Near-Field Communication (NFC)

The recently developed ability to accept card payments on an ordinary smart phone, with no additional hardware, has electrified the payments industry. But the technology, known as SoftPOS, comes with complications that could slow progress, a panel of experts warned Thursday. SoftPOS, which as the name implies relies on specialized …

In-store debit card payments made using mobile devices in Canada surged 53% during the 12-month period ended July 31, compared to the same period a year earlier, according to Interac Corp., Canada’s national debit network. In addition, e-commerce transactions made using a mobile device increased 17% year-over-year during the same …

Add Sephora, a beauty retailer, to the list of merchants adopting iPhones as payment-acceptance devices in the Tap to Pay on iPhone program. J.P. Morgan Payments says Sephora is its first such retailer to adopt the contactless-payment service, which does not require special hardware to complete a transaction. Announced Tuesday, …

Consumer affinity for in-person transactions that reduce points of contact are taking hold as contactless payments made with debit cards swelled to 16% of the U.S. card-present share last year from 8% in 2021. It’s a similar story with debit cards used with mobile wallets. Their use increased from 5% …

The Waffle House restaurant system has adopted chainwide contactless payment capability, including mobile-wallet acceptance, through the Oracle Payment Cloud service. A startup called iWallet said it will adopt FedNow for mobile check deposits. The Federal Reserve launched the FedNow real-time payments service last month. MarginEdge, a bill-payments provider, launched a mobile bill-payment app for restaurant operators …

PayPal Holdings Inc. is adding tap to pay on mobile phones to its U.S. Venmo users with business profiles. The Tap to Pay on Android technology enables merchants that accept Venmo payments to do so using conventional Android smart phones without having to attach a special payment dongle. The service …

DoorDash announced a number of new features for its food-delivery app, including the ability to create multiple carts simultaneously and the addition of online payments funded by SNAP/EBT benefits. Alphabet Inc.’s mobile-payments app, Google Wallet, will reportedly begin supporting QR codes to trigger payments, starting in Brazil. The wallet has up to …

A significantly longer range for contactless transactions could be a reality in the market within the next two to five years, according to news released this week by the NFC Forum, the standards body for near-field communication technology. The current standard for contactless payments is five millimeters, or about one-fifth …

Open banking specialist Plaid launched Plaid Beacon, an anti-fraud network for fintechs and financial institutions. The fintech Karma Wallet has allied with card-issuing platform Marqeta Inc. to introduce a prepaid card offering cash-back rewards from merchants said to be local, ethical, and sustainable. PayEm, a spend-management platform, has integrated with American Express to allow …

Helcim Inc., a Calgary, Alberta-based payments provider, launched its Helcim Smart Terminal, which it says carries no contract or monthly fees. The device, which uses the Android operating system, is priced at $349 (C$429) and will be available this summer. Among its technical capabilities is a built-in printer, a large …