There are two major trends in the cross-border payments world: an explosive growth in the number of payments between developed and developing countries, and the fact that governments, regulators and commercial actors increasingly favour payments being executed in local currency and discourage the use of US dollars to settle local.
The UK’s new Payment Systems Regulator looks set to shake up the way the industry is structured, with reviews of the ownership of the infrastructure and of the way that indirect access is managed through sponsoring banks.
The inaugural meeting of the Open Forum on Pan-European Instant Payments drew 77 representatives from 55 payment service providers, technology providers and other stakeholders to Frankfurt this week to kick off discussions about requirements and collaboration on infrastructure services to support instant payments at a pan- European level.
Mobile wallet rivals for Apple Pay, including Samsung Pay and Google Inc.’s rumored Android Pay, may face another giant tech competitor. Microsoft Corp.’s latest moves suggest it may brand its own mobile payments service, too.
Consumers in Asia-Pacific are taking to contactless payments in a big way, with the number of unique contactless users in 2014 up by 49 percent, compared with the previous year, according to MasterCard.
Ubiquity Global Services has announced that payments veteran Jonathan Weiner has joined its board of directors. Weiner is founder and co-chairman of Money20/20 and former global head of payments business development at Google.
Users of Vodafone’s mobile wallet soon will be able to make NFC in-store purchases via a linked bank-issued Visa credit or debit card after the telecom operator struck new deals with Visa and Carta Worldwide.
Following last week’s Optimal Payments purchase of Skrill for $1.2 billion, another $1 billion-plus will change hands in two more acquisitions that will have global implications for the payments companies involved.
Google is working on developing a Gmail-based bill payment service called Pony Express, which could roll out as early as the fourth quarter.
As retailers prepare for the year’s second-largest shopping season—Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and graduations—First Data research from the 2014 holiday season can help retailers drive gift card sales.
Ingo Money’s purchase of Fuze Network Inc.—a payments technology provider enabling loads to more than 1 billion payment cards at thousands of retail networks—closed last month.
More than half (51 percent) of mobile banking users in the U.S. had deposited a check using their mobile phones last year, up from 38 percent in 2013, according to the Federal Reserve’s latest study, “Consumers and Mobile Financial Services 2015.”
Hong Kong’s share of the international Renminbi market has fallen over the past two years as other countries increase their share, which now stands at 25% compared to 17% in February 2013
Host card emulation specialist Bell ID is enabling the launch of ANZ New Zealand’s upgraded goMoney mobile app, which is set to feature a cloud-based HCE NFC mobile wallet. The project, for the New Zealand division of ANZ Bank, will bring contactless mobile payments to the smartphones of more than 120,000 ANZ customers. The ANZ […]
Establishing an omnichannel marketing presence for their gift card programs will help retailers appeal to the buying behaviors and expectations of a demographic with growing purchasing power.
Although it’s great to see so many new players emerge at every SXSW gathering, entrepreneurs or would-be entrepreneurs should keep in mind some basic but key considerations when it comes to launching a new payments product. Come to think of it, this mantra isn’t bad advice for payments veterans either.
Gaps in merchant readiness for the U.S. EMV migration may cause banks to move more slowly in issuing new credit and debit cards equipped with EMV chips, a new study from Auriemma Consulting Group suggests.
An industry group is calling 2015 the “year of the prepaid economy” in the U.K., as consumers there increasingly adopt prepaid cards for everyday spending, online shopping and transit.
U.K.-based Monitise plc is no longer for sale.
Tanzania is taking steps to tighten up electronic payments against fraud, with the government working to establish best practices, regulations and supervision of efficient, effective payment, clearing and settlement systems, according to Finance Minister Saada Mkuya Salum.
Türk Ekonomi Bankası is to launch a mobile contactless payment application using Visa Europe’s host card emulation functionality to provide secure contactless payments.
Square Inc. this week poured more heat into P2P with the debut of Square Cash for Business, an extension of its consumer-targeted Square Cash P2P product launched in 2013.
The CFPB received nearly 5,800 comments on its proposed prepaid regulations before yesterday’s deadline.
A quartet of congressmen has formed a group to explore and support emerging payment technologies.
The Banking Industry Architecture Network has announced six new members including ACI Worldwide, Atos, EY and Zafin. Its global network now numbers 58 banks, service providers, software vendors and academic partners.
The NBPCA is calling on the CFPB to limit the scope of its proposed prepaid regulations to focus on primary transaction accounts and to, among other things, simplify disclosures rather than adding complexity for consumers.
Two of Europe’s biggest e-commerce brands are coming together. Optimal Payments today announced plans to acquire rival Skrill Group for €1.1 billion (US$1.2 billion).
Following a November 2014 request for information, the U.K. government plans to apply anti-money laundering regulation to digital currency exchanges, which it says will support innovation and deter crime.
The European Parliament’s Payment Accounts Directive creates a right to a basic bank account, which must be enshrined in national law across Europe by September 2016. But the rules represent a challenge to banks’ ability to manage their business – one that speaks to the heart of the current regulatory debate, according to delegates at the Payments International conference in London this week.
As international regulators demand more detail from banks on payments to individuals and companies, the first order of business is to ensure compliance with mandates. Migrating Swift MT payment formats to ISO 20022 will allow the industry to shape the transformation of payment messaging standards rather than have others shape it – but there is a need to set timelines for implementation or cede control.
Now that Facebook has made its move to launch P2P within its Messenger app, the question is how it may affect competitors—including financial services providers pushing P2P—and fit into the company’s long-term goals.
Building on the growth of electronic payments MasterCard has been experiencing in Brazil, the card network this week signed a 20-year deal with Itaú Unibanco, resulting in a new electronic payments network in the country, according to an announcement.
The CFPB is finalizing its consumer narrative policy and, 90 days after the policy is published in the Federal Register, consumers who have opted in will be able to make their complaints about financial products and services in the bureau’s Consumer Complaint Database public.
Following its February Pay World Best-in-Category win for its Paylution Prepaid Card, Vancouver, B.C.-based Hyperwallet yesterday unveiled a new brand identity and revamped product line of Mass Payments Solutions.
The CFPB on March 17 announced a request for public comments on how the credit card market is functioning and the impact of credit card protections on consumers and issuers. The inquiry, which is required by the CARD Act every two years, will focus on issues including credit card terms, the use of consumer disclosures, […]
Walmart’s Paybefore Award-winning Rapid Reload service now is enabling reloads for more than 100 prepaid card programs with the integration of the Visa ReadyLink reload network.
Gyft, a San Francisco-based mobile gift card company and subsidiary of First Data Corp., has announced plans to use bitcoin to enable gift card providers to issue more secure, consumer-friendly digital products, according to Gyft CEO Vinny Lingham, who spoke during the South by Southwest (SXSW) Conferences & Festivals this week in Austin, Texas.
Alibaba Founder Jack Ma this week wowed the audience at a computer technology conference in Germany with a live demonstration of “Smile to Pay,” a facial recognition technology the China-based e-commerce giant is developing for mobile shopping and payments.
Myanmar’s Yoma Bank is to install a new core banking system provided by vendor Misys, as part of a major transformation project at the privately-owned bank. Yoma especially wanted to be in a position to benefit from the growth of mobile technology in the country.
The Colorado congressman suggests having too many disclosures is a disservice to consumers.
