Digital


Global mobile money transfer to top $10 billion in 2013

The value of international money transfers made via mobile phones will exceed $10bn for the first time this year, according to Juniper Research. However, the cost and complexity of regulating cash transfer has led many service providers to focus exclusively on airtime top ups, the research firm reported.

Consumers don’t trust mobile payments study finds

Fewer than one in four of UK consumers would use their smartphone like a credit card to make payments even if they had the relevant app, according to a new survey carried out by YouGov on behalf of outsourcing firm Firstsource Solutions.

Mobile payments success needs complete ecosystem

The public is ready to adopt mobile payments in many aspects of their lives, but service providers need to have a defined role in the ecosystem and an understanding of how they interact with other players and the consumer.

Financial institutions are “missing out” on big data says TeleWare

As financial regulation on mobile phone recording grows ever tighter in Europe, a significant proportion of financial institutions still haven’t put in place any technology to handle it. They could be missing out, according to Steve Haworth, chief executive at computer telephony specialist TeleWare.

Lessons on living in a real-time payments world

Coming to the US to tell an audience of payments specialists about how the UK has transformed its national infrastructure over the past five years with the introduction of an effectively real-time payment system might have been considered a rough assignment – what can the Brits teach the wider world, particularly the US, about payments […]

PayPal points to global reach

Don Kingsborough, vice president of retail and prepaid products at PayPal, had a clear message for Money2020 delegates in Las Vegas yesterday: “The future is actually now.”

Zapp: putting banks back in the m-payments picture

Formed earlier this year, Zapp expects to launch next year with the backing of most of the major UK retail banks, Peter Keenan, chief executive of the venture, says that at the time of launch the Pay by Zapp service will be available to 40% of UK current account holders, and it will have the backing of 50% of the nation’s online and mobile retailers – including well-known brands.

Mobile payments – the tipping point

There comes a tipping point when market readiness, social behaviour and technology combine to create a sudden, ubiquitous change of behaviour. For mobile payments the tipping point may have arrived – but will there be a dominant solution?

Cross-channel banking: beyond the app

Understanding and embracing cross-channel communication behaviours will become increasingly critical to success in the banking industry, writes Steve Dille, SVP of global marketing at Maryland USA based communications firm Message Systems.

PayPal’s path to success paved with “good ideas and lots of hard work”

PayPal is belatedly paying some attention to design: in its early days, the company didn’t have designers, so the Pay with PayPal button wasn’t very consistent – sellers could tinker with it and even modify the colour. That’s changing, John Muller, vice president and general counsel, told Money 2020.

Pinnacle Bank outsources processing to Fiserv

US based Pinnacle Bank has chosen to outsource its processing to Fiserv as part of its Precision bank platform, in a move the bank says will help it to scale and roll out new products including mobile banking, bill payment and checking. Based in the town of Elberton in the US state of Georgia, Pinnacle […]

Visa Europe adopts BT’s managed network

Visa Europe’s decision to place its internal and external communications networks into the hands of BT will help the firm to realise economies of scale and offer a more efficient service to customers, according to Chris Pickles, Head of industry initiatives at BT.

MyBank E-Mandate pilot ready to go live

EBA Clearing has signed five financial institutions, 11 European service providers and two corporates for its MyBank E-Mandate pilot, which will begin in October and will test the firm’s solution for Sepa core direct debits for reliability, security and usability.

Innovation: there is a better way

Innovation in financial services may not generate products quite so world-changing as the inventions of Edison, but the principle of finding better ways to do something does inform most developments.

Flurry of initiatives show confidence in ‘on time’ T2s

Momentum is building behind the European Central Bank’s (ECB’s) Target2-Securities (T2S) settlement platform. With the ECB confirming the platform will be delivered on time, further proof of the industry’s confidence in the initiative has come via a series of announcements regarding connectivity to T2S.

Retail banking: underwriting the revolution

New technologies are transforming the consumer experience in retailing and in banking. For banks to remain relevant, they need to work with innovators, writes Paul Skeldon

Barclays builds on Pingit head start

Barclays is making a determined effort to capitalise on the two-year lead it has built up with its Pingit mobile payments application with two new applications intended to allow retailers to integrate mobile payments into their services.

Standard Chartered backs mobile wallets

Standard Chartered has launched a mobile wallet service targeted at corporate clients in Kenya. The service has been developed in partnership with Safaricom, which operates the mobile money transfer service M-Pesa. The bank hopes the deal will herald the start of a major drive to open up financial inclusion in emerging markets.

Zapp zeroes in on UK banks as mobile banking competition builds

Mobile payments specialist Zapp is expecting to sign up five of the six major UK banks within the next few weeks, following a deal with acquirer WorldPay, announced this week. However, the platform still has a long way to go to catch-up with rival Barclay’s Pingit, which has a significant head-start, having launched in February 2012.

Bricks or clicks? The choice isn’t yours

The challenging ongoing economic climate and the resulting shrinking markets have created an environment of greatly increased competition. In order to deal with the pressures of recession, retail banks are increasingly being forced into a strategic transformation of business structure, culture and practice. How they interact with customers is a prime focus during these transformations, writes Mike Davies, Regional Vice President Sales EMEA North at GMC Software Technology.

UK mobile payments held back by security and complexity

With only one in five UK consumers using their mobile to make payments, new research suggests that the technology is being held back by consumer fears over security, lengthy sign-up processes and problems making payments outside of individual schemes.

YellowPepper spices up Latin American mobile payments

A new mobile payments network called YellowPepper has launched in Colombia, marking the beginning of a massive project to bank the unbanked and sweep away the dominance of cash across the Spanish-speaking Americas.

Demystifying m-commerce

Payments made via mobile devices are fast becoming de rigueur as tablet sales are expected to overtake personal computers by 2017. Shane Fitzpatrick  addresses five common myths about m-commerce and how to capture online revenues. Smartphones are already more popular globally than desktop PCs and of the 1.875 billion phones to be sold in 2013, […]

Interactive Data launches mobile data app

A new trading app has been launched by Interactive Data subsidiary eSignal, which promises to help traders use the iPad to obtain information and market data on the move. A subsidiary of Interactive Data, eSignal is based in California. The firm’s technology is targeted at making it easier for traders to get access to real-time […]

Canada’s Desjardins financial cooperative pushes NFC offering

Canada is seeing a fresh push to promote near field communication (NFC) services after Canadian cooperative financial group Desjardin signed a deal with mobile money solutions provider Monitise and a joint venture with the nation’s three largest mobile operators.

One American in three uses mobile banking

One in three US adults now uses mobile banking in their day to day lives– a rise of almost double since 2011, according to new research from the US Pew Research Centre.

PayPal partners with MoneyGram for cash withdrawal

PayPal users can withdraw money from their accounts and pick up the funds via money transfer company MoneyGram, following a deal between the two US firms that also will see PayPal customers loading funds into their accounts via MoneyGram by the end of the year.

Orange sets out Botswana mobile payments deal with Visa

Telecoms firm Orange is planning to launch a set of mobile payment services in Botswana and other countries in Africa and the Middle East, which it says will easy access to funds around the clock and bring new point of sale, online and ATM transaction options to customers.