. But a growing number of people are using this interface for more complex tasks, with 21% of respondents using this technology to shop, pay bills, bank online or send money.”
Mastercard to mandate biometric security for online and mobile payments in Europe
Biometric identification must be made available for all Mastercard users by April 2019 — Mastercard — “All consumers will be able to identify themselves with biometrics such as fingerprints or facial recognition, when they shop and pay with Mastercard by April next year… Banks issuing Mastercard-branded cards will have to be able to offer biometric authentication for remote transactions, alongside existing PIN and password verification. It will also apply to all contactless transactions made at terminals with a mobile device.”
Mastercard to add biometric security to online transactions in Europe
Mastercard establishes biometrics as the new normal for safer online shopping — Mastercard — “Consumers will have the capability to use biometrics, such as fingerprints or facial recognition, as a way to identify themselves when they shop and pay with Mastercard as of April 2019… This shift to biometrics is part of Mastercard’s new action plan to help banks, retailers and partners to prevent fraud and improve the consumer experience in the new digital environment. It also meets new regulatory requirements around Strong Customer Authentication set out by PSD2 and is aimed at ensuring a smoother consumer experience and reducing unjustified declines.”
Campari fridge magnets let customers order drinks via NFC
Out of Espolòn Tequila or Aperol? Touch your phone to your new Campari America refrigerator magnet to automatically order more — Campari America — “When consumers want to order or re-order their favorite Campari America brand, they simply touch their iPhone or Android smartphone to one of six available branded ‘smart’ magnets. The NFC chip embedded in the magnet then prompts Drizly to open the specific website page for that brand and gives the consumer the option to add the item to their cart and immediately check out, with the product being delivered by local retailers — all in one cohesive mobile experience.”
Rambus forecasts omnichannel tokenization and ‘merchant pay’ as key trends for 2018
PARTNER NEWS: 2018 will see the emergence of omnichannel tokenization, a wealth of new payment use-cases such as connected cars, and the rise of ‘merchant pay’ — retailer issued mobile wallets — according to Rambus... More
Kroger grocery stores to accept Chase Pay mobile payments
Kroger and Chase Pay announce mobile payment partnership — Kroger — “The Kroger Co is teaming up with Chase Pay — the digital engagement wallet from JPMorgan Chase & Co — to offer mobile payments starting with select retail markets and ecommerce programs in 2018… Through the partnership, Chase’s 65 million customers will have an opportunity to use Chase Pay at Kroger for online and in-lane purchases.”
Alipay pushes into Hong Kong, India, Thailand and the Philippines with Christmas shopping festival
Alipay to hold online 24-hour Christmas shopping festival as part of expansion push — South China Morning Post — “The event will take place in Hong Kong, India, Thailand and the Philippines with Alipay partners in each location: Hutchison in Hong Kong, Paytm in India, Truemoney in Thailand and GCash in the Philippines… As part of the December event, the AlipayHK joint venture has partnered with more than 8,000 bricks-and-mortar stores to offer exclusive gifts, discounts and rewards.”
Indian government sets out plans to make digital payments ‘visibly cheaper’ than cash
Govt to incentivise online payments to push digital transactions — Hindustan Times — “The incentives could include cashbacks and reward points for BHIM users… The note presented last week by the ministry of electronics and information technology to Parliament’s standing committee on finance detailed a five-step road map to push e-transactions. ‘Digital payments to be made visibly cheaper than cash,’ the note said.
EMVCo releases online and in-app transaction security framework
EMVCo launches EMV secure remote commerce technical framework — EMVCo — “EMV SRC will address the complexities and potential vulnerabilities within the remote payments environment by defining a consistent approach to enable the secure transmission and interaction of payment card data among participants. This helps reduce exposure to data compromise and simplify merchant support of these solutions.”
Amex adds biometric authentication to Safekey 3D Secure platform
American Express supports next generation of digital commerce over internet-connected devices with SafeKey 2.0 rollout — American Express — “SafeKey 2.0, which leverages the EMV 3D Secure 2.0 industry standard, is a global solution that provides an extra layer of security when an American Express card member makes a purchase online at a participating merchant… The updated platform supports authentication methods using biometrics, including fingerprints and facial recognition… In addition, SafeKey 2.0 will support card issuers and merchant acquirers in the European Union as they address the Strong Customer Authentication requirements of the Payment Services Directive 2.0.”
Google reports 7.5m users of its Tez audio QR mobile payments app
Edited transcript of Alphabet earnings conference call — Yahoo Finance — “To help millions of people, we are building products specifically designed for local markets in Asia. In India last month, we launched Tez, a mobile payments and commerce app that already has more than 7.5 million users who have made more than 30m transactions. I’m really excited about the potential this brings for India’s mostly cash-based economy.”
Swarovski lets shoppers make payments in VR
Mastercard and Swarovski launch virtual reality shopping experience — Mastercard — “Once the consumers decide and select the piece from the collection that they want to purchase, they can add it to the cart and check out by focusing their gaze on the Masterpass button that appears at the bottom of the product description. When the consumer exits the application or the session detects that the headset has been removed, the consumer will be automatically logged out of their Masterpass account to protect against unintended purchases.”
Google adopts sound-based payments for Indian mobile wallet
Introducing Tez, a mobile payments and commerce app from Google — Google — “Cash Mode is built using our proprietary AQR (Audio QR) technology, which is similar to QR codes but more convenient and more secure. And unlike NFC, it works on almost any smartphone in India, whether Android or iOS.”
EMVCo updates tokenization specification
Payments standards body EMVCo has updated its Payment Tokenisation Technical Framework to introduce the new roles of ‘token programme’ and ‘token user’, refine the roles of ‘token service provider’ and ‘token requestor’ and detail “their interrelationships within the global payments environment.”... More
Visa moves to kill PINs by pushing Aussie banks towards biometric authentication
Visa moves to kill PINs by pushing Aussie banks towards biometric authentication — The Australian Financial Review — “A new Visa security roadmap outlines a four-year process for Australian banks to adopt new standards for e-commerce transactions, designed to streamline the purchasing process and reduce fraud, while implementing new information-sharing practices and tokenization technology.”
Amazon brings its cash deposit service for the underbanked to the UK
Amazon brings its cash deposit service for the underbanked to the UK — Techcrunch — “Amazon has added the ability for UK users to pay for products and services on its ecommerce platform using cash. The service, called Amazon Top Up, lets shoppers load between £5 and £250 into their Amazon UK account in a single top-up transaction.”
NFC mobile payments ‘shake off the novelty tag’ in the UK
British consumers used their mobile phones to spend more than £370m (US$477m) in stores equipped with contactless payments terminals during the first half of 2017, an increase of 336% on the amount spent during the first half of 2016, transaction data analysis conducted by payments processor Worldpay has found... More
UK card expenditure statistics: June 2017
UK card expenditure statistics: June 2017 — UK Finance — “There were just under 1.4bn card payments in June, a monthly record and a 12% rise in the last 12 months. This is the highest annual rate of growth in the number of payments since June 2008, driven by a robust rise in online (+20%) and contactless (+143%) purchases… Contactless payments accounted for 34% of all card transactions, while online payments accounted for 13%.”
China’s Baidu enters strategic partnership with Paypal to tap Chinese tourists
China’s Baidu enters strategic partnership with Paypal to tap Chinese tourists — Reuters — “Baidu’s payment platform, Baidu Wallet, will be accepted by roughly 17 million PayPal merchants globally, the Chinese firm said in a statement on Thursday. ‘Partnering with PayPal on technology and product innovation will provide Baidu users with the ultimate cross-border consumer experience,’ said Baidu senior vice president Guang Zhu.”