Google wants its mobile wallet to be usable as bus fare

Mobile wallet - Paying bus fare with smartphone

The tech giant is aiming to make it possible for more commuters to add digital transit passes to the app. Google is working to help commuters using transit systems in a growing number of locations to add their passes to their mobile wallet instead of having to carry a physical card. The company recently posted a blog discussing the way it wanted to combine the app with this service. Google has been watching the increasing trend in the use of mobile wallet apps and contactless technology for transactions of all…

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Canadians are increasingly using mobile payments for purchases

Mobile payments - Person using mobile to pay - Canada Flag

The trend is on the rise in Canada, where users are being advised to take security precautions. A new report has shown that mobile payments are a rapidly rising trend in Canada, adding itself to a growing number of data analyses indicating the same trend. The largest Canadian interbank network reported that it is experiencing massive growth in device use. The interbank network, Interac, reported that by August, over one billion debit mobile payments were transacted within the prior 12 months using its network. Moreover, data from Interac showed that…

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Rakuten Group to combine its mobile payments and credit card business units

Mobile payments Japan - person paying via mobile

The struggling Japanese company intends to fold together several of its units, according to recent announcements. Rakuten Group, headquartered in Japan, has announced its intentions to fold its mobile payments and points businesses into its credit card unit. This move could align the company to eventually list its card business as it has done with others. Even though Rakuten earns solid earnings from its e-commerce business, it has continually lost money over 12 straight quarters as a result of the expensive expansion of its mobile payments business, which didn’t gain…

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Mobile wallets see a decline in top-ups in some regions

Mobile wallets - Bahamas Flag

As popular as these digital payment methods have become, they are declining in the Bahamas. In the Bahamas, the use of mobile wallets has become commonplace, but over the first five months of the year, a declining trend was recorded in top-ups. The decline wasn’t a slight one, it was practically a freefall in the amount of money topped up. During the first five months of 2022, top ups to mobile wallets reached $38.4 million. During the same period in 2023, that figure reached only $7.1 million, a fraction of…

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Mobile payments are changing the financial shape of Côte d’Ivoire

Mobile payments - Man paying by mobile phone

Digital options are helping the African country to make important steps forward domestically and internationally. Côte d’Ivoire has been making massive strives in its region of Africa in both its growth and investment inflows, and mobile payments options are now becoming central to its efforts to become a digital financial inclusion pioneer. Following the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the country’s key indices were quick to recover. The West African nation’s GDP growth had already reached 7 percent in 2021 and had fully returned to pre-pandemic levels despite its plummet…

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