From September 2015 the UK spending limit on contactless cards will increase from £20 to £30 per transaction. When the technology was first introduced the spending limit was £10, which increased to £20 following fast take-up of the payment method. The increase to £30 follows a serge in the use of contactless payments in the…
According to an article by the Rwandan news agency The New Times, Rwandans have been advised to use less cash in their daily transactions to help minimise banknote wear and tear. John Rwangombwa, Governor of the National Bank of Rwanda, is promoting the use of cashless payment methods, such as electronic cards, and mobile phone…
A major national campaign is being launched by Ireland’s Central Bank to persuade both businesses and the public to use online transactions instead of using cash and cheques. Ireland is the second biggest user of cheques in Europe, and also uses cash much more frequently than its neighbouring European countries. “The value of withdrawals from…
The People’s Bank of China has announced a 318% increase in mobile payment values in 2013 compared to 2012. It advised that 16.74bn mobile transactions with a value of 9.64tn Yuan (US$ 1.66tn) were processed during the period. Online payments made via computers grew by 28.9% year on year, totalling 1,061tn Yuan in 2013. Phone…
According to a report by Giesecke & Devrient, the use of pre-paid payment cards is quickly increasing in India. There are around 17 million pre-paid payment cards currently in use, compared to 316 million credit and debit cards, but the gap is steadily decreasing. There are many people in India who do not have an…
Transport for London (TFL) has announced that London buses will no longer accept cash payments from this summer, though the exact date is yet to be confirmed. Contactless payments using cards were first introduced in December 2012 and since its introduction there has been a steady increase in the number of contactless payment transactions. Currently,…
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…
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…
A US patent application has been filed by JPMorgan Chase for an online payment system, resembling the Bitcoin virtual currency. The application says that its new payment system will compete with credit and debit cards for online transactions, creating “virtual cash” that will sit in an online wallet. Similarly to Bitcoin’s “blockchain” technology, each transaction…
On the 10th December Fortumo, a mobile payments provider, launched mobile operator billing in Indonesia. Founded in 2007, Fortumo is “the most developer-friendly mobile payments provider”, enabling developers to earn money from users who purchase their apps and games which are charged to the users’ mobile phone bill. Indonesia is the fourth largest country by…