“Israel’s Bank Leumi announced Thursday that it signed an agreement with Google to roll out Google Pay, the tech giant’s digital payments app for Android users, in Israel. According to the deal, Leumi bank customers will be able to use Google Pay, as well as Leumi’s existing digital wallet, Pepper, to make purchases in stores and online.”

“Curve , the Over-The-Top banking platform that consolidates multiple cards and accounts into one smart card and even smarter app, today brings its customers Apple Pay, which is transforming payments with an easy, secure and private way to pay. With Apple Pay on iPhone, Apple Watch, iPad and Mac, customers can make fast and convenient purchases in stores, in apps and on websites.”

“Westpac, the last of the major Australian banks to hold out against the introduction of Apple Pay, has switched on support for the mobile payments service for customers of three of its smaller brands and has announced it will roll out support to its main customer base by June 2020.”

“To get more consumers to use them, mobile wallets have to deliver more benefits to consumers and that’s starting to happen now. A company called Popwallet.com has enabled mobile wallets for couponing, discounts and marketing in a way that makes it much more interesting for consumers to use. With Popwallet, a consumer can see an advertisement for a discount on their mobile device and move the discount into their mobile wallet for use when they’re in a store and ready to pay. Marketers whose content has been moved into a mobile wallet can market directly to the consumers whose mobile wallet holds their discount. Both consumers and marketers have incentives to use this technology.”

“Alipay, a globally leading payment and lifestyle platform operated by Ant Financial Services Group, and Worldline, the European leader in the payment and transactional services industry, announced the expansion of their long-lasting partnership today. The partnership aims to broaden the acceptance of Asian payment wallets across Europe. As part of the enhanced partnership, Worldline will bring more Asian e-wallet users to Europe by allowing merchants’ point-of-sale (POS) systems to accept not only payments from Alipay’s proprietary wallet, but also from Alipay’s e-wallet partners across Asia. This multi-wallet acceptance will mean that merchants across Europe will see increased footfall and spend from tourists from all over Asia.”

“For the first time, a generic mobile payment app is more popular than the Starbucks mobile app, which had long led the category despite being specific to one retailer. Apple Pay became the market leader last year, when 27.7 million Americans used the app to make a purchase.”

“Samsung smartphone users with Samsung Pay eligible devices will be able to access an auto-provisioned prepaid card called Samsung Pay Cash. This Netspend mobile-integrated digital Mastercard allows smartphone users to establish a digital prepaid card within their mobile wallet to hold funds for a variety of use cases, including spending and budgeting. The prepaid card also uses Mastercard token services that enable users to store and use the card without ever exposing card details to ensure safety for digital payments.”

“Turns out, my smartphone can do almost everything my wallet can do, from paying at restaurants to renting a bike, to even getting into a hotel room. And by the end of the week, I saw an added benefit for my future travels: I don’t have to bring my wallet everywhere. And imagine being wallet-free at tourist attractions teeming with pickpockets or wearing a cute nightclub dress with no pockets.”

“A new feature due to be added to Android 10 will make it possible for Google Pay users to quickly access details of all their stored payment cards from their lockscreen — and then easily select from the list the card they wish to use for their next transaction.”

“Google Pay is winning the race in enabling digital payments powered by India’s state-run platform. The real-time payments app powered 59.75% of all United Payments Interface (UPI) transactions logged in August 2019, much higher than Flipkart-owned PhonePe’s 24.91% and Paytm’s 5.93%, show data from Razorpay, a Gurugram-based payment gateway.”

“LG has launched its LG Pay mobile payments service in the US, enabling owners of its G8 ThinQ smartphone to make payments via NFC in stores equipped with a contactless POS terminal — and in stores with a magnetic stripe terminal using Wireless Magnetic Communication (WMC). WMC enables phones to generate wireless magnetic data pulses that can be transmitted over-the-air to traditional magnetic stripe readers and was developed by US-based Dynamics Inc.”

“Payments made through mobile apps like Apple Pay are rising, but at a slower rate than in past years, according to a report by the Electronic Transactions Association. U.S. consumers spent $64 billion through mobile wallet apps or dedicated apps from a retailer last year, up from $45 billion in 2017, the ETA said. The 42 percent rate of growth in 2018 was down from 51 percent in 2017. The pace is expected to slow to 37 percent in 2019, resulting in $88 billion in consumer spending by such means.”

“Away from the limelight of urban cities, where an increasingly growing number of firms are fighting for a piece of India’s digital payments market, a South Korean startup’s app is quietly helping millions of Indians pay digitally and enjoy many financial services for the first time. The app, called True Balance , began its life as a tool to help users easily find their mobile balance, or topping up pre-pay mobile credit. But in its four-year journey, its ambition has significantly grown beyond that. Today, it serves as a digital wallet app that helps users pay their mobile and electricity bills, and it also lets users pay later.”

“NAB announced the arrival of Apple Pay in a tweet posted to the bank’s official account. “It’s here. NAB customers can now use Apple Pay. Just add your NAB Visa Card and start using Apple Pay wherever you can tap and pay. Apple Pay with NAB. Easy,” the tweet reads. Along with the announcement, an accompanying link points to a comprehensive mini-site detailing the service. Customers are provided information regarding compatible devices, credit and debit cards and a quick setup guide for iPhone and Apple Watch.”

“This functionality is rolling out as a server-side change in the United States, Canada, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Russia, Ukraine, and the United Arab Emirates, so it is not available for all users yet. In the United States, users can also link an Apple Pay Cash card to an Apple ID account. There are a handful of benefits to Apple Pay billing for Apple ID account-tied purchases, including the ability to conveniently add multiple credit or debit cards, the improved security of Apple Pay, and the ability to better manage Apple Music and iCloud storage subscriptions from the Wallet app.”

“Facebook has chosen London as the centre for a push into payments on its WhatsApp messaging service, boosting the city’s hopes of becoming a global fintech hub and signalling the company’s commitment to monetising the fast-growing platform. The app, which has 1.5bn users globally, will expand its workforce by a quarter with the hiring of about 100 people. Most of the software engineers will be hired in London with additional operations staff hired in Dublin.”

“Google Pay is more than just a way to buy things in stores with your phone. It can store loyalty programs, gift cards, train tickets , and even plane boarding passes . Now the app supports boarding passes from Ryanair , a major Irish arline that mostly operates in Europe.”