The Payment & Clearing Association of China (PCAC) has published a set of guidelines that regulate how payments providers making use of face recognition to process payments at the point of sale (POS) should manage the protection of consumer data. The guidelines “cover user consent and the collection, storage and use of facial data,” Regulation

Consumers purchasing premium Sicilian blood oranges will be able to track the provenance of the product using a new system that combines NFC tags and sensors placed on each box of oranges with a blockchain-based tracking system. The stickers placed on each box provide information on “the product’s origins and characteristics, facilitates customs procedures and

Card issuers in India are to be required to ship all new cards to customers with contactless functionality switched off by default — and also provide cardholders with a range of easy ways to toggle their card’s contactless support on or off. The new requirement will come into effect from 16 March 2020 and also

“Huawei has launched its mobile wallet service Huawei Pay in Pakistan in cooperation with UnionPay International and National Bank of Pakistan, making it the fourth market where Huawei Pay has been made available, following China, Russia and Hong Kong.” Read the rest of Huawei Pay expands to Pakistan at NFCW.

The number of consumers using open banking has doubled in the past six months to more than one million, the UK’s Open Banking Implementation Entity (OBIE) reports, and there are now a total of 204 regulated service providers — up from 100 at the end of 2018. The one million open banking users now generate

US P2P payments app Venmo is adding support for a suite of custom-designed animated emojis that can be used “when paying, splitting and sharing payments” and include branded options from both Subway and Ikea. “More than 90% of Venmo transactions contain emojis today, and now there will be new and evolving content from which to

The Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan, the European Central Bank, the Sveriges Riksbank and the Swiss National Bank, together with the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), are to work together “to assess potential cases for central bank digital currencies”. The banks have formed the new group “to share experience

Russia’s Sberbank is launching an app for its Spasibo loyalty programme that will make it possible for customers to transfer their loyalty points to a friend or family member, either as a small gift or so they can “save up Spasibo points for a large purchase together”. “The feature will be available via a completely

Customers of India’s Icici Bank can now make a cash withdrawal at any of the bank’s 15,000 ATMs, using just their mobile phone. To use the new Cardless Cash Withdrawal service, customers log in to the bank’s iMobile banking app, select ‘Cash Withdrawal at Icici Bank ATM’ from the services menu and enter the account