Passengers on British Airways (BA) flights from London Heathrow’s Terminal 5 to Malaga in Spain will be the first to trial a contactless biometric check-in and boarding system that will enable them to travel through the airport and board an international flight without needing to show their passport... More
Verification
PCI publishes MPoC standard to support evolution of contactless payment acceptance solutions on standard NFC mobile devices
The PCI Security Standards Council has published a flexible modular standard for accepting payments on a smartphone or other commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) mobile device that supports a variety of payment acceptance channels and customer verification methods including software point-of-sale (sPOS) contactless acceptance solutions... More
Korean MNOs let users add digital national ID card to mobile verification app
Residents of South Korea can now create, store and use a digital version of their national identity card on their mobile device using the Pass verification app that they can then use to prove their age when purchasing age-restricted goods and to verify their identity when signing contracts and other legal documents... More
Three in four airline passengers want biometric ID to replace passports and boarding passes
Three in four airline passengers worldwide want to use biometric data to verify their identity when they travel rather than their passport and boarding pass (75%) in order to simplify, speed up and facilitate airport processes such as check-in, security and border control, an International Air Transport Association (IATA) survey has found... More
First Abu Dhabi Bank brings biometric credit cards to the UAE
Customers of First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) in the United Arab Emirates can now apply for a biometric credit card — the first to be launched in the country — that enables users to verify both contact and contactless payments with their fingerprint and earn reward points that they can redeem at more than 3,500 locations across the UAE... More
Austria begins rollout of digital IDs for contactless identity checking
The Austrian government is enabling residents to create and store a digital version of their driving licence on their Apple or Android smartphone as a first step towards rolling out “as many digital ID cards and documents on mobile phones as possible”... More
South Korea to roll out digital national ID cards that citizens can store on their mobile phone
Residents of South Korea will soon be able to store a digital ID in an app on their mobile phone and use it to verify their identity across a wide range of use cases including accessing government services, healthcare, finance and transport... More
WeChat Pay lets Chinese consumers make payments with their palm
WeChat Pay users in China can now opt to authenticate payments with their palm at merchants that support the payment service’s new biometric WeChat Palm Payment solution... More
France extends public pilot of digital health insurance card
Residents of eight French departments will soon be able to verify their identity when accessing healthcare services and claim reimbursement for medical fees by scanning a digital version of their Carte Vitale health insurance card stored on their smartphone with an NFC reader or presenting a QR code to service providers... More
Korean banks partner with airports for biometric traveller IDs
Passengers travelling on domestic flights from 14 airports in South Korea can now verify their identity with their hand when checking in for their flight if they register biometric data with one of nine Korean banks and financial institutions before they travel... More
EMVCo releases contactless kernel specification to streamline payment acceptance
EMVCo has officially launched the EMV Contactless Kernel Specification detailing the features and requirements for the software used to process transactions in payment acceptance devices such as point-of-sale terminals and ATMs that will simplify and advance global payment acceptance, enhance security, improve transaction speeds and support more reliable data transmission... More
One in three UK consumers would ditch their wallet ‘if it weren’t for having to carry physical ID’
Nearly one third of UK consumers believe that carrying a physical ID document is “outdated” (32%) and nearly half would prefer not to have to carry a physical document as proof of identity (45%), a survey commissioned by the UK Post Office has found... More
Medicom combats counterfeit figurines with NFC tags
Japanese collectible toy maker Medicom Toy has added NFC authentication tags to three of its Be@rbrick figurines in a bid to combat numerous fake versions of the bear-shaped toys that have appeared on the market... More
Apple lets iPhone users present government-issued digital IDs in third-party apps
iPhone and Apple Watch users in the US can now verify their identity in third-party apps with their digital driving licence or state ID card stored in Wallet... More
Chinese tea brand uses NFC tags to prevent counterfeiting and enhance customer experience
Customers purchasing special anniversary gift boxes of Chinese tea brand Halfism’s Fuding white tea can now verify their purchase is genuine, access detailed product information and receive coupons towards future purchases by scanning an NFC tag embedded in the product’s packaging with their NFC smartphone... More
Greece reports on uptake of digital ID cards and driving licences
More than 710,000 Greek citizens have used the Greek government’s Gov.gr Wallet app to create and store a digital version of their national identity card on their smartphone and more than 563,000 have used it to generate a digital version of their driving licence since the service went live last month... More
America First Credit Union lets customers authenticate banking transactions with digital driving licence
Customers of America First Credit Union (AFCU) in the US states of Utah and Arizona can now use either state’s mobile driving licence (mDL) to securely verify their identity when accessing their financial information and conducting banking transactions at any of the credit union’s 121 branch locations... More
Greece rolls out digital ID cards and driving licences
Greek citizens can now create, store and present digital versions of their national identity card and driving licence using a digital identity wallet on their smartphone... More
United Nations pilots contactless grain dispensers in India
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is piloting a new kind of automated, contactless store that uses biometric authentication to let those entitled to subsidised commodities such as rice, wheat and grains receive their allocation without needing to visit a traditional retail outlet... More
UK cinemas roll out support for contactless IDs
UK cinema-goers who need to verify their age in order to purchase tickets for age-restricted films can now do so using a digital ID card stored on their Android or iOS smartphone that can be authenticated using a QR code... More