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International passengers arriving at US airports on American Airlines flights can now verify that they have had a negative Covid-19 test before travelling via a digital health passport on their mobile phone. The VeriFLY app enables passengers to create an account, add a selfie for biometric identity verification and upload documents proving that their pre-flight […]

Mastercard has announced new specifications for contactless payments that will offer quantum-resistant security via “next-generation algorithms and cryptographic key strengths”, enhanced privacy at the checkout and “help ensure any device truly can be a payment device”. “The new Enhanced Contactless (Ecos) specifications are an industry first and will help ensure that as our dynamic digital

PARTNER NEWS: STMicroelectronics has released two new NFC Type 5 tags that combine NFC and RFID technology, Augmented NDEF and anti-tampering to let developers “leverage NFC contactless communication in new and imaginative ways for applications in consumer engagement, brand recognition, supply-chain management and access control”. “The ISO/IEC 15693-compliant NFC Type-5 tags respond both to smartphones

BNP Paribas Visa Premier card customers will soon have the option of upgrading to a biometric payment card for an additional fee of €24 (US$29) a year, the French bank has revealed. The biometric card is equipped with a sensor that enables users to authenticate payments of any amount with their fingerprint rather than a

The Bank of International Settlements (BIS) is to develop a proof of concept platform to explore the use of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) for cross-border payments and has identified CBDCs as one of six “thematic priorities” for the year. The platform will use “multiple wholesale CBDCs to explore the feasibility of faster and cheaper

NFCW EXPO: Fidesmo, a contactless platform provider that makes it possible for issuers to connect payment, transit ticketing and access control cards to a wide range of both passive and active devices, has opened a booth in the NFCW Expo. Fidesmo works with issuing partners and wearable manufacturers across the Nordic region and beyond, including

Employees travelling on Seoul Metro’s Ui-Sinseol light rapid transit line in South Korea are testing a face recognition payment system that enables passengers to pay their fares without needing to tap a smartphone or card or remove their face mask. The payment system has been introduced at access gates on 13 stations along the line

The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) is to follow its pilots of NFC-based contactless digital currency payments with the distribution of a further 20m digital yuan (US$3.1m) in a third ‘red envelope’ lottery to be held in the city of Shenzhen. Recipients will be able to spend their central bank digital currency (CBDC) across more

The total value of digital wallet transactions globally will reach more than US$10tn in 2025, according to Juniper Research, “with over 34% of mobile handsets set to use contactless payments in 2025, up from 11% in 2020.” Contactless and ecommerce payments will account for 50% of the total digital wallet spend in 2025, up from

Nine in ten card payments made in UK stores during 2020 (88.6%) were contactless and the average contactless user made 141 transactions worth a total of £1,640 (US$2,241) over the course of the year, according to Barclaycard. The average spend per contactless transaction in 2020 was £12.38 (US$16.92), a rise of £2.78 (US$3.80) on the