The Russian government is expected to adopt a law that will enable Russian consumers to use face and voice recognition to authenticate in-store payments in shops, cafes and other retail outlets by the end of 2020, Izvestia reports... More
Pilot
Central bank digital currency lottery attracts 2m Shenzhen residents
Nearly two million Shenzhen residents, representing 15% of the city’s population, signed up for a chance to win 200 digital yuan (US$29.65) in the ‘red envelope’ lottery held as part of China’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot... More
Bank of Japan to test central bank digital currency
The Bank of Japan is to begin the first phase of proof-of-concept testing of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) in early 2021, according to a statement published by the bank... More
Razer pilots prepaid card that lights up when used for contactless payments
Users of Razer Pay, a digital wallet operated by gaming lifestyle brand Razer in Singapore, are taking part in the beta test of a premium prepaid card that lights up whenever a contactless payment is made... More
PBOC distributes digital currency to consumers via red envelope lottery
Consumers in the city of Shenzhen are being offered the opportunity to win one of 50,000 ‘red envelopes’ containing 200 digital yuan (US$29.65) that they can spend at any of more than 3,000 retail outlets in the city that now accept China’s central bank digital currency (CBDC)... More
Krispy Kreme pilots contactless doughnut vending machine
Krispy Kreme customers in Charlotte, South Carolina in the US, can now use their mobile device to buy selected variety packs of doughnuts from an automated cash-free vending machine that is in operation 24 hours a day... More
PBOC reports results of central bank digital currency pilot
More than 113,000 Chinese consumers have now used a digital wallet supporting “multiple payment methods, including barcode, facial recognition and tap-and-go transactions” to conduct a transaction using China’s new central bank digital currency, the People’s Bank of China has revealed. More
German cooperative bank pilots NFC kiosks that turn branches into one-stop service points
Customers of Volksbank Raiffeisenbank in Germany are taking part in the pilot of a self-service terminal designed to drive new revenue streams by making a wide range of additional services available in bank branches... More
Adelaide Metro pilots contactless bank card and digital wallet payments for tram ticketing
Passengers on Adelaide Metro’s tram network can now make contactless fare payments with their credit or debit card or their tap-and-pay digital wallet without needing a metroCARD transit card or using cash... More
Google Pay rolls out tokenized NFC card payments in India
Google Pay users in India can now make tokenized NFC-based credit and debit card payments at contactless POS terminals, starting with customers of Axis Bank and SBI “with Kotak and more banks expected to follow suit very soon”... More
Thailand tests NFC wristbands for tracking Covid-19 patients and at-risk groups
Staff in Thailand’s Department of Disease Control (DDC) are testing an NFC wristband that has been developed to track Covid-19 patients and people who are self-quarantining in a bid to control the spread of infection... More
UK pilots new ways to provide access to cash in communities without bank branches
Residents and small businesses in nine UK communities are taking part in a series of pilot schemes which aim to improve access to cash in rural and disadvantaged areas, where individuals remain dependent on cash but where bank branches and ATMs have closed down and local cash infrastructure is under threat... More
Delhi Transport Corporation trials contactless bus ticketing
Passengers travelling on Delhi Transport Corporation buses are piloting a contactless e-ticketing service that enables them to pay their fare via a mobile app by scanning a QR code on the bus... More
Bonn begins rollout of contactless NFC ticketing
Public transport users in Bonn, Germany, can now make contactless payments for their fares on two key transit routes in the city using their smartphone, smartwatch or contactless debit or credit card as part of a citywide rollout of open loop contactless ticketing... More
Merchants in Spain and Hungary pilot cardless payments service that combines face and palm biometrics
Customers at a coffee shop in Budapest, Hungary, and a number of small city-centre retailers in Guadalajara, Spain, are piloting a biometric payment service which allows them to make payments at the point of sale using their face and palm without needing a card, smartphone or other mobile device... More
Japanese passengers test facial recognition ticketing on driverless buses
Bus passengers in Japan are taking part in a pilot of self-driving buses equipped with facial recognition technology which enables them to pay for their tickets as they board using a ‘face pass’ system... More
Bermuda trials digital stimulus token to distribute financial aid to citizens’ mobile phones
Residents and retailers in Bermuda are taking part in a pilot to test the viability of a “digital stimulus token”, which the Bermudan Government hopes to use to distribute financial aid more efficiently and to facilitate the purchase of food and other essential items during and beyond the Covid-19 pandemic... More
The Lowry Hotel pilots NFC payments on graphene till receipts
The Lowry Hotel in Manchester, UK, is piloting a graphene-based contactless payment system that enables restaurant customers to pay their bill by tapping their smartphone on a till receipt imprinted with an electronic antenna... More
ING and Albert Heijn to pilot online payments service that tokenizes customers’ bank account details
Dutch bank ING and supermarket giant Albert Heijn are to pilot a tokenized payments service which enables customers to pay for online purchases from their bank accounts without needing to provide retailers with account credentials... More
Reliance Jio pilots NFC and QR payments in India
Indian telecommunications giant Reliance Jio has begun piloting Jio Pay, a new UPI-enabled payments service which includes support for both NFC and QR mobile payments... More