contactless card

Visa says that the number of its branded contactless cards in the UK will reach about 20 million by the year end. The growth is expected to be driven by outlets like McDonald’s.

As of March 2011 there were 13 million Visa payWave cards in circulation, which is a growth from 8 million recorded last June.

McDonald’s is actively implementing the technology across its network of 1200 restaurants in the UK and Starbucks is also following the trend. Lloyds, Royal Bank of Scotland and Bank of America have all joined Barclays in issuing cards.
 

Visa Europe intends to invest €200 million on R&D for low-value contactless payments by card and mobile device, claiming M-commerce to be a strategic priority.

As said Visa Europe's head of UK and Ireland Marc O'Brien, the company is are working and talking with all the mobile operators and handset manufacturers to develop standards for payment on mobile phones.

Barclaycard reported that it is deploying MasterCard's inControl technology so as to allow users of its Orange co-branded contactless credit card to set spending controls and receive real-time alerts about their accounts.

Last month the two companies BarclayCard and Orange launched their joint product under a partnership aimed at pushing through the development and adoption of contactless mobile payments services.

 Gemalto, the world leader in digital security, today announces it is delivering national ID cards to Kuwait, as part of the government program commissioned by the country’s Public Authority For Civil Information. Al-Kharafi, an international private Kuwait-based company, is prime contractor for this nationwide program. The agreement appoints Gemalto to deliver electronic multi-application ID cards for citizens embedding contact and contactless smart card technologies, as well as plastic cards for foreign residents that implement highly secure printing features.