ContactlessNews | Contactless cards issued to drought victims in Kenya

Friday, October 21, 2011

Charity organization SOS Children’s Villages is teaming up with Paystream to provide a contactless payment solution to improve food distribution in drought-stricken Northern Kenya.

The service, developed in part by sQuid, will provide the people of Marsabit, Kenya with contactless cards that can be used to purchase food supplies and other aid at several local stores and outlets.

According to Paystream, the traditional method used to distribute food aid is cash based, which commonly results in the misappropriation of funds. The new smart card-based solution is designed to help solve the logistical problems of aid distribution, while ensuring that aid gets to the right people and is spent on what it is intended for.

SOS Children’s Villages and Paystream have been working together with the local community and shop owners to devise a pre-paid card that can be used at specific POS terminals supplied to the stores by Paystream.

The partners says they will work to educate communities on how the system works, the money that each holds and the kind of food that they are allowed to purchase from the shops.

The partners are currently running a 6 month pilot of the system with three stores in Marsabit, but are looking to roll out similar programs across East Africa, according to Ndegwa.

Identive's tomPAY sticker turns any mobile phone into a contactless payment device

Identive Group announced tomPAY, an NFC-enabled sticker tag that can be affixed to existing mobile phones to enable contactless payments.

Based on Identive’s tom (tag on metal) smart inlay technology, tomPAY is manufactured using the same processes as an ISO PVC card. When placed on a phone, tomPAY enables contactless mobile payments in compliance with MasterCard PayPass specifications, as well as loyalty, transport ticketing and other m-commerce services.

Canary Islands goes contactless with Visa and Ingenico

Ingenico is working together with Cajasiete, a financial services provider based in Canary Islands, Spain, on the deployment wireless terminals to support a new program of contactless payments at throughout the islands.

HSBC starts roll out of contactless bank cards

HSBC announced that it will begin the conversion to contactless technology this month, replacing all customer banking debit cards, according to ThinkMoney.com.

The bank will start to roll out the new contactless cards to existing customers whose debit cards are due to expire this month and then continue the process as cards expire. Customers who don’t want a contactless card can opt out by contacting their bank before their current card expires.

OTI to deliver 30,000 NFC readers in the U.S.

On Track Innovations (OTI) has received an order for 30,000 of its NFC and contactless payment readers for deployment in the U.S.

OTI did not reveal who will receive the readers, but assured that the devices would be used to support the migration towards contactless payments and NFC in the U.S.

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