Identity, Security, Payments, Biometrics, Smart Cards and Authentication News

$10 million spent on Visa cards first day of Olympics

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Tourists attending the Olympics in China have spent about $10 million U.S. on their Visa credit, debit and prepaid cards during the first day of the games, Visa reports. The biggest Visa spenders were from the U.S., followed by Japan, Hong Kong SAR, South Korea and the United Kingdom.

Visa says money spent by tourists on its cards on 8 August 2008 showed an increase of 11% over the same day last year. Read more here[end] 

Asda Stores Ltd., a British supermarket chain, is planning to trial contactless payment technology in 25 of its stores, according to Computerworld UK.

The contactless systems will be supplied by both Visa and payment value chain Streamline. Customers will be to simply tap the reader with their contactless-enabled card to pay for goods up to £15, rising to £20 June 1, potentially reducing queue times.

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The Indian government has started piloting biometric data capture for visa applications as part of its Immigration, Visa, Foreigner’s Registration and Tracking (IVFRT) project, reports The Indian Express.

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Visa Europe has confirmed that its new digital wallet service, V.me, will launch to an initial group of consumers in the UK, Spain and France in fall 2012.

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EMVCo, the EMV technology standards body owned by American Express, JCB, MasterCard and Visa, released data showing the growth of EMV acceptance around the world, with nearly half of all payment cards and three-quarters of all payment terminals in circulation being based on EMV technology.

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Samsung and Visa are providing their sponsored athletes and trialists at the London 2012 Olympic Games with special edition Samsung Galaxy S III handsets equipped with Visa’s payWave NFC payments application.

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Visa and Samsung have announced that they will reveal the official mobile payments application for the London 2012 Olympic Games next week at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

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