Cards


MileagePlus Go Visa Prepaid Card Set to Soar?

Less than two months following the initial announcement from partners Netspend, a TSYS Company, and United Airlines, the prepaid industry’s first air miles rewards card is now available online. Paybefore readers believe more prepaid providers will follow suit with air miles rewards of their own.

Mastercard buys in to AI with Brighterion

Mastercard has entered into an agreement to acquire Brighterion, a software company specialising in artificial intelligence (AI), reports Banking Technology‘s sister publication Paybefore. This acquisition follows Mastercard’s March acquisition of NuData Security and will further expand Mastercard’s capabilities to “deliver an enhanced customer experience and security”. Brighterion’s portfolio of AI and machine learning technologies provide real-time […]

UK bans surcharging, load fees could be at risk

The UK’s HM Treasury is banning surcharges on credit and debit card payments. For prepaid card providers, the new rules put significant fee income related to card-loading at risk, according to Polymath Consulting. Banking Technology‘s sister publication Paybefore reports that the HM Treasury is putting an end to “rip-off” fees related to paying with a […]

Mastercard Buys in to AI with Brighterion

Mastercard has entered into an agreement to acquire Brighterion Inc., a software company specializing in artificial intelligence. This acquisition follows Masterdard’s March acquisition of NuData Security and will further expand Mastercard’s capabilities to “deliver an enhanced customer experience and security.”

Jenius digital bank gets clever with Finastra

Jenius digital bank, part of Indonesia’s Bank Tabungan Pensiunan Nasional (BTPN), has chosen Finastra’s (formerly Misys) FusionBanking Essence Digital platform. Peterjan van Nieuwenhuizen, head of digital banking at BTPN, says it has “built a system that enables our customers to complete basic banking processes without going to the branch”; and with an “expanding middle class […]

mVisa Takes on M-PESA with Free Domestic Mobile Money Transfers

Move over M-PESA, customers of a Visa-led bank partnership in Kenya will be able to send money to each other domestically without paying transaction fees using mVisa, and the payments network has added additional in-store merchant acceptance for the QR-code-based payment method.

Amex Taps Virtual Cards for Business Travel Expenses

American Express is the latest payments company to recognize the benefits of enabling virtual account numbers for business travel. The addition of virtual account numbers enables businesses to set usage dates and pre-authorize spending limits at the time of booking, helping reduce fraud and encourage compliance with company travel policies, Amex said.

Debit cards knock off cash as No. 1 payment method in UK

Cash is no longer king in the UK, according to the British Retail Consortium’s (BRC) annual Payments Survey, which found that debit card transactions accounted for almost 43% of all retail transactions in 2016, overtaking cash, which accounted for 42% of all retail transactions, for the first time. Banking Technology‘s sister publication Paybefore reports that […]

FitPay and Mastercard take prepaid to wearables and IoT

FitPay Inc, a US-based provider of payment, credential management and authentication platform services, is planning to offer prepaid capabilities on wearable and other devices connected to its FitPay Payment Platform.

Oman Arab Bank upgrades core banking system with Finastra

Oman Arab Bank (OAB), a long-standing customer of Finastra (formerly Misys), is implementing the Fusionbanking Essence core banking system. It will replace Misys’ Equation platform, in operation at the bank for over three decades.

First Data acquires CardConnect for $750m

First Data has completed its acquisition of US payments processor firm CardConnect for about $750 million in cash including the repayment of debt. As Banking Technology reported earlier, the Fintech Acquisition Corp acquired FTS Holding Corporation in July 2016 and renamed it CardConnect. At that time, it traded shares of CardConnect on Nasdaq at approximately […]

Card payments problems bring down the fintech house

A whole swathe of fintech firms and challenger banks have been hit by tech issues – with card payments failing. The names include mobile-only challenger bank Monzo, Revolut, Starling Bank, Curve and payments start-up Fire. The problem is understood to be due to provider Global Processing Services (GPS), which as usual offers no updates on […]

Curve Takes Users ‘Back in Time’  

Payments startups usually boast about their ability to future-proof their technology. For U.K. payments startup Curve, a big part of its appeal is helping users go back in time.

Alfa-Bank buys Misys Equation source code

Alfa-Bank, a top ten bank in Russia by assets and profit, has purchased the source code of its core banking system, Misys Equation. The solution is provided by Finastra (formerly Misys).

PFS deal to provide Moneymailme users with prepaid cards

Users of Moneymailme will have the option of using physical and virtual prepaid cards to make purchases with the funds in their e-wallets. The new feature, announced June 28 at the Money 20/20 Europe conference, is the result of a partnership between the London-based social money transfer provider Moneymailme and Prepaid Financial Services, a U.K.-based payments technology provider.

P2P Is Gaining Steam, but Security Concerns Remain

Consumers prefer to use P2P payments for retail purchases, paying back relatives and friends, and settling bills—but not so much for contributing to group gifts or paying housing costs, according to a new report from NerdWallet. It also found that that while only 35 percent of U.S. consumers use such P2P products as Venmo, PayPal and Square Cash, 63 percent are interested in the payment technology.

CFPB Snapshot: California Leads Nation in Complaints to Agency

The CFPB receives more than 20,000 complaints every month, according to Director Richard Cordray, and the bureau’s latest installment of its Monthly Complaint Report highlights consumer complaints at the state level. As of June 1, the CFPB has received more than 1.2 million complaints across the country since it began accepting them in 2011. The top three states with the most complaints are California, Florida and Texas with 159,158, 111,559 and 93,472 complaints, respectively.

Payscout Launches Virtual Reality Commerce with Visa’s Help

Retail payments have taken another step into the future. Payment processor Payscout has launched a virtual reality system that employs Visa Checkout and enables consumers to examine products before ordering them for delivery to shoppers’ homes.

Curve Hits 50-50 Milestones; Consumer Card to Come

Curve and its all-cards-in-one Curve Mastercard and accompanying banking app apparently has struck a chord with small businesses and freelancers. More than 50,000 SMEs have signed up for the London-based startup’s program, which recorded £50 million (US$63.3 million) in user spending since the beta period began last year.

Mastercard launches competition for African financial inclusion

The Mastercard Foundation Fund for Rural Prosperity (FRP) has launched a new competition to find financial products and services that improve the lives of poor people in rural areas of Africa. The 2017 competition will follow a rolling format and will be open throughout the year with applications submitted and evaluated periodically. The first submission […]

Mastercard, Western Union Designing Digital Solutions for Refugees

Mastercard and Western Union have teamed up to help refugees around the world access goods, services and financial services within refugee settlements. Announced on June 20—World Refugee Day—the partnership will explore ways to use a digital model to serve the more than 65 million people around the world currently displaced from their homes due to political conflict and natural disasters.

Top Payments Consultants: Rick Oglesby, AZ Payments Group

Even when serving in senior manager and director roles with the likes of American Express and TSYS early in his career, Rick Oglesby, AZ Payments Group president, always felt he was destined to be a payments consultant. That vision came true in 2011, and you don’t have to spend too much time with him before his love of consultancy work—helping companies succeed while establishing and nurturing relationships—becomes apparent and likely is the reason why he was selected as one of the industry’s Top Payments Consultants.

TSB drops Visa to issue Mastercard debit and credit cards in 2018

Visa is no longer a pleaser as TSB will issue Mastercard debit cards to all its current account customers in 2018 as part of a seven-year agreement. The bank says it will continue to issue Mastercard credit cards over the same term. The agreement means the two organisations “will partner to offer additional payment solutions”. […]

The Monday mindset: 19 June 2017

Fintech zeitgeist! Every Monday, we might look back at last week; look ahead to this week; share a few thoughts (our own or others); or discuss anything that catches our eye. This week, Anita Liu Harvey, VP for strategy and innovation at Barclaycard, fires us in the direction of “the magic bullets of future retail”. […]

Dutch regulator fines International Card Services €2.4m

The Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM) is fining International Card Services (ICS), a wholly-owned subsidiary of ABN Amro, for excessive credit limits. In March 2017, ICS says it took the initiative itself and prepared a compensation plan for the clients concerned. ICS will pay the €2.4 million fine imposed by the AFM. Which […]

Misys and D+H merge to launch fintech titan Finastra

Misys and DH Corporation (D+H) have joined forces to create Finastra, the third largest financial services technology company in the world. As reported in March, D+H was acquired by Vista Equity Partners for $3.6 billion. The venture capital firm, which owns UK-based banking software vendor Misys, beat rival Advent International to acquire D+H. Finastra will […]

Q&A with Andrew Buckley, Mastercard

When the self-described skeptic took over as global head of prepaid for Mastercard earlier this year, Andrew Buckley wasn’t quite convinced that the opportunities ahead were worthy of all the hype. Five months later and he’s among the converted, preaching the gospel of democratization—not just of payments but of innovation.

Mastercard, Oxford Plan Helps Banks Breathe Life into Biometrics

With increasing global smartphone penetration and a willing consumer base, financial institutions recognize the potential of biometrics to offer more convenience and security to their customers—but a lack of familiarity with the still-new technology among top banking brass remains a significant barrier to adoption, a new report from Mastercard and Oxford University found.

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