Contactless payments

Top executives from banks, card brands, credit unions, fintechs and more weighed in on the major issues and innovations for the payments industry.

When it comes to naming the U.K.’s biggest cashless hubs, Bristol may not immediately spring to mind — but the city has topped Manchester, Birmingham and even London to lead the way as the country’s contactless capital.

Large U.S. financial institutions converting their credit and debit portfolios to contactless technology this summer are betting that transit agencies like New York shifting to open-loop NFC will help drive mass adoption.

New Yorkers won’t have to worry much longer about perfecting their subway swipe.

The trend is moving far beyond the car, train, bus and car-sharing app. Transportation in 2019 has become a full portal to financial services—and a way to centralize urban movement at the same time.

Google has made significant headway against merchant reluctance and branding confusion on its path to offer mobile payments. But an influx of contactless cards in the U.S. threatens another setback to mobile wallet adoption.

While the payment volume from smart wearable devices may not have achieved the initial euphoric predictions, things are about to change for the better as several market dynamics have shifted.

The U.S. is already very late to the party when it comes to contactless payments. But even so, there are signs that many merchants still aren't prepared for an influx of contactless cards.

Mastercard and MercadoPago, the payments arm of Latin American e-marketplace MercadoLibre, see opportunities for contactless prepaid cards among unbanked consumers even though local issuers have been slow to adopt the format.

Contactless transit fare systems are drawing lots of investment despite several false starts in the U.S. But new numbers out of London show there are clear and multiple benefits if the infrastructure can catch up.

Wells Fargo & Co. has committed to converting all of its payment cards to contactless technology, beginning with credit cards and adding contactless debit cards this summer.

The EMVCo standards organization has accredited FIME's transaction security testing labs for the upgraded EMV contactless interface software.

Mobile technology provider Mahindra Comviva developed a software integration for issuing banks and third-party digital wallet providers to add contactless payment capabilities to their mobile products in India.

The U.K. government is consulting with train operators on smart pay-as-you-go ticketing. The goal is to enable consumers to travel across the U.K.’s entire railway network by tapping in and out with contactless cards or smartphones instead of paper tickets.

Pentagon Federal Credit Union, JPMorgan Chase, Capital One, Citigroup and a handful of others have pumped more than 100 million contactless credit and debit cards altogether into the U.S. market recently, but it’s a drop in the bucket in the world’s largest card market.

JPMorgan Chase, Capital One, Citigroup, Pentagon Federal Credit Union and a handful of others have pumped more than 100 million contactless credit and debit cards altogether into the U.S. market recently, but it’s a drop in the bucket in the world’s largest card market.

Game day is a big day not just for athletes — anyone who sells pizza, chicken wings and beer will also win big if they have the capacity to handle all of the orders that come in. Many are turning to mobile and online technology to increase sales and remove friction from the payment process.

The U.S. has long lagged in contactless payment adoption — despite aggressive efforts to bring the technology to market years ago — but there’s finally signs of a turnaround as more consumers and merchants get on board.

Instead of investing in contactless cards, financial institutions should focus on moving their offerings to mobile — into apps that can do more than money management, argues Mehmet Sezgin, CEO and founder of myGini.

Mobeewave, a provider of in-person contactless payment acceptance software, is getting an investment from Samsung Venture Investment Corporation that pushes a recent Series B funding round led by NewAlpha, Mastercard and Forestay Capital to nearly $20 million.