NFC TimesThe premier source for news, analysis and commentary on
Near Field Communication and all contactless technology

NFC Times Exclusive Insight – Apple has continued to expand its NFC payments service, today launching Apple Pay in Spain, with participation from one of the country’s biggest banks, Banco Santander, and two payments networks, Mastercard and American Express.

UPDATED: NFC Times Exclusive Insight – Following the launch of Samsung Pay in South Korea, the U.S., and China, Samsung’s launches of its mobile payments service in two new markets, Spain and Australia, both contactless and EMV payments hot spots, will not support the device maker's proprietary Magnetic Secure Transmission technology, which is designed to make nearly all mag-stripe POS terminals potential acceptance points, NFC Times has learned. But in Singapore, Samsung Pay is expected to support MST technology.

NFC Times Exclusive Insight – CaixaBank is the first in Europe to announce it has signed up to participate in Samsung Pay, leading an expansion of the mobile payments service to Spain.

Spanish bank Bankinter has launched its long-anticipated mobile-payments service based on host-card emulation, after being one of the first banks to propose an HCE-enabled service.

Large Spanish department store chain El Corte Inglés has deployed 5,200 contactless terminals in its stores, the company announced on Tuesday, adding more momentum to one of Europe’s top contactless markets.

Large Spanish retail bank CaxiaBank has announced plans to launch NFC payments with the country’s three largest mobile operators, in what the bank bills as a first of its kind NFC project for Europe.

More than 100 users in a 10-month trial of NFC transit ticketing in Málaga, Spain, tapped for a total of 7,500 rides and got information from smart posters at bus stops more than 3,000 times, France Telecom-Orange has announced.

Spain’s CaixaBank, mobile operator Telefónica and Visa Europe, along with technology vendor Gemalto, plan to demonstrate NFC payment at next week’s big Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

Large Spanish retail bank, La Caixa, plans to begin distributing 200,000 contactless stickers this month, deciding not to wait for NFC commercial launches to start its mobile-payment rollout.

The employee trial is among the first held anywhere offering users the option to download either a Visa or MasterCard contactless credit or debit card onto the same NFC phone.