News and insight into biometric identification and authentication

sQuid introduces contactless payment to the classroom

Thursday, March 11, 2010

sQuid is launching a smart card and biometric solution that will allow students to make cashless purchases at school.

With the new system, parents can load money onto their children’s smart cards or biometric devices via a secure Web portal. Students can then use them to buy school lunches, print and make photocopies, or even pay for school trips online, eliminating the need to handle (and potentially lose) cash.


To deliver the solution, sQuid is partnering with major school equipment suppliers, including Cunninghams, NRS, CRB and Biostore.

The company is also working with Smart Accountancy Software provider Pebble to enable parents to pay for school uniforms and other expenses online through their sQuid accounts. [end] 

Research and Markets announced the addition of a report concerning the latest state of the Polish contactless payment market.

Entitled “Polish Contactless Payments Market 2011: Issuance, Transactions and Innovations” the report presents detailed analysis based on surveys carried out among all banks issuing contactless payment instruments and acquirers that operated contactless payments on the Polish market.

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A new survey from Euro Kartensysteme shows that Germans are starting to embrace the idea of contactless and NFC payments.

Out of 1,040 Germans aged 18-59, 43% responded that they would like to make contactless payments if given the opportunity, of which 58% percent would make their payments with a debit card card, 41% with a credit card and 50% with an NFC phone.

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In Europe, the Association for Retail Technology Standards (ARTS) and EPASOrg has developed a new global standard to help accommodate changes in new payment technologies, according to SupermarketNews.com

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MasterCard announced that it intends to present its contactless payment cards to Azerbaijani financial market in 2012.

According to abc.az, MasterCard is in negotiation with the Central Bank of Azerbaijan, as well as Azerbaijan private banks regarding the implementation of projects on non-cash payments and the introduction of contactless cards for payments for applications in transit, dining and entertainment.

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Superdrug, one of Britain’s largest beauty and health retailers, has introduced contactless payment for its in-store customers, according to Retail Gazette.

Created by Streamline and Visa Europe, the contactless system will enable customers to make payments of up to £15 (approx. USD $23) by simply waving their contactless bank card at the more than 50 participating Superdrug stores in London and Liverpool.

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A recent survey conducted by Wincor Nixdorf shows that a strong majority of French consumers are interested in using fingerprint scanning technology to secure transactions.

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