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Bank of England allows filming of £1m and £100m notes

Banknotes, NewsBy SMI 30/01/2014

For the first time, the Bank of England has allowed the £1 million and £100 million banknotes to be filmed. The United Kingdom’s Channel 4 news program filmed the banknotes during a news article regarding Scottish Independence. The banknotes are a “physical manifestation of the relationship between the Bank of England and the Scottish banking…

Contactless payments for Europe’s largest store

Cashless Payments, NewsBy SMI 29/01/2014

El Corte Inglés, the Spanish department store, has installed thousands of contactless payment terminals for customers to make contactless card or mobile phone payments. With 5,200 of its terminals already replaced with the new Visa payment machines, the group predict that 60% of its terminals will have the new technology by the end of 2014.…

Commonwealth Bank releases contactless iPhone payment stickers

Cashless Payments, News, TechnologyBy SMI 21/01/2014

Australia’s Commonwealth Bank has made mobile payment technology available to its customers through the release of the new CommBank app and CommBank PayTag NFC sticker for iPhone. This follows the launch of the new CommBank apps and stickers for Android and Windows 8 platforms which were released in December. The technology is also in-built in…

MintChip Digital Payment Demo

Cashless Payments, News, TechnologyBy SMI 21/01/2014

The Royal Canadian Mint’s digital payment technology MintChip™ was demonstrated last week during the 2014 National Retail Federation’s Annual Convention and EXPO. Though MintChip™ is still in its research and development phase, Ingenico, a leading provider of payment solutions based in Paris, introduced the first proof-of-concept of the MintChip™ payment technology on a POS retail…

Apple Patents Mobile Payments System

Cashless Payments, News, TechnologyBy SMI 20/01/2014

Apple has filed for a new patent regarding mobile payments. The patent suggests that Apple is moving towards the release of a new smartphone device capable of mobile payments, possibly within the iPhone6. It concerns a Secure Element (SE) within a mobile phone in which to store cardholder information, near-field-communication (NFC – which was omitted…

Deadline looms for old UK £50

Banknotes, NewsBy SMI 17/01/2014

The use of the old £50 banknote design featuring Sir John Houblon is due is to stop from 1st May 2014. The Bank of England has been withdrawing the banknote from circulation since its replacement was launched in November 2011. Those wishing to use their old banknotes can do so until 30 April, after which…

O2 Wallet to Close

Cashless Payments, NewsBy SMI 17/01/2014

O2 Wallet is due to close on 31 March 2014. The digital wallet app, first launched in April 2012, allows users to make and receive payments using just a phone number regardless of their mobile network or bank provider. It works similarly to a pre-paid card, whereby users top up their O2 Wallet balance with…

Increase in Euro Counterfeit Banknotes

Banknotes, NewsBy SMI 15/01/2014

The European Central Bank (ECB) issued a press release this week confirming the total number of counterfeit euro banknotes which were withdrawn from circulation. During the second half of 2013 the total number of banknotes withdrawn saw an increase of 11.4% compared to the volume removed during the first half of 2013. Though this number…

New Europa €10 banknote announced

Banknotes, NewsBy SMI 13/01/2014

The European Central Bank (ECB) has today issued a press release announcing the new €10 banknote. The new banknote, part of the recently released Europa series, will begin to circulate on the 23rd September 2014, allowing retailers and other cash handlers time to prepare for its release into circulation. The new banknote design will gradually…

Japan Cash Demand Increases

Banknotes, Currency, NewsBy SMI 09/01/2014

It is known by many that Japan is a country which is very technically advanced. Cashless payments are commonly used in daily transactions and it would appear that Japan could be the ideal “Cashless Society”. Except it’s not. Total currency in circulation at the end of 2013 rose to Y90 trillion (US$860 billion) in Japan,…