Top Stories

Czech Banks See Growing Use of NFC Wallets Though Contactless Cards Still Dominant
Brussels Transit Operator Sees Need for Global Interoperability of Fare Payments; Compares Benefits to Mobile Roaming
Oyster Card Here to Stay Despite Strong Growth of Contactless Fare Payments in London
In-Depth: Tokenization Figures Demonstrate Majority of Mobile Payments Conducted Online
More Top Stories
Czech Banks See Growing Use of NFC Wallets Though Contactless Cards Still Dominant
Published: Feb 17 2020
NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight –  Banks in the Czech Republic say they are seeing significant and growing use of NFC-enabled smartphones and wearables, although the large majority of consumers continue to tap their contactless cards, not NFC devices, for in-store payments.
Brussels Transit Operator Sees Need for Global Interoperability of Fare Payments; Compares Benefits to Mobile Roaming
Published: Feb 16 2020
NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – The head of information systems for a major European transit operator says he believes public transit agencies should support interoperable fare payments globally, like mobile network operators offer roaming when their customers travel abroad.
Oyster Card Here to Stay Despite Strong Growth of Contactless Fare Payments in London
Published: Feb 11 2020
NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – As more and more transit authorities globally seek to emulate Transport for London’s success in gaining widespread adoption for contactless open-loop fare payments, they should take note that London’s closed-loop Oyster card remains popular, even among visitors to the city.
In-Depth: Tokenization Figures Demonstrate Majority of Mobile Payments Conducted Online
Published: Feb 4 2020
NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight –  Recent research and forecasts have confirmed what industry observers already knew: Despite concerted efforts by the Pays wallets to gain widespread use of mobile payments in the U.S. at the physical point of sale, the large majority of mobile payments are conducted online, not by tapping NFC phones or wearables in stores.

NFC Confidential

Apple Joins Conference Circuit and Hype Happens; And is Apple Pay Cash a Threat to Banks?

Published: Oct 26 2017

NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight –LAS VEGAS: Perhaps to both preserve its mystique and avoid leaks, Apple has scrupulously avoided speaking or exhibiting at trade shows and conferences over the years.

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Features

Analysis: Apple Chips Away at Fortress Europe with Another Major Bank Planning to Join Apple Pay

Published: Apr 24 2019
By: 
Dan Balaban

NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – With Switzerland’s No. 2 bank, Credit Suisse, expected to participate in Apple Pay, the U.S.-based tech giant continues to chip away at resistance among major European banks to joining its digital payments service.

Read more »
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U.S. Football Sees NFC-Enabled E-Tickets as way to Cut Fraud, Market to Fans

Published: Aug 15 2018
By: 
K.N. Smith

NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – With the National Football League kicking off its season in a few weeks in the U.S., fans will be using NFC, QR codes and perhaps ultrasonic signals on their mobile devices, in addition to tapping contactless-enabled paper tickets, to attend football games and other events at all 31 NFL stadiums.

Read more »
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In-Depth: As U.S. Lags in Contactless Payments, are Issuers Ready to Roll Out Dual-Interface EMV Cards?

Published: Jul 30 2018
By: 
K.N. Smith

NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – Most issuers in the U.S. have so far held back from rolling out contactless or dual-interface cards, but merchant acceptance has been quietly building over the past few years, despite some large U.S. retailers balking at accepting contactless cards and NFC-enabled devices.

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In-Depth: Can Contactless Cards Succeed in U.S. Where NFC Mobile Wallets Have Failed?

Published: Jun 19 2018
By: 
K.N. Smith

NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – Payments industry backers suggest that U.S. banks could have an incentive to begin contactless rollouts soon, but in the absence of deadlines from the major payments networks, which are rapidly approaching in other markets, there's no guarantee of rollouts in the U.S. on the horizon.

Read more »
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How Mobile Wallets, Payments Wearables, Tokenization Fared the Past Year, and Where They Stand Now

Published: Jan 11 2018
By: 
Dan Balaban

NFC TIMES Exclusive – As the digital payments ecosystem moves into 2018, it is dealing with many of the same unfulfilled promises, works in progress and unfinished business as in 2017.

Read more »
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U.S. Merchant Apps Square Off Against NFC ‘Pays’ Wallets: The Retailer Perspective

Published: Jan 2 2018
By: 
K.N. Smith

NFC TIMES Exclusive – As more U.S. merchants launch their own payments apps, some seem positioned to offer serious competition to Apple Pay and the other NFC “Pays” wallets.

Read more »
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Backers Look to Range of Devices for Contextual Commerce, Though Fragmentation Will Pose Challenges

Published: Dec 1 2017
By: 
K.N. Smith

NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – Promoters of contextual commerce are looking to a range of connected devices, including smart appliances and such home hubs as Alexa–along with a host of mobile devices–to enable consumers to pay in almost every context. But many challenges remain for what could become a “very disjointed” array of payment options, experts say.

Read more »
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Feature: How Do Mobile Payments Fit into an Omnichannel World?

Published: Nov 10 2017
By: 
K.N. Smith

NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – As retailers and payments services providers increasingly try to connect and track consumer transactions across online and in-store channels, mobile payments must function as part of an omnichannel payments ecosystem, say industry observers.

Read more »
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IoT Payments Backers Say Devices Will Range from the Familiar to the Far-Fetched

Published: Nov 1 2017
By: 
K.N. Smith

NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – With the buzz around the Internet of Things growing ever stronger, the payments ecosystem is determined not to be left out.

Read more »
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Sound-Based Payments Target Developing Economies but Face Long Road to Consumer Take-Up

Published: Oct 9 2017
By: 
K.N. Smith

NFC TIMES Exclusive – With two sound-based payments launches in India in September, the technology has drawn some interest, but although several banks in emerging countries have signed on with sound-based payments platforms, consumer take-up remains unclear, and it’s likely that the road to adoption will be at least as slow as that faced by NFC payments in developed markets.

Read more »
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Headline News

Visa and Mastercard Forecast More Growth in Contactless in U.S., Spurred in Part by New York Fare Payments Service

Published: Jan 31 2020

NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight - The heads of the two largest payments networks in the U.S., Visa and Mastercard, predict strong growth for contactless payments in the U.S., with Mastercard CEO Ajay Banga noting that 70% of U.S. Mastercard-branded cards in the U.S. are coming up for reissue over the next 12 to 14 months, and most of these cards will be issued with a contactless interface. A large number of Visa-branded cards will be reissued with a contactless interface during that period, as well.

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Transport Officials in Sydney See Growing Demand for Contactless Fare Payments but Have No Plans to Retire Closed-Loop Opal

Published: Jan 24 2020

NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – Transport officials in Australia have released figures on use of contactless payments in Sydney and New South Wales, showing that customers tap their contactless credit and debit cards and NFC devices for an average of 1.5 million transactions per week, accounting for a relatively small but respectable number of transactions.

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Insight: Moovit and Cubic Betting that MaaS Can Help U.S. Transit Agencies Regain Lost Ridership

Published: Jan 17 2020
Jan 24 2020

NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – With public transit ridership decreasing in most large U.S. cities over the past five years, transit authorities are more open to becoming part of Mobility-as-a-Service platforms, which could potentially increase ridership for their rail and bus networks while offering customers options for the first and last mile. 

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Philadelphia Transit Authority Confirms Plans for Launch of Open-Loop Payments after Delays

Published: Jan 15 2020

NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, or SEPTA, in Philadelphia plans to introduce open-loop payments of fares, with a pilot scheduled for around June, a spokesman confirmed to NFC Times. It makes SEPTA part of a small but growing number of U.S. transit agencies that are accepting payments of fares from contactless bank cards and NFC wallets or are planning to do so.

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Contactless Payments of Fares Gets Slow Start in Miami, According to Figures

Published: Jan 9 2020

NFC TIMES Exclusive – Take-up of open-loop contactless payment of fares in Miami-Dade County, Fla., has been slow so far, more than four months after transit

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Mobility as a Service Continues to Get Rolling with Uber Expanding Service to Second U.S. City

Published: Jan 8 2020

NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – Mobility as a service is expected to reshape the traditional transport industry, and while it is just getting rolling, the pace is starting to pick up. The latest bit of momentum came this week when global ride-hailing service Uber announced it will enable mass transit riders to buy and redeem tickets from its app in a second U.S. city, Las Vegas.

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Contactless EMV Card Rollout in U.S. to Pick Up Speed in 2020, but Shape of Adoption Remains Unclear

Published: Dec 31 2019

NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – With contactless EMV cards expected to have a significant footprint in the U.S. in 2020, the debate continues over whether the rollout will promote or harm take-up of NFC mobile payments and whether contactless open-loop transit payments will make a real impact on use of contactless at the retail point of sale.

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More Open-Loop Transit Payments Services to Launch in Taiwan

Published: Dec 19 2019
Dec 24 2019

NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – Taiwan’s airport train service will begin accepting Visa- and Mastercard-branded credit cards starting next month, making it the second mass-transit service on the island nation to support open-loop payments for fares.

Read more »

In-Depth: China Moving Forward On Face Payments of Transit Fares, Despite Some Hesitation by Users of Technology

Published: Dec 10 2019

NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight –  More and more Chinese cities are trialing use of facial recognition technology for transit ticketing, a development that could enable users to avoid either cards or smartphones to pay fares on subways and other modes of transit.

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Apple Launches Express Transit in London; Mobility Service also Adds NFC Payments Feature in Apple Wallet

Published: Dec 2 2019

NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – Apple has expanded its Express Transit service to another major market, enabling Apple Pay users to pay for fares on Transport for London-run trains and buses without first authenticating themselves on the NFC devices.

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Analysis: Outlook Remains Dim for Bank Mobile Wallets as Another Major Bank Plans to Shut Down its Wallet App

Published: Nov 26 2019

NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – Major Dutch bank ABN Amro will discontinue its NFC-enabled mobile wallet in January, a little more than three years after launching the app in late 2016, with the bank acknowledging that few customers use the service.

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Use of Contactless EMV to Pay Transit Fares Accelerating, According to Two Agencies That Launched Service This Year

Published: Nov 22 2019

NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – Two transit agencies, one large and one small, that began accepting contactless bank cards and NFC wallets to pay fares in recent months are reporting that use of the new payments services is accelerating among their customers.

Read more »
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Home

Worldwide Project Database

New Zealand

New Zealand: New Zealand JV Launches SIM-Based Wallet After Delay,...
The Semble joint venture, formerly known as TSM NZ, is made up of the countr
New Zealand: Second Major Banks Announces Plans to Launch Mobile...
ANZ plans to add HCE-based wallet and payments to its goMoney mobile-banking
New Zealand: Westpac Launches HCE Trial, Plans Commercial Launch in...
The 40-person trial among staffers and some customers puts a MasterCar

Netherlands

Netherlands: Rabobank First Dutch Bank to Launch NFC Commercially;...
Rabobank is putting its debit application on embedded chips in two older Samsung NFC devices, shunni

Hungary

Hungary: Magyar Telekom Launches Commercial NFC Service
The launch is the first commercial NFC service i

U.S.

U.S.: With Apple Pay Launch Imminent–a Rundown of Key Participants and...
Apple is launching its mobile-payments platform, Apple Pay, Oct.

Taiwan

Taiwan: Chunghwa Telecom First to Market with NFC Launch, but...
Chunghwa Telecom’s NFC-enabled Easy Hami Wallet enables users to tap to pay with MasterCard PayPass credit cards issued by four of the...

Spain

UPDATE: Spain: Bankinter Launches HCE Service, Predicts 30,000 Users in...
Mid-tier Spanish bank Bankinter finally launched its cloud-based payments using its own host-card emulation-based system, which it...

Switzerland

UPDATED: Switzerland: Shared NFC Wallet to be Deployed by Three Telcos...
Switzerland’s other two major telcos, Orange and Sunrise, are expected to launch the

Germany

Germany: No. 3 Telco Launches Wallet and Payments Application,...
Germany’s No.
More recent updates...

Features Section

Analysis: Apple Chips Away at Fortress Europe with Another Major Bank Planning to Join Apple Pay

Published: Apr 24 2019
By: 
Dan Balaban

NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – With Switzerland’s No. 2 bank, Credit Suisse, expected to participate in Apple Pay, the U.S.-based tech giant continues to chip away at resistance among major European banks to joining its digital payments service.

Read more »
TAGS:

U.S. Football Sees NFC-Enabled E-Tickets as way to Cut Fraud, Market to Fans

Published: Aug 15 2018
By: 
K.N. Smith

NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – With the National Football League kicking off its season in a few weeks in the U.S., fans will be using NFC, QR codes and perhaps ultrasonic signals on their mobile devices, in addition to tapping contactless-enabled paper tickets, to attend football games and other events at all 31 NFL stadiums.

Read more »
TAGS:

In-Depth: As U.S. Lags in Contactless Payments, are Issuers Ready to Roll Out Dual-Interface EMV Cards?

Published: Jul 30 2018
By: 
K.N. Smith

NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – Most issuers in the U.S. have so far held back from rolling out contactless or dual-interface cards, but merchant acceptance has been quietly building over the past few years, despite some large U.S. retailers balking at accepting contactless cards and NFC-enabled devices.

Read more »
TAGS:

In-Depth: Can Contactless Cards Succeed in U.S. Where NFC Mobile Wallets Have Failed?

Published: Jun 19 2018
By: 
K.N. Smith

NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – Payments industry backers suggest that U.S. banks could have an incentive to begin contactless rollouts soon, but in the absence of deadlines from the major payments networks, which are rapidly approaching in other markets, there's no guarantee of rollouts in the U.S. on the horizon.

Read more »
TAGS:

How Mobile Wallets, Payments Wearables, Tokenization Fared the Past Year, and Where They Stand Now

Published: Jan 11 2018
By: 
Dan Balaban

NFC TIMES Exclusive – As the digital payments ecosystem moves into 2018, it is dealing with many of the same unfulfilled promises, works in progress and unfinished business as in 2017.

Read more »
TAGS:

U.S. Merchant Apps Square Off Against NFC ‘Pays’ Wallets: The Retailer Perspective

Published: Jan 2 2018
By: 
K.N. Smith

NFC TIMES Exclusive – As more U.S. merchants launch their own payments apps, some seem positioned to offer serious competition to Apple Pay and the other NFC “Pays” wallets.

Read more »
TAGS:

Backers Look to Range of Devices for Contextual Commerce, Though Fragmentation Will Pose Challenges

Published: Dec 1 2017
By: 
K.N. Smith

NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – Promoters of contextual commerce are looking to a range of connected devices, including smart appliances and such home hubs as Alexa–along with a host of mobile devices–to enable consumers to pay in almost every context. But many challenges remain for what could become a “very disjointed” array of payment options, experts say.

Read more »
TAGS:

Feature: How Do Mobile Payments Fit into an Omnichannel World?

Published: Nov 10 2017
By: 
K.N. Smith

NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – As retailers and payments services providers increasingly try to connect and track consumer transactions across online and in-store channels, mobile payments must function as part of an omnichannel payments ecosystem, say industry observers.

Read more »
TAGS:

IoT Payments Backers Say Devices Will Range from the Familiar to the Far-Fetched

Published: Nov 1 2017
By: 
K.N. Smith

NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – With the buzz around the Internet of Things growing ever stronger, the payments ecosystem is determined not to be left out.

Read more »
TAGS:

Sound-Based Payments Target Developing Economies but Face Long Road to Consumer Take-Up

Published: Oct 9 2017
By: 
K.N. Smith

NFC TIMES Exclusive – With two sound-based payments launches in India in September, the technology has drawn some interest, but although several banks in emerging countries have signed on with sound-based payments platforms, consumer take-up remains unclear, and it’s likely that the road to adoption will be at least as slow as that faced by NFC payments in developed markets.

Read more »
TAGS:
More features...