Mobile payments
Why is the ECB eyeing a ‘digital euro’?
The European Central Bank will on Monday (12 October) launch a public consultation and start experiments to help it decide whether to create a "digital euro" for the 19-nation currency club.
Moving the payment landscape forward at speed
The way we pay and shop continues to evolve at speed but the vision of a safe, secure and simple digital payments landscape is happening all around us, writes Ann Cairns.
How consumers and government can combat the shadow economy
Perhaps the clue is in its name but the shadow economy’s drain on economic growth and public finances can be difficult to recognise. And, unfortunately, consumers can often unwittingly contribute to its growth, writes George Simon.
ECB to enable mobile payments using phone numbers by 2018
ECB plans to link mobile phone numbers to their owners' bank accounts will facilitate bank transfers and consolidate the eurozone payments market. EURACTIV's partner La Tribune reports.
UK fintech finds EU barriers emerging after Brexit vote
Fallout from the vote to leave the European Union is already threatening the growth of financial technology firms in Britain, industry officials said on Wednesday (2 November).
A cashless society is a fairer society
Greater transparency is key to combatting VAT fraud and the shadow economy, writes Jason Lane.
Blending: The new buzzword at EU’s ‘Davos of Development’
'Blending' - a form of pump-priming private sector investment, by leveraging it onto public official development aid - seems to be the new buzzword at this year's EU Development Days, according to the UN's Xavier Michon.
National Front calls for ban on Bitcoin
The National Front wants to preserve cash and ban Bitcoin, which it sees as an unsafe form of payment. The EU has yet to legislate on the subject. EURACTIV France reports.
Brexit could boost UK financial technology firms – but only in short-term
Britain leaving the European Union could give fledgling financial technology companies an immediate shot in the arm but deprive them of expansion later on, industry officials said on Monday (11 April).
Phone-packed Africa leads way in take-up of mobile banking
Services allowing consumers to perform banking and payment operations on their mobile phones are surging in sub-Saharan Africa, blazing a trail for the rest of the slower-moving world to follow.
Cashless payment hopes pinned on developing nations
SPECIAL REPORT: Business and civil interests representing the mobile payments markets are developing global principles, standards and codes of conduct for digital finance, as cashless payments move to the fore in the developing world, following a meeting this summer in Perth, Australia.
Biometric security moves to counter cyber fraud
SPECIAL REPORT: If consumers put safety and security of their payments as a key priority when shopping, it is with good reason.
Mobile phones call up a cashless future
SPECIAL REPORT: A boom in payment-enabled smartphone manufacture and the entry of key phone and finance players into the mobile wallets market has made 2014 a watershed year, as the tide turns against the future use of cash.
The demise of cash?
A boom in payment-enabled smartphone manufacture and the entry of key phone and finance players into the mobile wallets market has made 2014 a watershed year, as the tide turns against the future use of cash.
New payment services lack security standards, officials warn
Proposed rule changes designed to introduce more competition in the credit and debit card markets lack standards to protect consumers from fraud and data security breaches, officials told the European Parliament on Tuesday (7 January).
European Central Bank concerned over mobile payments security
The ever growing innovation on the mobile payments market, from contactless cards to digital wallets, has attracted the attention of the European Central Bank (ECB), which has launched a public consultation on mobile payments security for all involved stakeholders. EURACTIV France reports.
New players cause headaches for mobile payments standards
The multitude of interested stakeholders attempting to break into novel mobile payments (m-payments) markets is holding up the creation of common standards, a leading standards body representative has admitted.
Economist: Lower card fees did not benefit Spanish consumers
The Spanish experience of lowering multilateral interchange fees for debit and credit cards was not positive, says Gustavo Matías Clavero, who is pessimistic about the European Commission's chances of achieving its goal of a single payments area through an updated Payments Services Directive.
Academic says EU payments regulation will dampen innovation
SPECIAL REPORT / An updated Payment Services Directive (PSD II) that aims to embrace new mobile payments methods could end up acting as a hindrance to entrepreneurs, a leading Spanish academic told EURACTIV.
New mobile payment systems pose regulatory, security challenges
SPECIAL REPORT / An updated Payment Services Directive (PSD II), to be published by the European Commission this month, will struggle to cover regulatory and security challenges posed by a range of new mobile payments services expected to explode onto the European scene over the next two years.Cultural differences challenge European single payments area
SPECIAL REPORT / New rules to promote a Single European Payments Area (SEPA) will be presented this month, but the EU executive faces cultural as well as regulatory hurdles in attempting to promote online and mobile payments across the EU.
Mobile giants step up preparations for e-payments boom
SPECIAL REPORT / The world’s largest technology companies have announced new partnerships in mobile payments and image changes, as they seek to maintain dominance in the fast-shifting technology market. EURACTIV reports from the GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
Telecom firms in scramble for cashless mobile wallets
The United Kingdom’s three largest mobile operators filed an application with the European Commission for approval of a new cashless mobile wallet venture last week, joining a Dutch proposal under consideration by the EU executive against a background of growing international competition.