Smart City: How London’s next mayor can harness the capital’s entrepreneurial energy to revolutionise local services and save millions March 22, 2016 Londoners are smart – you only have to look at the thousands of exciting, innovative new businesses sprouting up across the capital to see the benefits of such a tremendous concentration of human and intellectual capital. But is the capital itself as smart as the people who call it home? The new mayor, whoever it [...]
Virtual reality and contactless payments among the six biggest tech trends set to impact on the consumer business sector in 2016 according to Deloitte March 21, 2016 Businesses will have to respond to a number of new technological trends this year, or risk losing out to competitors, according to the Deloitte Consumer Review: Digital Predictions 2016. The financial services firm has identified six of the biggest digital technology trends that will shake up markets this year, and warned that consumer-facing firms will need adapt rapidly [...]
The amount we spent on contactless cards trebled to £7.8bn in 2015, with the payment method proving particularly popular with London commuters February 26, 2016 The way we're spending is changing, with the value of transactions on contactless cards soaring last year, according to research released today. The study by The UK Cards Association discovered that spending on contactless cards hit £7.8bn in 2015, up 233 per cent from £2.3bn in 2014. The number of transactions carried out contactlessly also rose to [...]
Visa’s new app will mean you can pay for petrol without leaving your car February 22, 2016 The Western world's quick decline into obesity was accelerated today by news that Visa has created new services whereby drivers can pay for fuel and parking without even leaving their car. The financial services firm has teamed up with Honda to create one of the apps, which can be accessed from the car's dashboard. It unveiled the new [...]
Why taking a selfie is going to start costing you money as MasterCard brings “selfie pay”, its facial recognition payment software, to the UK February 22, 2016 Now there's a less vain reason to take a selfie: MasterCard is bringing facial recognition payment services, dubbed "selfie pay", to the UK. The company has already trialled the technology in pilot schemes in the US and Netherlands, ahead of a launch in 14 other countries this summer. (Rumours Kim Kardashian was the first person [...]
Consumer’s guide to blockchain: How the cryptocurrency will revolutionise life for the consumer February 18, 2016 When I spoke to Peter Kirby, chief executive of blockchain startup Factom, he laughed when I described myself as a “blockchain traditionalist”. I meant that I still think of blockchain as the technology that made bitcoin credible – a peer-to-peer distributed ledger which immutably logs all transactions. This all sounds like jargon, so what does [...]
London startup Curve launches new card that will allow consumers to combine all their payment cards February 17, 2016 London-based startup Curve launched today, the latest in a string of new companies in the payments technology sector, with the aim of allowing consumers to combine all their bank cards into one payment card. The card, which is supported by a mobile app, will be accepted everywhere that MasterCard is. According to the company, the service "offers [...]
UK consumers ahead of the curve when it comes to payment technology February 11, 2016 British consumers are at the forefront of payment technologies, according to new research. Contactless payments, real-time payments and mobile banking have grown in popularity among UK consumers, while countries such as the USA and Canada continue to lag behind. The report, published by Payments UK, the trade association for the payments industry, found that by [...]
Profiting from creative tension: MediaCom’s Josh Krichefski talks Coca-Cola, DNA and short-form video February 8, 2016 "People in advertising have always worked long hours, but I don’t think that is necessary to deliver great work,” says Josh Krichefski, MediaCom UK’s new chief executive. “You won’t get a promotion here for working late,” he adds. Last year, the agency launched a programme called Project Blend to allow employees to talk with their [...]
Card payment to be accepted in every Black Cab in London February 3, 2016 Welcome to the 21st century, taxi-getters. Every Black Cab in London will be required to accept card payments from October this year, Transport for London has said. TfL has promised that customers will not be forced to pay a surcharge for using a card. TfL has also committed to working with the card industry to link card [...]