The Bank of China is conducting a pilot in the city of Shenzhen of a new service that makes it possible for merchants to accept contactless digital currency payments on standard NFC mobile phones. Taxi drivers taking part in the SoftPOS pilot use the bank’s e-yuan central bank digital currency (CBDC) app to enter the amount of a fare, Yicai Global reports. Passengers can then tap a contactless card, known as an e-yuan hardware wallet, to the driver’s NFC phone to make payment, with no POS terminal or additional hardware required. “Testing of the two-step contactless payment solution on Bank o ..read more

Global POS terminal transaction values will total US$17 trillion this year and grow by 25% to $21.1tn a year by 2028, Juniper Research has forecast. “This growth comes despite the recent POS outages in some retail store chains across the globe; forcing a number of temporary store closures,” the analysts say. “Significant financial and security risks were exposed during these faults; continuing the demand for smart POS terminals to replace outdated legacy systems.” Many retailers are insufficiently prepared to address issues with their legacy POS systems, such as terminal outages in physical r ..read more

PARTNER NEWS: STMicroelectronics has introduced a new NFC tag chip that uses state-of-the-art blockchain-compatible elliptic curve cryptography to strengthen the level of security available to brands looking to use NFC to protect their products. “Combining both on-chip and off-chip digital signature mechanisms, the new ST25TA-E NFC tag comprehensively protects against counterfeit and gray market activities and enhances opportunities for consumer engagement,” ST says. “The ST25TA-E meets the high standards expected by luxury brands in particular and is ideal for protecting high-value products ..read more

More than 80% of the respondents to a survey conducted by ABI Research on behalf of the NFC Forum said they have used a smartphone or smartwatch to make a contactless payment. Of those that have made a mobile contactless payment, more than half say they would prefer to use their smartphone or smartwatch to make a payment rather than their card — and 95% say they have left their physical wallet or purse at home on at least one occasion, choosing instead to rely solely on mobile payments. 53% said they now leave their physical wallet or purse at home multiple times each week. “Additionally, whe ..read more

After fifteen years of reporting week in, week out on the latest NFC and contactless news, the NFCW team was forced to take a health break in January — but we’re now back with renewed vigor and new plans to dig deep into the latest trends and technologies. “Twenty years after Nokia, Sony and Philips came together to start an industry association with a mission to create a global contactless communications standard, NFC is now — at last — ready to truly take off,” says Sarah Clark, editor of NFCW. “New standards and new initiatives by government regulators mean that, at last, the true potentia ..read more

Event ticketing platform Eventbrite is taking the first steps towards allowing organisers to accept contactless payments at the door on standard NFC devices via the company’s Organizer app, “letting attendees breeze through ticket and event purchases with a simple tap on their phone.” The company’s Tap to Pay feature will eventually be offered to all Eventbrite users at no cost and “allows event organizers to effortlessly accept cashless payments, both at the door and beyond, without any additional costs.” Tap to Pay accepts payments via Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover cards ..read more

BIOMETRIC PAYMENT CARDS: “Neither market adoption nor the [expected] pace of commercial launches has materialized”, says Zwipe Biometric card pioneer Zwipe is shifting its focus from payments to instead target the access control market after seeing disappointing market adoption of biometric payment cards.  “As a result of the change in strategic focus, the company has initiated a restructuring process that is expected to reduce operational costs, particularly related to Zwipe Pay,” says the company. Zwipe has historically focused primarily on the development and application of its biometr ..read more

INCENTED PROPOSAL: Apple says it is ready to open up NFC host card emulation in the European Union INCENTED PROPOSAL: Apple says it is ready to open up NFC host card emulation in the European Union INCENTED PROPOSAL: Apple says it is ready to open up NFC host card emulation in the European Union Apple has proposed to settle the European Commission’s Case AT.40452 – Mobile Payments by providing a new set of APIs that approved developers will be able to use to provide a host card emulation-based alternative to Apple Pay — free of charge. Anyone objecting to the proposals has until 18 February ..read more

Google Pay is to take India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) real-time payments system to other countries after signing a deal with the service’s manager, National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). NPCI is the umbrella organization for operating retail payments and settlement systems in India. The agreement with Google Pay India has three aims, say the partners: To enable Indians to make transactions abroad using UPI when they travel internationally. To assist in establishing UPI-like digital payment systems in other countries, providing a model for seamless financial transactions. To ..read more

DOWNLOAD: The digital product passport ebook is available on the NFC Forum’s website The NFC Forum has produced a 22-page ebook on the role NFC can play in digital product passports (DPPs). The digital product passport initiative is “expected to be the future information system of the circular economy, enabling data sharing around re-using, remanufacturing and recycling materials,” says the Forum. “Using NFC for DPP is optimising a component already in billions of devices, which is key to achieving sustainability.”  NFC: Shaping the Future of the Digital Product Passport is a free downloa ..read more