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Global payment provider, Mastercard is calling for an increased contactless limit, particularly in the Asia Pacific region, in line with other parts of the world, like the UK, that have already done so. Mastercard has also increased the limit in New Zealand and Australia to $200.

With consumers locked away at home and retailers asking customers to pay using contactless cards, the UK government-commissioned Access to Cash Review, along with consumer groups and charities, has raised concerns over the effects on vulnerable members of society.

Mastercard Canada has increased the contactless payment limit from C$100 to C$250 without the need to provide additional cardholder verification such as a PIN code, to provide consumers with a safer way to pay during the coronavirus pandemic.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak announced that he would be more than doubling the current contactless spending limit from £45 per transaction to £100. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/budget-2021-what-you-need-to-know

The Coronavirus pandemic has cemented the role of contactless as the preferred way to pay in the UK, accounting for nine-in-ten of all elgible card transactions in 2020, according to figures from Barclaycard. In a survey of 2,000 people conducted by Which?, 34% reported being unable to pay with cash at least once when trying to buy something since March, when coronavirus restrictions were first introduced.

The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the decline of cash, with the volume of UK payments made using notes and coins plunging by 35 per cent in 2020 compared with the previous year. Annual payments data from UK Finance, the banking trade body, showed a corresponding rise in contactless payments, online transactions and the use of mobile "wallet" apps that store bank and card details.

The Smart Payment Association (SPA) has warned that the bottlenecks that are currently hitting the production of semiconductors is trickling down to some payment card manufacturers, who are facing difficulties securing the components they need to produce the items. With the shortage showing no sign of ending for another year at least, this could cause some major issues for consumers. "If the situation does not improve, there are going to be millions of cards missing and this will have a direct impact on consumers worldwide who will not be able to get a bank card or the renewal of their bank card. Without a card, you cannot pay in store, nor online, nor withdraw cash."

This study investigates whether contactless credit cards are an important contributor to the decline in cash transactions, based on Canadian panel data from 2010 to 2017. It shows that unobserved factors influence cash use, and these must be controlled for when estimating the impact of contactless credit cards on cash use. It also shows the different effects that contactless credit cards have on the choice to pay with cash (the extensive margin) and on how much cash is used (the intensive margin). The study finds that the use of contactless credit cards negatively influences how much cash is spent but not whether to pay in cash. Overall, the impact of contactless credit cards on the transactional demand for cash in Canada is small over the 2010-17 period, at about 3 percent. These results are in line with previous findings for Canada and elsewhere.

One of the last bastions of cash, kids' pocket money, is dying out in Sweden. Only 16% of Swedish children get regular allowances in the form of actual bank notes and coins. Svenska Handelsbanken AB, Sweden's biggest lender, has introduced a digital piggy bank to help kids manage their pocket money via their mobile phones. Sweden's next generation may not even know what a real piggy bank is, consigning the once-ubiquitous savings vessel popularized by storyteller Hans Christian Andersen to the history books, alongside rotary phones and floppy disks.

Apple could be forced to allow third-party payment apps to access the NFC chip in the iPhone and Apple Watch without having to use Apple Pay. The European Union is purportedly considering new antitrust legislation in response to complaints by banks that Apple's restrictions on access to the chip are anticompetitive. The report is set to be unveiled next week by the European Commission as part of a package of policy proposals. Germany has already passed a law which would require this.

Americans are using less cash but they are holding more, which presents a challenge for the Federal Reserve and other central banks around the world. They have to maintain a vast network of secure printers and depots to deliver cash to where it is needed. As people use less cash, each piece of this infrastructure becomes more expensive to operate. But central banks will not be able to wind it down completely, for two reasons. First, the poor are more likely to still use cash, exacerbating the "digital divide". And second, in a crisis, everyone wants a fistful of dollars.

Apple has acquired Mobeewave, a startup with technology that could transform iPhones into mobile payment terminals. Mobeewave's technology lets shoppers tap their credit card or smartphone on another phone to process a payment. The system works with an app and doesn't require hardware beyond a Near Field Communications, or NFC, chip, which iPhones have included since 2014. Samsung Electronics Co. partnered with Mobeewave last year to allow its phones to use the technology.

Visa is investing in MagicCube, a payments-security fintech focused on enabling devices like smartphones to accept payments. In lieu of buying checkout hardware, merchants could use smartphones to read contactless cards while securely capturing financial PIN and other verification methods, including biometrics. The solution provides end-to-end functionality, security, and modern acceptance capabilities previously limited to hardware-based terminals. The entirely software-based solution offers a plug-and-play, fully contained module that can fit into the current flows of any modern acquiring bank or merchant acceptance solution.

Shoppers can use Afterpay to buy items in select U.S. retail stores using their Afterpay card, a virtual, contactless card stored in their digital wallet. Just like using Afterpay online, customers can pay for their in-store purchases in four installment payments, without the need to take out a traditional loan or pay upfront fees or interest. Afterpay first introduced its in-store solution in 2016 in Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) and became one of the only online payment companies to successfully offer its service in physical stores.

Researchers at Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Australia's national science agency, have found that SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19, can survive for up to 28 days on common surfaces including banknotes, glass - such as that found on mobile phone screens - and stainless steel. However, the virus tends to survive longer on paper banknotes rather than polymer ones.

This NY Fed blog post outlinse some evidence on the impact of COVID-19 on consumer payment behavior. For example, Google searches during the pandemic demonstrated a shift in public interest from cash-related terms to digital payment options. Given evidence that even transient shocks can have long-term effects on technological adoption, the need to address the issues associated with a reduction in privacy that follow from the shift toward digital payments is even more apparent, a subject of a forthcoming NY Fed blog post.

Amazon has announced a new payment system for real-world shops which uses a simple wave of the hand. Its new Amazon One scanner registers an image of the user's palm, letting them pay by hovering their hand in mid-air "for about a second or so", it says. The product will be trialled at two of Amazon's physical stores in Seattle.

Paper cheques may be on the verge of extinction in South Africa, as banks begin moves to phase them out in favour of cards and digital payment mechanisms. Major banks Nedbank, FNB and Absa have already announced plans to discontinue the use of cheque payments beginning in January. The Payments Association of South Africa says that it anticipates that even more banks will be issuing similar public announcements in the next few months. The decline in cheque usage is being exacerbated by the coronavirus outbreak.

Visa has initiated a pilot program with The Salvation Army and tiptap to make donations contactless at the charity's iconic Red Kettles this holiday season. The pilot is rolling out across the East and West Coasts, enabling tap to give at nearly 2,000 Salvation Army Red Kettle stations in places like Washington, Southern California, San Francisco, and Sacramento. The US roll out comes three years after the Salvation Army first trialed the technology in Canada.

The Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI) published a brief that documents the acceleration of consumers' and businesses' migration away from cash and checks towards electronic payments, and a growing use of contactless and fast payments. The Covid-19 pandemic was likely responsible for the surge but at the same time, public demand for cash remains steady,  both as a means of payment and as a safe haven.