Venmo tests physical debit card
Venmo is planning to introduce a physical debit card to supplement its payments app.
Cards
Top fintech stories this week – 23 June 2017
Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place!
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.
Rabobank builds cross-border payments hub with Finastra
Rabobank is modernising and centralising its cross-border payments operations. The software supplier for the new payments hub is Finastra (formerly Misys and D+H).
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”. […]
Top fintech stories this week – 16 June 2017
Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place!
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.
Revolut launches multi-currency service across Europe
UK-based payments start-up Revolut has unveiled its new business service across Europe for multi-currency accounts, transferring money and corporate cards. Called Revolut for Business, it will enable companies to hold, exchange and transfer in 25 currencies with the interbank exchange rate, issue employees with corporate cards for “global fee-free spending” and manage their transactional activity […]
Case study: Amsterdam Trade Bank – Amster-can
A bank-wide replacement of its main business applications is ambitious enough but it is just the starting point for Amsterdam Trade Bank (ATB), as it seeks to harness new technologies, adopt a new culture and digitise its business.
Mastercard launches digital payment B2B hub for SMEs
Mastercard has unveiled its B2B Hub to help SMEs speed up invoice and payment processes with accounts payable and payment automation tools. According to the firm, a majority of all B2B payments in the US are still made via cheque with manual payment processes. The Mastercard B2B Hub, delivered through card issuers, is an automated […]
CPI Touts Speed, Security of New Instant-Issuance Printer
A new instant-issuance product from CPI Card Group promises faster card processing times along with higher resolution printing. Called Precision by Card@Once, the system is designed to improve security and the customer experience.
Misys scores another core banking system deal in Myanmar
Myanmar-based Ayeyarwady Bank (AYA Bank) has signed for Misys’ Fusionbanking Essence core banking platform.
Contactless Fraud Scare? Not So Fast.
Breathless reports point to a terrifying increase in U.K. contactless fraud. Dig a little deeper, however, and the story changes.
Visa Bolsters Transaction Security
Visa is beefing up its Verified by Visa authentication service. The payments network said it’s upgrading its back-end to support 3-D Secure 2.0. The 3-D Secure messaging protocol was invented by the network more than 15 years ago and has become an industry standard for online authentication.
Analysis: commercial cards, clear lines and communication
There is no question that the commercial card sector is growing strongly. According to Research and Markets, the US commercial card market in particular is outstripping other B2B payment types. For banks and banking services providers, this presents a huge opportunity to grow revenues while improving customer experience – a vital component in customer retention and increased lifetime value.
People on the Move: Shafi Shaikh, Mastercard
Mastercard has appointed Shafi Shaikh executive vice president, customer delivery, Asia-Pacific. Shaikh oversees customer support, product delivery and customer relationships.
First Data Buys Payment Processor CardConnect for $750 Million
First Data will buy U.S.-based payments processor CardConnect for about $750 million in cash, including the repayment of debt.
BitPay’s Visa-Branded Prepaid Card for Bitcoin Reaches Global Scale
BitPay, a 2017 Pay Award winner, said this week that it has released its BitPay Visa Prepaid Debit Card in 131 countries. The card “makes it possible for users to convert bitcoin into a spendable dollar, euro or pound balance” on the card in a matter of minutes, the company said.
Payments UK predicts debit cards to overtake cash in 2018
Rapid growth in the use of contactless cards means cash will be overtaken as Britain’s most frequently used payment method by the end of 2018, according to trade association Payments UK (soon to become UK Finance). Despite this surge, its latest forecast still does not herald the demise of cash – even in ten years’ […]
Amsterdam Trade Bank revamps tech with Misys and Sentia
Amsterdam Trade Bank (ATB) is undergoing a major technology overhaul with Misys as a key partner. The bank is implementing Misys’ solutions from the Fusionbanking and Fusioncapital portfolios to modernise its corporate banking, treasury and capital management (TCM) and trade finance operations.
Travelex kills off Supercard
Supercard, a new card and mobile product launched by Travelex and Wirecard last June, is now being sunsetted.
CKB in digital channels modernisation project with Misys
Montenegro-based Crnogorska Komercijalna Banka (CKB), member of Hungarian financial services group OTP, is implementing a new digital channels banking platform, Misys Fusionbanking Essence.
Payments round-up: 18 May 2017
Words cut. Time saved. A round-up of key events in the payments enclave. Featuring Australian Settlements Limited, IBM, Mastercard, UnionPay International, Visa and Wirecard. Financial services provider Australian Settlements Limited (ASL) has adopted IBM Cloud for its new payments platform (NPP) implementation. ASL provides members, including building societies, credit unions and mutual banks, with settlement […]
The View from Finovate
Payments compete for attention with “RegTech” while an overall lull in disruption suggests that fintech could be in the eye of a storm.
Vacation Savings Plan, Prepaid Card Help Employees Get Away
It’s vacation season, and employers have a new tool to encourage employees to take much-needed time off and come back more productive. 401Play is offering what it calls a vacation savings account program with a companion Capital Prepaid Services’ BlazePays Visa Prepaid Card to help employees save for vacation.
Samsung Pay makes its UK debut
Samsung Pay has arrived in the UK with Visa keen to reveal that its account holders can use their compatible Samsung smartphones for purchases worldwide. In terms of Visa, the service is available to its cardholders who bank with MBNA, Nationwide and Santander. Samsung adds that its app can be used with HSBC (Mastercard and […]
Amex Study: ‘Gen Z’ Open to Brands, But Demands Seamless, Fast Experience
Consumers age 16 through 22 are open to communication from brands but have high expectations of those brands, demanding high levels of customer service and the latest in omnichannel functionality, according to a new study from American Express.
UBank’s Chatbot Helps Customers with Home Loan Applications
Bank has found another way to use the artificial intelligence-powered virtual assistants. The online-only Australian bank launched RoboChat May 15 to help home buyers—and homeowners who want to refinance—complete UBank’s online home loan application more easily.
French Retailer, Bank Tag Team on Mobile Wallet
France-based retail giant Carrefour and French bank BNP Paribas have joined forces to launch Lyf Pay, a new mobile wallet that supports in-store and P2P transactions as well as loyalty cards, coupons and offers.
White paper: value of commercial cards for banks and their clients
This free white paper provides a structured framework for measuring performance of commercial card programmes across multiple industry sectors, suggests a range of norms for card penetration and usage, and describes the key data points for measurement. It also describes the actions that card issuers could take to maximise value from the programmes they have running: retaining business that is already fruitful, and nurturing business which could be more abundantly fruitful.
Misys brings AI to its trade monitoring software
Misys is getting in on the artificial intelligence (AI) act, with the launch of Misys FusionCapital Detect – a component for its trading solution which uses machine learning to spot booking errors, anomalies and unusual activity. The firm says FusionCapital Detect behaves as a personal assistant for trade validation teams, red flagging probable mistakes that […]
British judge calls contactless cards “quite ludicrous”
A UK judge has taken a swipe at contactless card payments because they make life too easy for criminals. According to the BBC, Exeter Crown Court recorder David Bartlett says it is “quite ludicrous that the banks have allowed this to happen”, after hearing how a card was used by a thief to buy goods […]
Misys and Diebold Nixdorf team for cloud banking tech in Germany
Misys has announced the availability of its solutions for German retail banks in the cloud. Diebold Nixdorf will deliver infrastructure services out of its certified data centres in Germany.
