Dear Subscriber,

We start March with a warning about contactless, or rather, a warning about the dangers of ignoring contactless. The tap-and-go revolution continues to build momentum, but more importantly, consistently strong. People are now expecting the technology to be offered everywhere, particularly in fast shopping environments where time and convenience in paying are of the essence and retailers should get on the contactless train sooner rather than later.

Elsewhere, MasterCard is continuing its mission of turning everything into a payment device (even fridges) by teaming up with the New School’s Parsons School of Design to bring a design-led approach to payments technology. The payments giant, along the likes of Visa and startups such as Kerv, see fashion as crucial frontier in the future of payments.

In other news, Europe “finally” has a fintech sector to talk about, according to a Credit Suisse analyst, the founder of MeaWallet talks the future of payments and Customers of Square’s peer-to-peer payments tool, Square Cash, can now store money inside the app for the first time.

Of all the payment innovations of the last few years, none have been as stratospheric or consistent as contactless technology. It is simply in a league of its own. The contactless revolution is so strong that payment processors such as Worldpay have started to issue warnings to retailers not offering contactless payment options, telling them they are in danger of being ‘left behind’

MasterCard is aiming to put a sartorial spin on payments as the payments giant has teamed up with the New School’s Parsons School of Design to bring a design-led approach to payments technology.

Apple and Samsung might be dominating the headlines in the world of mobile wallets, but there’s plenty of activity happening behind the scenes. Based in Oslo, Norway, MeaWallet offers a number of services including white label mobile wallet services to banks.

Square is adding yet another string to its bow as it continues trying to be as many things as possible to as many people as possible. Customers of Square’s peer to peer payments tool, Square Cash, can now store money inside the app for the first time.

It’s easy to get swept up in the hype and hyperbole around European fintech hubs like London right now, but for Credit Suisse analyst Charlie Brennan it wasn’t until 2015 that the region had a sector worth talking about.