The partnership follows the company’s commitment to empowering individuals to achieve their aspirations and dreams.

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As part of the collaboration, the payment giant will celebrate the values of dedication, perseverance, and excellence that define both the footballer and the brand itself.

Commenting on the partnership, Salah said: “Throughout my career, every step I have taken has propelled me to greater and greater opportunities, bringing me closer than ever to my dreams. I’m excited about the collaboration with Visa and its mission to expand what is possible for more and more people, empowering them to take a series of small steps forward to get to where they want to be.”

Visa CMO of Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East, and Africa (CEMEA), Tarek Abdalla, added: “As an icon in the Middle East and Africa, and a legend of the modern game, Mo Salah has become a beacon of hope and joy in households all around the world, uplifting people through the belief that everyone, everywhere can help shape the future.”

“We are proud to have Mo as an Ambassador, who is not only an inspiring athlete but reflects several of our guiding principles. Breaking barriers, superseding expectations, and aiming for best-in-class performance worldwide are all values that Visa deeply embodies, as it seeks to innovate and drive the future of commerce.”

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Mastercard, Visa, eBay, Stripe, and Mercado Pago have all followed in PayPal’s footsteps by leaving the Libra Association behind. The decisions made by Mastercard, Visa, and Stripe may have also been influenced by a letter they received from US senators urging them to reconsider their position.

Visa told the Financial Times, which first reported their departure, that it would continue to show an interest in Libra and will make an ultimate decision on the project once it knows that the Association can “satisfy all requisite regulatory expectations”. Stripe agreed that the project has “potential” and was still open to working with it in the future. eBay, similar to PayPal, has left to focus on its own projects.

Risk to the global financial system

A report from the G7, seen by the BBC, has outlined nine major risks that are posed by digital currencies like Libra, stating cryptocurrencies must not be allowed to progress until it has been proven they are safe and secure.

The report, which doesn’t specifically name Libra, says that all backers of digital currencies must be legally sound, protect consumers, and make sure that their coins are not used for criminal activity.

The G7 taskforce behind the report is made up of senior officials from central banks, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the FSB.

A separate letter to G20 finance ministers and central bank governors from the FSB’s chairman, Richard Quarles, says that stablecoins have the potential to “pose a host of challenges to the regulatory community” including risks to “financial stability, consumer and investor protection, data privacy and protection, financial integrity including AML/CFT and know-you-customer compliance, mitigation of tax evasion, fair competition and anti-trust policy, market integrity, sound and efficient governance, cyber security and operation risks, and an appropriate legal basis”.

At the same time, it acknowledges that stablecoins can also benefit the financial system by offering a vehicle for cross-border payments and remittances to more users.

The FSB’s final report on the matter will be released in July 2020.

In other news, Facebook is also being sued by the mobile banking app Current over the similarity between the Calibra logo and Currents one. Both logos were designed by the same branding firm, called Character, which is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit.

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“We urge you to carefully consider how your companies will manage these risks before proceeding, given that Facebook has not yet demonstrated to Congress, financial regulators — and perhaps not even to your companies — that it is taking these risks seriously,” said the letter.

Although many other tech and finance companies have already joined the Libra Association – including Uber, Iliad SA, Vodafone, and Coinbase – Libra took a big hit when PayPal recently decided to ditch the project . Additionally, Libra’s head of product, Simon Morris, decided to leave the cryptocurrency project earlier this week with no warning. 

“Facebook is currently struggling to tackle massive issues, such as privacy violations, disinformation, election interference, discrimination, and fraud, and it has not demonstrated an ability to bring those failures under control,” continued the senators.

For the past few years, Facebook has been under constant scrutiny following multiple privacy and data-mining scandals, including the Cambridge Analytica debacle. The senators warn that Libra, which was officially announced three months ago, could be just as controversial and potentially dangerous to the public as the main Facebook website.

“You should be concerned that any weaknesses in Facebook’s risk management systems will become weaknesses in your systems that you may not be able to effectively mitigate,” finished Brown and Schatz.

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World’s first 5G end-to-end network debuts
The University of Surrey, University of Bristol and King’s College London unveiled the world’s first 5G end-to-end network.

The trio showed off this development via a 5G-connected robotic football player. Visitors were asked to remotely control the robot by kicking a ball in one of the exhibition halls. This kick was then instantly replicated by a robotic-foot located in a different exhibition hall.

T-Mobile has big 5G plans for this year
Mobile network provider T-Mobile announced that it to build out 5G in 30 cities this year, with customers in New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, and Las Vegas the first to experience the technology when the first 5G smartphones launch in 2019.

Upon announcing the plans, company CEO John Legere took a swipe at AT&T and Verizon – who he referred to as “Dumb and Dumber” – criticising their plans to introduce 5G hotspots later this year rather than waiting it out until 5G-enabled smartphones actually arrive.

Sprint unveils its first six 5G-ready cities
Sticking to the theme of 5G technology, T-Mobile’s SoftBank-owned rival, Sprint, announced that customers in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles and Washington D.C. would be the first to experience its 5G mobile network.

To achieve the rollout of the technology, Sprint purchased 5G-ready massive MIMO (multi-input and multi-output) solutions from Samsung, which will form ‘a critical bridge’ to the 5G network.

Visa expands its network for public transport contactless payments
Financial and payments card company Visa announced it has signed 14 new technology companies, across 10 countries, to its ‘Visa Ready for Transit’ program.

The program, which was first announced in November 2017, works with companies to increase contactless usage in public transport around the world by implementing technology solutions.

Alibaba brings its cloud to Europe
eCommerce giant Alibaba is laying down a challenge to the likes of Amazon and Microsoft in Europe with the launch of a range of cloud computing products.

The eight products from Alibaba Cloud address big data, artificial intelligence, infrastructure, security, and private cloud solutions. These products for European enterprises include Image Search, Intelligent Service Robot, Super Computing Cluster, Vulnerability Discovery Service, and more.

IAB research identifies ‘personal prime times’ that consumers are creating
The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) released research that show how consumers are creating their own ‘personal prime times’ – or points of highly concentrated engagement – through the day.

By acknowledging these personal prime times, marketers can capture the attention of the individual at the times they are most engaged, rather than opting for a crowd-level approach to the best times to reach consumers.

Avast warns that consumers are at risk of financial loss due to mobile banking trojan
Digital security company Avast found that fake mobile banking interfaces do a pretty good job of fooling people.

The firm asked 40,00 consumers across 12 countries to compare the authenticity of official and counterfeit mobile banking app interfaces. It found that 58 per cent of respondents identified the official app interface as fraudulent, while 36 per cent of people mistook the fake interface for the real one.

In other Avast-related news, it has teamed up with Vodafone in the Czech Republic to give the mobile network provider’s subscribers access to two Avast-powered apps.

Telefonica show off SIM-based solution to connect IoT devices to AWS
Spanish telecoms provider Telefonica presented a SIM-based solution to connect internet of things (IoT) devices to Amazon Web Services IoT (AWS IoT).

The solution, which is in private preview, aims at simplifying the connection of IoT devices to the cloud.

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The Amazon Rewards Visa Card was launched with Chase last year. It already offers Prime members five per cent back on Amazon.com purchases, two per cent back at restaurants, gas stations, drugstores, and one per cent back on all other purchases.

“We are excited to launch the Amazon Rewards Visa Card in our stores, offering benefits to our customers on all of their purchases at Whole Foods Market,” said John Mackey, Whole Foods Market co-founder and CEO.

Non-Prime members with the Rewards Visa Card will get three per cent back on their Whole Foods Market purchases, on top of the three per cent they already receive on all Amazon.com purchases, the two per cent on restaurants, gas stations, and drugstores, and the one per cent back on other purchases.

“We’ve seen incredible excitement and adoption around our Amazon Rewards Visa Credit Cards and are thrilled to partner with Amazon and Whole Foods Market to bring even more rewards to our joint cardmembers,” said Leslie Gillin, president of Chase Co-Brand Cards.

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The new report has found that while Visa and Mastercard have adopted differing strategies when it comes to encouraging adoption of digital payments, both firms have helped accelerate consumer take-up. Their distinct evolutionary strategies in the area will underpin the success that the market is expected to see over the next few years.

Mastercard has a two-pronged approach to digital payments, developing partnerships with third-party wallet providers such as Apple and Samsung while also introducing its own API-based wallet. Meanwhile, Visa has attempted to reduce friction in online payments by implementing a one-click login system called Visa Checkout, which is helping to increase conversion rates and overall online customer speed.

The two financial services giants weren’t the only companies singled out for praise by Juniper’s report. The research also highlighted PayPal as the leader in the digital wallet space, with its decision to enable in-store NFC payments using Host Card Emulation technology a “potential game-changer for the US digital wallets space”, and Vodafone, for its continuing success in driving digital payment adoption in sub-Saharan Africa via a number of subsidiaries.

The research also defined a series of key strategic approaches that players across the digital payments market need to adopt to continue growth. For example, payment service providers (PSPs) need to be able to offer merchants a range of options, including hosted payment pages and API integration, enabling them to choose how much direct control they wish to have over the payment process.

“To succeed in an increasingly competitive environment, it will be essential for PSPs to provide merchants with an array of flexible, localised solutions with transparent pricing structures,” said Dr Windsor Holden, author of the research.

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Through smartphone integrations, Honda has been able to demonstrate how in-vehicle payments could work in the future to pay for services such as petrol and public parking.

“Payments have evolved from physical plastic cards to a digital, mobile wallet and Honda sees this as an opportunity to bring this technology into the car to pay for services from the comfort of ones own car,” said John Moon, developer relations lead at Honda developer studio.

The partnership with fuel dispenser supplier Gilbarco Veeder-Root aims to enable drivers to pay for fuel from their vehicles. Once the car is parked next to a pump, drivers are notified that they can pay from the car. The driver then selects the amount of petrol they would like and the cost is calculated in app.

IPS Group offers smart parking solutions. Through Honda’s partnership with the group, it intends to make ‘locating and paying for parking fast and easy’. This works by first notifying the driver that smart parking is available. The driver then enters the time needed in the parking space and pays through their device. If drivers wish to add additional time later, they can do so from their mobile phone.

“Turning the car into a platform for payments offers a nearly endless array of ways for automakers, drivers, merchants and other infrastructure companies to completely transform tasks that are tied to cars in some shape or form,” said Avin Arumugam, SVP for Internet of things (IoT) at Visa Inc. “Working with Honda, we both see the huge opportunity this presents for our respective industries, and how we can collectively simplify many daily tasks from the car.”

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The rings, using a design by McLear & Co including a secure microchip made by Gemalto and an embedded NFC antenna, can be used to pay anywhere that accepts contactless payments, as well unlocking the wearers smartphone and transferring data via NFC.

After an initial setup, the ring doesnt need to be connected to a mobile device in order to make each payment, and doesnt have a battery, which means no need for charging.

The ring costs £39.99, and is set to ship to customers in December 2016.

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According to Visa, the partnership will result in an improved and more seamless payment experience for Visa cardholders and will offer greater choice in how consumers pay with the PayPal and Venmo mobile wallets.

The partnership will see the two companies working more collaboratively in an effort to accelerate the adoption of digital payments by both consumers and merchants, and continue to improve safety, reliability and convenience in their offerings.

In addition, the arrangement is designed to carry significant benefits for issuing financial institutions, acquirers and merchants, including better customer experience, lower operations costs and more spending volume on credit and debit cards.

“Giving consumers choice in how and where they pay is essential to our goal of being a customer champion and we welcome the opportunity to work with more partners like Visa who share our vision,” said Dan Schulman, president and CEO of PayPal. “This agreement opens new avenues for PayPal to collaborate with Visa, financial institutions and others in the payments ecosystem to deliver greater value, more choice and new experiences for our joint customers.”

As a result of the partnership, PayPal will make it easier for new and existing customers to choose to pay with their Visa cards, presenting them as a clear and equal payment option during enrollment and subsequent payments. Visas digital cards will be incorporated into payment flows, and PayPal will not encourage Visa cardholders to link to a bank account, ensuring the Visa remains in the transaction chain.

PayPal will also join Visas Digital Enablement Program to expand point of sale acceptance, enable consumers to instantly withdraw and move money from PayPal and Venmo accounts via Visa debit cards, and enhance data quality for merchants.

“We are excited to begin a new chapter with PayPal,” said Charlie Scharf, CEO of Visa. “Our agreement provides a framework for our companies to work together collaboratively. PayPal has built industry-leading capabilities which complement those of Visa and our clients, and working together, we will be bale to deliver better solutions for consumers and merchants.”

Don’t forget to enter the Effective Mobile Marketing Awards. The final deadline for submissions is 5 August. More details here.

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The ring will be given to athletes from Team Visa, a group of 45 Olympic hopefuls from around the world who have been selected by Visa for extra levels of support and sponsorship. The NFC-enabled ring does not require a battery or recharging, and is water resistant to a depth of 50 metres.

“Visas first payment ring puts smart payment technology right on the hands of our athletes for convenient and easy payments,” said Jim McCarthy, executive vice president of innovation and strategic partnerships at Visa. “This ring is the latest example of how Visa is continuously innovating to deliver on its goal of universal acceptance at the Games and across the world.”

The payment ring incorporates Visas tokenisation technology, which replaces sensitive information like account and card numbers with unique digital identifiers that can process payments without exposing account details to fraud.

Visa is the exclusive payment provider of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, and has been placed in charge of creating and managing the entire payment system infrastructure across each venue, from the Olympic Stadium to ticket points-of-sale and vendors within the Olympic Village. There will be approximately 4,000 NFC-enabled payment terminals across Olympic facilities.

“As an Olympian, rings have a special meaning to me,” said Missy Franklin, four-time Olympic hold medalist and one of the Team Visa athletes. “The Visa ring is a great innovation that I know all the athletes competing in Rio will enjoy as it will be great to go from a competition to purchase without having to carry a wallet or card.”

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