INSIDE Contactless has announced a partnership with ADELYA, a Software-as-a-Service company specializing in contactless and mobile loyalty and relationship programs, to enable consumers to conduct retail loyalty, ticketing, low-end ID and other transactions using the mobile phones they already have. INSIDE Contactless is providing ADELYA with PicoPass contactless stickers to transform mobile phones into contactless loyalty cards. More than 300,000 loyalty cards embedded with contactless stickers have already been deployed throughout France to customers of a children's clothing retailer. READ MORE »

Gemalto has announced that five banks in France are currently using its Allynis service as part of the "Payez Mobile" trial for contactless mobile payment: BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole-LCL, Crédit Mutuel-CIC, Caisse d’Epargne and La Banque Postale Groups.

According to Gemalto, "the Pegasus group, which consists of seven major banks and four mobile operators in France, launched the program in November 2007 with 1,000 user clients and 200 merchants in Caen and Strasbourg. The renewal of the Gemalto service contract until the end of 2008 reasserts its recognition as a trusted third party among the various parties involved in the mobile NFC ecosystem." READ MORE »

At its 7th Annual Debit Conference, MasterCard Europe has announced what it calls "the emergence of a series of significant cross-border purchasing trends in Europe coinciding with the official launch of the Single Euro(pean) Payments Area (SEPA)."

MasterCard Europe and Europay France have announced an agreement to
integrate their operating structures in France to support French banks' efforts to
provide competitive payment services.