India’s Central Bank Tightens Prepaid Regs (March 31, 2014)
The Reserve Bank of India has updated its rules covering prepaid products, which it says will help combat money laundering and fraud.
PayTech
People on the Move: Greg Haney, CardLab Inc.
CardLab Inc., a Dallas-based provider of open-loop incentive and prepaid card products, announced that Greg Haney has joined the company as chief operating officer.
Company on the Move: Contact Solutions, Frost & Sullivan Award
Contact Solutions, a Reston, Va.-based provider of cloud-based customer self-service solutions, has been awarded the Customer Value Leadership Award for Best Practices Research on hosted interactive voice response solutions by business consulting firm Frost & Sullivan.
People on the Move: Anna Yip, MasterCard
MasterCard has appointed Anna Yip as head of Hong Kong and Macau.
People on the Move: Ari Horowitz and George Zirkel, TabbedOut
TabbedOut, an Austin, Texas-based provider of an app enabling consumers to open, review and pay their restaurant and bar tabs from their mobile phones, has hired Ari Horowitz as executive vice president, strategic partnerships and corporate development, and George Zirkel as chief revenue officer.
People on the Move: U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, New Memoir
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has written a book, “A Fighting Chance,” which chronicles her life from growing up in Oklahoma to her work establishing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to her 2012 election to the U.S. Senate.
People on the Move: Eric Duprat, WEX Inc.
WEX Inc., a provider of corporate payment solutions, announced that Eric Duprat has been elected to the company’s board of directors.
Global move towards real-time payment systems
In this supplement we share our experiences of implementing real-time payments systems and take an in-depth look at the success of Faster Payments in the UK. We also examine the challenges and benefits that real-time payments can deliver to banks and consumers as well as the advantages real-time technology can bring to government and businesses to support the wider economy and society as a whole.
International Bank of Qatar clamps down on money laundering
The International Bank of Qatar has installed a financial crime risk management platform from tech vendor Fiserv, which it says will help it to better manage its money laundering and fraud prevention strategy.
SIA and Orange champion mobile POS in Europe
Orange Business Services and technology infrastructure provider SIA have done a deal aimed at encouraging European banks and merchants to manage more payments via mobile point of sale terminals.
IRS Says Digital Currency is Property (March 27, 2014)
The IRS has ruled that Bitcoin and other digital currencies are property, not currency, and will be treated as such for tax purposes.
Survey: Consumers Spend Double Via Mobile, But Security/Privacy Remain Barriers for Non-Users (March 27, 2014)
The good news for mobile payments is that consumers in the U.S. and Europe are spending double when they initiate payments via their mobile devices or online, according to a survey released this month from Bain & Company.
Brazilian Bank, Telco Make NFC Play (March 27, 2014)
Brazilian mobile network operator Claro has partnered with Bradesco, one of that country’s largest banks, to create an NFC-based mobile payment service.
Walmart Opts Out of Interchange Case Settlement, Seeks Damages in New Lawsuit (March 27, 2014)
Walmart this week opted out of the $7.25 billion settlement Visa and MasterCard reached last fall over interchange fees and filed its own antitrust suit against Visa.
NFC at heart of Brazilian bank’s mobile payments plans
Brazilian banking group Bradesco is planning to roll out NFC mobile payments across Brazil by summer 2014, through a partnership with mobile operator Claro and technology provider Giesecke & Devrient.
PBOC Rethinking Mobile Payment Caps (March 26, 2014)
China’s central bank said it’s open to modifying a proposal to place limits on mobile payments after e-commerce firms and consumers objected to the restrictions.
NTIS Issues Interim Final Rule on Access to Death Master File (March 26, 2014)
The National Technical Information Service today has issued an interim final rule establishing a certification program for access to the Social Security Death Master File. The DMF is a tool used by many industries as a means to thwart fraud.
CFTC calls for international swaps data sharing deal
Global standards and approaches to regulation need to focus more on removing risk from the financial system rather than on compliance – but to do so international regulators will need to harmonise their efforts and embrace technology to a much greater degree.
Monitise Lands MasterCard Partnership/Investment, Overhauls Business Model (March 25, 2014)
MasterCard is working with U.K.-based Monitise plc to develop and deploy mobile wallets and digital payments around the globe.
Board Says eBay, PayPal ‘Better Together’ (March 25, 2014)
eBay Inc.’s board of directors says spinning off PayPal in an IPO would not be in the company’s and investors’ best interest, resisting a call from activist investor Carl Icahn—a 2 percent owner of eBay—to sell all or part of PayPal.
Amex to Create Business Travel Division JV for $900 Million Investment (March 25, 2014)
American Express is creating a joint venture for its Global Business Travel division (GBT), in which the card network will share ownership of the JV with an investor group led by New York investment firm Certares.
CFSI Shows ‘Compass Principles’ in Action with NetSpend, Banking Up (March 25, 2014)
The Center for Financial Services Innovation (CFSI) shared proof last week that its Compass Principles for improving the quality of prepaid cards work.
Viewpoint: Dept. of Education Student Debit Card Report Doesn’t Make the Grade
Heading to college is all about the quest for knowledge. Part of that process is learning to use fact-based, impartial research to reach educated conclusions. Unfortunately, the March 10 Department of Education’s Inspector General’s report, “Third-Party Servicer Use of Debit Cards to Deliver Title IV Funds,” doesn’t make the grade.
EBA Clearing reports uptick in SEPA payments
EBA Clearing has reported that market participants are gradually adapting to SEPA, with peak day volumes on its Step2 clearing platform above 100 million SEPA credit transfers and SEPA direct debits.
Breaking News: Appeals Court Interchange Ruling a Big Win for Fed
The Federal Reserve Board has earned a major victory in its long-running legal battle with a group of merchants over its rules implementing the Durbin Amendment, including caps on interchange fees for debit card transactions.
CFPB Seeks to Standardize Prepaid Fee Disclosures (March 20, 2014)
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is developing a new fee disclosure format for prepaid cards, ahead of new rules on the topic the agency expects to propose this year.
EU Cybersecurity Directive Gets OK from European Parliament (March 20, 2014)
European Parliament has voted to adopt proposed cybersecurity rules requiring organizations to meet new security standards and share information in case of security breaches.
NFC Forum: HCE Provides ‘Additional’ Means to Perform NFC Transactions (March 20, 2014)
As Host Card Emulation (HCE) gains momentum and questions continue about whether mass acceptance of NFC technology will ever come, the NFC Forum has issued a position statement on HCE, which emulates an NFC card in the cloud, eliminating the need for a secure element and trusted service manager for NFC applications, such as payments.
APEX: PacSun Case Study Illuminates Corporate POV on Payroll Programs
Seeking a more efficient and cost-effective method of paying underbanked employees, clothing retailer Pacific Sunwear of California turned to ADP’s ALINE Pay electronic payroll platform, which has since become a cornerstone of the company’s payroll operations.
2014 Paybefore Awards Ceremony Photos
During the All Payments Expo (APEX) in Las Vegas March 3-5 2014, Paybefore announced its Best-in-Category and Industry Achievement winners for the 2014 Paybefore Awards. Check out the photos.
Blog: The NFC Tragicomedy: Where the MNOs Went Wrong (March 2014)
As momentum builds for HCE, MNOs may be left wondering why they’re getting cut out of the mobile payments value chain. While GSMA has been pushing NFC adoption with great force, the problem is that this force encouraged MNOs to go solo.
Blog: Square Cash: Fast, Cheap and Easy
Design of Square Cash’s caliber is not cheap. Finding a way to move money faster than conventional methods is not cheap. Is Jack Dorsey’s media darling gathering press and praise at the expense of sound strategy? Or, is Square Cash more than the very few screens that meet the eye?
Google Wallet Regroups, Positioning for HCE Push (March 18, 2014)
Google Wallet is making another course-correction to keep up with fast-moving mobile payments technology.
Western Union Integrates with Nigerian Mobile Payments Service (March 18, 2014)
Western Union is continuing its global expansion in mobile payments, announcing a new mobile money transfer service for Nigeria.
LevelUp Powers Payments App for Smartwatch (March 18, 2014)
Mobile payments with a flick of the wrist are here.
Viewpoint: Better Disclosures Are Good for Consumers and Industry
Legislators and companies, such as MasterCard, are introducing standards for prepaid card disclosures that help us all.
Visa Europe: Contactless Booming in U.K., across Continent (March 17, 2014)
Holders of contactless Visa cards in the U.K. made 94.3 million contactless purchases in 2013, a surge from the 25 million made in 2012, according to data from Visa Europe.
TAS Group Unveils Card 3.0 Card Management Platform (March 17, 2014)
Payments technology company TAS Group, based in Italy with U.S. headquarters in Las Vegas, recently launched its Card 3.0 Card Management Platform in the U.S. to offer program managers greater customization capabilities, down to the cardholder level, and quicker time to market for new programs.
China’s Central Bank Proposes Curbs on Third-Party Payments, Halts Product Rollouts (March 17, 2014)
China’s central bank last week released draft rules that would limit the use of third-party payment systems, including the payment operations of Alibaba Holding Group and Tencent Holdings Inc.
People on the Move: Jim Harper and Amy Weiss, The Bitcoin Foundation
The Bitcoin Foundation, a nonprofit institution founded to promote bitcoin use, has announced the hiring of Jim Harper and Amy Weiss.
