Mobile payments company Skrill has launched a mobile app that it says can send money to anyone, anywhere in the world at any time. The app has several uses, including cross-border remittance payments to various countries in eastern Europe and around the world.
Standard Bank of South Africa has launched a major expansion drive in West Africa, starting with the opening of a new representative office in the Côte d’Ivoire. The bank plans to use the Abidjan office to become familiar with the region and identify further opportunities within it.
Issuers or program managers that focus marketing efforts on the savings that can be achieved through HSAs could increase account take-up and improve the profitability for those accounts at the same time.
Las Vegas hosted the 21st Annual ATM, Debit & Prepaid Forum last month, where industry stakeholders were abuzz about monetizing mobile and big data and, surprisingly, credit.
The UK High Court has ruled against Barclays in a case brought by remittance provider Dahabshiil, granting an injunction preventing the bank from closing Dahabshiil’s account.
Could college campuses serve as labs for U.S. NFC payment adoption? The answer may depend on the results of pilots launched last month at two midsize universities.
Square Inc. is turning up the heat in the m-POS race with a major promotion with Staples to drive sales of its Square Stand POS solution to smaller brick-and-mortar merchants.
Borrowers of short-term and payday loans use up to an average of 36 percent of their periodic wages to pay back those loans—far more than they typically can afford, according to a new report from The Pew Charitable Trusts, which calls on regulators to make such loans safer and more transparent. “Payday Lending in America: […]
Mobile payments are spreading fast in Brazil, with nearly half of the country’s consumers having made a purchase on a tablet device between May and June 2013, while almost 30 percent did so via a mobile phone, according to a new study. The research, conducted by Mobi.life on behalf of Brazilian mobile payments company Pagtel, […]
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) late last week issued a fact sheet on Section 314(b) of the USA PATRIOT Act, offering guidance to help financial institutions understand permissible use of information sharing related to AML and counter-terrorist financing efforts. The fact sheet highlights the benefits of sharing information, which organizations are eligible to participate […]
Andrea Galeazzi, director of network services at Italian payments and technology infrastructure company SIA, has taken up a new role as chairman at Italian telecoms firm Emmecom. The move is part of SIA’s acquisition of the smaller firm, which took place in July and forms a key part of its European expansion plans.
Citibank and mobile operator 3 Hong Kong have co-launched an NFC mobile wallet in the form of a sticker for iPhone and mobile app for Android.
The high double-digit growth numbers in prepaid fall to single digits as the industry faces regulatory uncertainty and a sluggish economic recovery.
Just over a year since launching the Bluebird prepaid card with American Express, retail giant Walmart is expanding its suite of prepaid products, adding six new cards to its Paybefore Award-winning line of GPR cards—all issued by Green Dot Corp.’s Green Dot Bank. Four of the new cards will be under Walmart’s own MoneyCard brand. The […]
Payroll cards are coming under fire again, after lawmakers in Pennsylvania last week proposed a ban on all payroll cards and a new lawsuit filed in federal court in California alleges payroll card abuses by a major U.S. apparel maker. The moves suggest more challenges ahead for payroll card companies, which came under attack earlier […]
Citibank Hong Kong and 3 Hong Kong, the mobile operation of Hutchison Telecommunications Hong Kong Holdings Ltd., have launched 3 Citi Wallet for mobile subscribers of 3 Hong Kong and Citibank Visa cardholders.
Google’s latest Android mobile operating system includes a new feature that could enable Google Wallet to cut out telecom providers as middlemen for NFC applications.
Jon Sarvis has been named CEO of TMG Financial Services (TMGFS), a Des Moines, Iowa-based payments solutions provider.
ProPay, a merchant services provider and TSYS company, recently was recognized as the top online payment service by merchants participating in the EcommerceBytes awards survey.
Payveris, a Wethersfield, Conn.-based online and mobile payments company, has expanded its executive leadership team with the addition of industry veterans Rich Pelikan and Mickey Goldwasser.
Starbucks, arguably the largest mobile payments operator in the world with its wildly popular closed-loop mobile app, grabbed attention late Wednesday with news that Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz has resigned from Square Inc.’s board after 15 months.
Growth of the open- and closed-loop prepaid card markets will be slower than previous years as the industry weathers a stubbornly sluggish economy and regulatory uncertainty, according to Mercator Advisory Group. Total loads on open-loop cards, which include GPR, payroll, open-loop gift and unemployment benefits, will drop from a previously forecasted 21 percent compound annual […]
Mobile POS payment startup LoopPay Inc. is getting out of the gate fast, inking a deal to distribute its dongle-based mobile wallet to college students through marketing and payments provider Campus Nation Network (CNN).
More than 12.5 million Americans already are taking advantage of mobile bill payments, but the untapped potential of the market could be worth $2.1 trillion, according to a new report from Javelin Strategy & Research. That’s the total amount Javelin estimates Americans spend annually on seven essential bill types: open-loop credit cards, store-branded credit cards, […]
Clear and effective legislation could result in a beneficial change for business. An unclear and ineffective one would result in another obstacle to a “further integrated and efficient European payments market,” which the commission has set as the first objective the Payments Package should achieve.
Japanese mobile telecom provider NTT Docomo is partnering with MasterCard to enable users of Docomo’s iD mobile wallet to make contactless purchases at 1.2 million MasterCard PayPass acceptance locations worldwide.
First Data Corp., an Atlanta-based payments processor, has acquired Perka, provider of a mobile marketing and consumer loyalty platform enabling small to midsize merchants to better engage with customers through location-based smartphone apps. Perka will continue to operate autonomously as an entrepreneurial company led by its current management and product development team, according to an […]
U.S. Bank next month will roll out Mobile Photo Balance Transfer, a feature from Mitek Systems enabling customers to apply for a credit card balance transfer by snapping a photo of a credit card bill with a smartphone and sending it to the bank. Standard credit card approval processes apply. The new service rounds out […]
Workers are highly motivated by rewards and inventive programs provided by their employers, with nearly three-quarters of employees saying they would put in extra effort to earn rewards, according to a new study from U.K. payment provider Ixaris. The company’s 2013 Study of Rewards and Incentives polled 4,800 workers in the U.S., U.S., Canada, France […]
Cloud computing company SAP has signed a deal with Citibank for a major new cloud platform that promises to simplify corporate to bank connectivity for some of the world’s largest banks, Banking Technology has learned.
PayPal on Oct. 25 announced a new partnership with Kenya’s Equity Bank to link local merchants with the global online marketplace. Kenya’s e-commerce operators for the first time will be able to hold proceeds from online sales in a local bank account where they may receive payments in 26 different currencies, which are automatically converted […]
Two House Democrats have proposed measures to crack down on money laundering by deterring the use of shell corporations and giving regulators the authority to hold bank executives accountable for misconduct taking place on their watch. The first bill, proposed by Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), would strengthen the government’s ability to charge individuals with violations […]
A coffee shop in Vancouver, British Columbia, will be home this week to what some are hailing as the world’s first Bitcoin ATM, which can exchange cash for the controversial digital currency.
A law prohibiting surcharges on certain types of payments should apply to mobile carriers, an adviser to the EU’s Court of Justice told the Austrian Supreme Court, which is currently deliberating an appeal by T-Mobile after the carrier’s surcharges were ruled illegal by lower Austrian courts. The case stems from a lawsuit filed by a […]
The Reserve Bank of Australia and the Australian Payments Clearing Association have proposed creating a new industry body called the Australian Payments Council, to better coordinate the country’s payments system.
Clear2Pay, the Brussels-based payments systems company, says that selling the company “is not part” of its current plans.
HSBC Bank China has completed its first electronic tax payment for a corporate client in Shanghai, in a move that the bank says is the first among all foreign banks I the city. The new tax payment service deducts funds in real time and enables customers to complete tax reports and process payments on the government’s tax system terminal from any location.
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.
A pair of payments industry heavy-hitters is banding together, with prepaid provider Blackhawk Network announcing that its electronic gift cards will be accessible within the PayPal mobile app. Meanwhile, the partnership gives PayPal yet another foothold in the physical payments space, bringing PayPal’s reloadable GPR prepaid card to Blackhawk’s extensive retail distribution network. “Our collaboration […]
The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s Payment Cards Center this week unveiled a white paper analyzing the effects of sweepstakes-based financial literacy programs New York-based PayPerks developed to help educate unbanked and underbanked consumers using prepaid government benefits cards. The 26-page paper, “Driving Positive Behavior Change Through Education and Motivation: Summary of a PayPerks Workshop,” […]
