What's New in Payments

Eight in ten US debit card issuers to offer contactless cards next year

Debit payments continue to grow and go digital — Pulse — “The percentage of debit card issuers that say they are interested in offering contactless cards nearly doubled year over year, with 70% planning to issue contactless cards by the end of 2020. Another 10% already issue some contactless debit cards. Only 20% of respondents say they have no plans to offer contactless cards.”


What's New in Payments

NAB lets merchants accept Visa contactless payments on standard Android smartphones

Your smartphone will soon double as an Eftpos terminal as Quest partners with NAB and Visa — Quest — “Quest Payment Systems (Quest), in conjunction with NAB and Visa, has launched a trial which allows merchants to accept card payments using their Android smartphone. Customers simply tap the merchant’s phone with a contactless card or mobile wallet. No additional payment terminal hardware or dongle is required, allowing small businesses to start accepting payments quickly using their existing mobile device.”


What's New in Payments

Apple Pay doubles transaction volumes in twelve months

Apple financial results — Q3 2019 — Apple — “Apple Pay is now completing nearly 1bn transactions per month, more than twice the volume of a year ago… Based on June quarter performance, Apple Pay is now adding more new users than PayPal and monthly transaction volume is growing 4x as fast… We plan to begin the rollout of Apple Card in August.”


Transit Ticketing Today

Sydney extends Opal transit card benefits to contactless and mobile payments users

Savings for commuters using contactless payments — Commonwealth Bank of Australia — “Commuters using contactless payments will now also receive Opal travel benefits, including: Daily, weekly and Sunday travel caps in line with Opal caps; Weekly travel reward (half price after eight trips); The Opal transfer discount; Off-peak pricing for train travel… The trial is also extending to the Sydney bus network in a staged roll-out over the coming months.”


What's New in Payments

One in ten Londoners ready to ‘consider microchipping themselves’ to speed up contactless payments

Would you microchip yourself to speed up paying with contactless? — This is Money — “11% of Londoners surveyed by PaymentSense and YouGov said they’d consider microchipping themselves to make it quicker for them to make contactless payments… A quarter say they’d be happy to use a fingerprint scanner to verify payments. 16% would be in favour of using a retinal scanner to do so.”


What's New in Payments

Co-op extends mobile self-checkout trial to 30 UK supermarkets

Co-op Group expands till-less payment tech to more stores — Co-op Group — “The retailer is extending its pay-in-aisle technology trial, with time-pressed shoppers able to access the easy to use app on their phones and devices in over 30 Co-op food stores… It enables customers to scan products on their own device as they walk around the store, with the cost of the shop deducted from their Apple or Google Pay account with the touch of a button. Without the need to visit a till.”


What's New in Payments

Google to use 3D face recognition for Pixel 4 payments

(Don’t) hold the phone: new features coming to Pixel 4 — Google — “As you reach for Pixel 4, Soli proactively turns on the face unlock sensors, recognizing that you may want to unlock your phone. If the face unlock sensors and algorithms recognize you, the phone will open as you pick it up, all in one motion. Better yet, face unlock works in almost any orientation — even if you’re holding it upside down — and you can use it for secure payments and app authentication too.”


What's New in Payments

CBA builds location tracking security into mobile banking app

CBA app wants your location, biometrics in name of security — CIO Australia — “If we see a transaction coming out of Hong Kong but we know from a customer’s phone they’re in Melbourne or Sydney: straight away that gives us an opportunity to spot a discrepancy and block it straight away… If we’re not sure we’ll pop into the app with a question in real time and we ask the customer to help us, and they can swipe or click to say yep I’m comfortable with this or no this is something I don’t recognise.”


What's New in Payments

Researchers showcase method for bypassing contactless card limit

Hack breaks your Visa card’s contactless limit for big frauds — Forbes — “To carry out their hack, the researchers used a specialised piece of hardware to intercept and insert messages in the communications between the card and the reader. For instance, they could tell the card that verification — like a PIN — wasn’t needed, even though the requested amount was more than £30. They then told the terminal that verification has already been made by another means.”


Transit Ticketing Today

Israel Railways pilots open loop contactless payments

Israel Railways starts plan to pay for rides using credit cards — The Jerusalem Post — “Israel Railways has launched a two-month contactless payment pilot programme, aiming to soon enable all rail users to ‘tap and go’ with their credit card rather than purchase a ticket or use a preloaded Rav-Kav smartcard… Pilot participants will initially be charged daily based on purchasing full price one-way tickets, although Israel Railways intends to introduce season tickets and discounts for senior citizens, students and other groups in the near future.”



What's New in Payments

Singtel expands mobile wallet alliance to Japan

Singtel’s Via mobile payment alliance debuts in Japan — Singtel — “Singtel’s Via, Asia’s first cross-border mobile payment alliance, has launched in Japan… The alliance which currently counts Singtel’s Dash and AIS Global Pay among its member mobile wallets enables tourists from Singapore and Thailand to shop and dine across Japan using QR code payments in their local currency at competitive exchange rates.


What's New in Payments

Visa sets out payments innovation plans for Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games

Visa sets sights on a ‘Cashless Japan’ with one year to go to the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 — Visa — “At the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, Visa offered a payment-enabled ring to its Team Visa athletes. At the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games, Visa commercially sold wearable products, such as gloves and lapel pins, enabled to make payments over contactless payment readers. For Tokyo 2020, Visa is exploring payment innovations ranging from biometric payment authentication and wearables to new mobile applications which will include digitally-issued cards.”


What's New in Payments

Benelux banks raise €20m to turn Payconiq mobile payments app into European rival to Visa and Mastercard

Mobile payments app Payconiq wants to expand in Europe — Ecommerce News Europe — “Our solution is, unlike the well-known payment methods, not dependent on the credit card companies. I don’t see why we couldn’t become the European alternative to Visa or Mastercard. Technically, we are ahead of them.”


Transit Ticketing Today

Beijing Subway tests face recognition ticketing

Beijing subway experimenting with facial recognition for fare payment — ECNS — “The Beijing subway system is experimenting with facial recognition for passengers to pay their fares, and the technology might be applied to the entire system once the database is accurate enough, according to a report by Beijing Youth Daily… The Beijing subway system is likely to adopt the technology once the database proves to be 100% accurate, the report said.”



What's New in Payments

Samsung Pay reports 80% increase in registered users in Brazil

Samsung Pay celebrates three years in Brazil with great results — Samsung (translation) — “The excellent results of the last 12 months indicate growth of 50% and increase of more than 100% in registered cards. In addition, the monthly number of active users increased by 80% and the number of transactions grew by more than 260% in the same period.”


What's New in Payments

Central bank pilots QR mobile payments in Cambodia

NBC tests new mobile payment app — Khmer Times — “The National Bank of Cambodia yesterday announced that is testing a mobile payment application system known as Bakong… Four financial institutions are so far included — Acleda Bank, Foreign Trade Bank, Wing Specialised Bank and Vattanac Bank… The new system will facilitate money transfers and payments (including across national borders) while enhancing financial inclusion in the country.”


What's New in Payments

NXP secures Mastercard certification for biometric card modules

NXP’s Secure Processing Module — First dual-interface biometric product to receive Mastercard CAST certificate — NXP — PARTNER NEWS — “NXP’s new Secure Processing Module for fingerprint-on-card technology is the first of its kind to receive Mastercard’s prestigious CAST (Compliance Assessment and Security Testing) certificate… Now that we’ve passed Mastercard’s rigorous security review, we can move ahead with our product release, targeted soon.”


NFC World

Researchers to use tiny diamonds to verify authenticity of supply chain components

Dust Identity raises $10m to secure the global supply chain — using diamonds — Fortune — “Its process embeds tiny diamond fragments in a polymer that’s sprayed on a component. As the polymer dries, those diamond fragments are frozen in place, producing a pattern of scattered light that’s irreproducible, because it’s so random and complex — and at least as unique as a fingerprint… Dust Identity claims that, at scale, a single application of its tag can cost as little as one one-thousandth of a cent.”