PARTNER NEWS: Guala Closures Group, a world leader in security closures, has teamed up with NXP to introduce an NFC-based tamper evident closure solution for the wine and spirits industry that is designed to protect brands, enable advanced anti-counterfeiting and tamper-proofing and enable brand owners to make VIP offers, loyalty rewards and more available to customers through a tap of their NFC mobile device. More
Technology
Mastercard tests biometric payments card in South Africa
Employees at Pick n Pay supermarket stores and Absa Bank staff across South Africa have been trialling a biometric card developed by Mastercard that lets them make a payment at any EMV terminal and authenticate the transaction by placing their finger on the embedded sensor. Additional trials are planned over the next few months, with a full roll out expected “later this year”. More
Lloyds to trial biometrics for online banking
Customers of Lloyds Banking Group across the UK will soon be able to log into their online banking accounts using fingerprint or facial recognition through Microsoft’s Windows Hello biometric authentication technology. The banking group is to trial the solution with Lloyds Bank, Halifax and Bank of Scotland customers with Windows 10 devices in the second half of this year. More
Westpac adds Samsung Pay in Australia
Westpac has become the first of Australia’s big four banks to begin supporting Samsung Pay, taking the service to “millions of Westpac Mastercard and Visa debit and credit cardholders” following its launch in the country with support from American Express and Citibank in June 2016... More
CaixaBank explains why it sees mobile payments as the key to adding value to its banking service
Mobile payments are the best example of how technology can add value to traditional banking services, says CaixaBank Payments’ head of mobile — and benefits will come not only in the form of increased revenues but also in the form of improved customer satisfaction, reputation and loyalty. More
Consumers get chance to win prizes at the point of sale
Consumers can now be offered the chance to win prizes related to the purchases they make both in-store and online by playing games such as scratch cards and slot machines that are integrated into a merchant’s payment confirmation pages online and at the payment terminal in a store. More
Barclaycard: Realising the potential of conversational commerce is crucial
Having information about how, when and why consumers seek to contact organisations through digital assistants and chatbots and understanding why they are gravitating towards doing so is critical to achieving the full potential of conversational commerce, according to Barclaycard’s managing director of future payments Nick Kerigan and director of future payments Sanjaya Shrestha. More
Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus to support Bluetooth 5
Samsung’s new Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus flagship smartphones will be the first on the market to include support for Bluetooth 5.0, The Verge reports... More
Samsung reveals S8 with multi-biometrics, Samsung Pay reaches quarter of a billion transactions and adds online payments
Samsung has unveiled its latest Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus flagship devices, with support for iris and facial recognition technology and a fingerprint sensor which is now located on the back of the phone. Samsung Pass deals with major banks, an expansion of Samsung Pay to include online payments and details of its Bixby virtual assistant have also been announced. More
NXP adds new NFC chips and sensors to secure the Internet of Things
PARTNER NEWS: NXP has unveiled two new NFC chips and a range of NFC offerings designed to “capitalise on the inherent security and interactive capabilities of NFC for advanced product authentication, integrity assurance and enhanced user engagement across consumer manufactured goods, healthcare, retail and other industries”. More
Nordea Bank: PSD2 will require banks to adopt a ‘totally new way of viewing their customer base’
Significant confusion and a high level of fragmentation can be expected over the next five years as European financial institutions become accustomed to new regulations under the Payment Services Directive (PSD2) which will open the door to new competition within the European payment services market, says Nordea Bank’s vice president of strategic business development, transaction banking and business innovation. More
Ted Baker and Mondaine to add NFC payments to watches
Fashion brand Ted Baker and Swiss luxury watchmaker Mondaine are to integrate NFC payments into a range of watches to enable customers to make payments using technology supplied by Tappy Technologies, which has also partnered with Barclaycard to offer bPay contactless payment technology in the UK... More
Wells Fargo moves forward with ATM mobile withdrawal plans
US bank Wells Fargo will become the first in the country to upgrade its entire network of ATMs with mobile withdrawal functionality next week, as the bank prepares to roll out the service to 13,000 machines... More
LG to launch mobile payments service using magnetic communication technology
LG will launch its LG Pay mobile payments service in Korea in June this year using a mobile payment technology that works by “generating a magnetic signal from a mobile device such as a smartphone, and paying it to a general credit card terminal”. More
Canadian banks to test blockchain digital identity network for consumers
A blockchain-based digital identity network that will let Canadians verify their identity to organisations of their choice and access services such as new bank accounts, driving licenses or utilities using a mobile app is now undergoing testing ahead of a planned launch later this year. The service is backed by a group of Canadian banks that includes BMO, CIBC, Desjardins, RBC, Scotiabank and TD. More
Rambus Security boss sets out future vision
PARTNER NEWS: Following this week’s rebranding of Bell ID and Ecebs, both acquired by Rambus in January 2016, the general manager of the company’s Rambus Security division to which the two companies now belong has set out his vision for the division going forward... More
NXP signs deals to add NFC to cars
PARTNER NEWS: Five “leading car OEMs” are to integrate NFC technology from NXP into cars to enable a variety of secure interactions including vehicle access, Bluetooth and WiFi pairing, personalization and payments, the chip maker has announced at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona... More
NXP reveals secure element and NFC solution that speeds transaction times, increases security and supports smaller form factors
PARTNER NEWS: A new embedded secure element and NFC solution from NXP will make it possible for mobile transactions to be conducted at the same speed as contactless card transactions... More
GSMA predicts 1.1bn 5G connections by 2025
The GSMA forecasts there will be 1.1bn 5G mobile connections by 2025, with 5G networks providing one in eight of all mobile connections and driving “massive rollout of intelligent IoT nodes for a multitude of scenarios”... More
Smart Benches offer Londoners chance to make contactless charity donations
Ten Smart Benches have been installed across London to enable passersby to donate £2 (US$3) to Cancer Research UK with a tap of their contactless debit or credit card. The Smart Bench network is currently being piloted in two boroughs in the city, with a further 90 benches to be permanently rolled out later this year. More