VocaLink, the international payment provider, has made three senior appointments in its strategy & business development division. Nick Millar joins as strategy and customer insight director, Jim Wadsworth as product development director and Phil Harrison as commercial director, alternative payments.
Jan. 17, 2013 A group of prepaid card providers has reached a settlement in a Florida investigation over fee disclosures and what the state’s Attorney General said were misleading claims regarding credit. The investigation was launched in early 2009 into business practices of AccountNow, First Data, Green Dot, NetSpend and UniRush Financial Services, all of […]
Jan. 17, 2013 Saral Money, a project India’s government launched in late 2012 to gradually extend basic financial services to India’s 400 million unbanked consumers, is gaining momentum through the participation of Visa Inc., five major Indian banks and payments processor TSYS, which is providing biometric technology to authenticate users who sign up for the […]
Jan. 17, 2012 An industry-wide mobile payments service set to launch next year in the U.K. will enable users to send mobile payments using just their phone numbers and a password. Eight of the nation’s major banks, including Barclays, HSBC and RBS, have signed on to the program, which is being guided by the U.K. […]
Jan. 17, 2013 Social Money Services is enhancing its SmartyPig tools enabling consumers to save for specific purchases with SmartyPig OneClick, which links to specific items on a consumer’s wish list from any e-commerce Website. Participants who set up a SmartyPig account can click on images of items they want to buy without leaving that […]
Jan. 17, 2013 PayPal parent company eBay, JP Morgan Chase and U.S. Bancorp recently released fourth-quarter financial results. eBay Inc. reported net revenue of $4 billion for the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, 2012, a 17.6 percent increase compared with $3.4 billion during the same period a year earlier. The San Jose, Calif.-based company also […]
January 2013 By Adam Perrotta, Assistant Editor Putting together a deal in the gift card business during the thick of the holiday shopping season is no easy feat—just ask Giftango Corp. CEO David Nelsen, who spent the final weeks of 2012 negotiating the sale of his company to Atlanta-based prepaid distribution and technology […]
The UK Payments Council has announced that the introduction of its planned Mobile Payments Service has been pushed back until “spring 2014” – a year after its previously expected introduction, and two years after Barclays broke from the rest of the UK banks and launched its Pingit service. The delay comes despite commitments from financial […]
Jan. 15, 2013 Competition in the network branded prepaid card market has led to lower costs and better functionality for card users, says a new working paper from the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. The well-functioning market, combined with a lack of evidence that consumers are making errors when choosing a prepaid card, means […]
Jan. 15, 2013 NCR Corp., eager to expand use of its mobile apps for restaurants and retailers, this week announced an agreement with PayPal Inc. designed to make it easier for consumers to manage their bills and pay for food using their smartphones when dining out. Duluth, Ga.-based NCR plans to integrate PayPal alongside credit […]
Jan. 15, 2013 MasterCard has inked a deal with Kenya’s Equity Bank to issue new debit and prepaid cards over the next 18 months. The 5 million new cards will be equipped with PayPass contactless technology and EMV chips, and are set to roll out initially in Kenya, followed by Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and South […]
Jan. 15, 2013 Chattanooga, Tenn.-based processor and program manager TransCard this week said it has acquired HQ Gift Cards, the nation’s largest program manager of mall-based prepaid and gift cards, as part of a broader expansion push. Gardena, Calif.-based HQ, founded in 2000 and acquired in 2006 by Ceridian Stored Value Solutions, manages gift and […]
Jan. 15, 2013 PEX Card, a New York City-based provider of the Visa-branded PEX Card prepaid expense-management card for small and midsize businesses, has launched PEX Mobile, a suite of iOS and Android applications enabling PEX Card administrators to perform day-to-day cash management and expense control functions using a smartphone. “PEX Card administrators often play […]
Jan. 15, 2013 Mozido LLC, an Austin, Texas-based startup providing cloud-based, white-label mobile payments services for banks and merchants, has signed a multiyear deal for access to the cloud infrastructure and hosted IT solutions of Savvis, a subsidiary of telecom CenturyLink. “By leveraging Savvis’ leading cloud and hosting infrastructure, we will enable customers in the […]
January 2013 By Kate Fitzgerald, Emerging Payments Editor Coinstar Inc. is grabbing attention in the secondary gift card market with Alula, a kiosk service it’s piloting that enables consumers to immediately convert unused gift cards into cash at supermarkets. The service adds a fresh twist to the process of selling unused gift cards to […]
January 2013 Experts on five markets—Brazil, France, Italy, Middle East and Russia—discuss how prepaid is developing where they’re doing business, as providers and consultants. By Loraine DeBonis, Editor-in-Chief Paybefore: How widely has prepaid been adopted in Brazil beyond the meal voucher market? Neissan Monadjem: The food voucher programs along with the mobile prepaid “card” vertical represent 80 […]
HSBC is to pilot a foreign exchange netting system in China after getting approval from authorities there – the first foreign bank to get such approval. The programme is part of the Chinese State Administration of Foreign Exchange’s recently launched Foreign Currency Centralised Management pilot scheme for multinational companies.
By Lee Britton, Prepaid Financial Services One of the great things about getting old is hearing new phrases defining old concepts. Chances are, by the time 2013 has been and gone, you’ll have come across the above phrase, specifically around payments or technology. But first, it’s important to recognize two apparently irreconcilable differences: What someone […]
Jan. 14, 2013 MCX executives and member merchants revealed a few more details about their plans for mobile payments during a panel at the National Retail Federation’s Annual Convention & EXPO in New York City today, including that its initial mobile payments solution will be primarily barcode- and cloud-based. The coalition of merchants, which announced formation […]
Jan. 14, 2013 First Data Corp.’s CEO Jonathan J. Judge plans to step down from the company for health reasons, the company said. First Data will conduct a search for a new CEO and Judge will maintain his positions as CEO and board member until a replacement is found, but no later than March 31, […]
Jan. 14, 2013 Restricted-spend healthcare payment provider Medagate, a wholly owned subsidiary of InComm, has announced the launch of what the company calls the first dual-network healthcare spending card. The MasterCard-branded Dual Value Health Card enables employers and health plans to offer members a healthcare funding account, such as a health savings account (HSA) or […]
Jan. 14, 2013 Payelp Global, a Los Angeles-based e-commerce platform serving merchants via 300 different payment gateways worldwide, is expanding its services to include a reloadable virtual prepaid card for consumers in regions that lack broad credit and debit card penetration. The offering builds on Payelp’s existing partnership with Moscow-based Qiwi Ltd., which recently introduced […]
Jan. 14, 2013 Nearly twice as many mobile phone users by the end of 2017 will have used their devices for mobile banking, compared with this year—1 billion versus 590 million—according to a new report from U.K.-based Juniper Research. The developed markets of Far East & China, North America and Western Europe will have the […]
Jan. 14, 2013 San Francisco-based mobile direct carrier biller Boku has received an e-money license for its European payments platform. Boku said the approval from the U.K.’s Financial Services Authority will enable the company to expand its platform in Europe. Currently operating in more than 65 countries, Boku has direct billing deals with about 250 […]
January 2013 By Bill Grabarek, Senior Editor Financial institutions must combat persistent consumer indifference toward mobile banking in the United States if they want to see consumers move toward mobile commerce, according to a recent report by Javelin Strategy & Research. The research, which outlines financial services trends in 2013 as well as how […]
January 2013 Payair, a Swedish mobile commerce company, has hired Dan Åkhagen as human resources director. He will be responsible for the recruitment of new staff and the development of existing employees. Åkhagen has extensive experience with human resources issues in both public and private sectors. Before joining Payair, he was employed by game developer […]
January 2013 MasterCard Worldwide has announced three new appointments to bolster its Asia-Pacific, Middle East & Africa (APMEA) leadership teams. TV Seshadri is moving from India to Singapore as group executive, global products and solutions (GP&S) for APMEA. Seshadri will assume responsibilities for developing, driving and implementing product strategies and solutions for MasterCard to maximize the […]
As uptake of mobile banking services is predicted to reach 1 billion by 2017, banks are starting to view the mobile channel as an indispensable revenue stream, according to Nitin Bhas, senior analyst at telecoms research firm Juniper Research.
Swift, the Brussels-based financial messaging consortium has appointed Juliette Kennel to the newly-created post of head of market infrastructures. Kennel, formerly head of standards, will be responsible for bringing together Swift’s activities in this area. Swift’s relationships with other market infrastructures is a focus for Gottfried Leibbrandt, who took over as chief executive last summer, […]
Jan. 10, 2013 European banks and prepaid card marketers are weighing their options as they await word on a European Parliament initiative to guarantee all European Union citizens access to a payment account, according to observers. The push to bring payment services to all springs from a European Commission announcement in March 2012 that laid […]
Jan. 10, 2013 Salt Lake City’s focus as a hotbed of NFC-based mobile payment intensified today as U.S. Bank announced the launch of its “Go Mobile” app enabling some of its credit card customers to convert their iPhones to an NFC payment device. Salt Lake City residents can now wave their phones to pay at […]
Jan. 10, 2013 Down-to-the-wire drama over the U.S. economy and the “fiscal cliff,” lasting effects of Hurricane Sandy and relatively modest retail discounts during the holidays are likely contributors to December having the lowest monthly dollar volume growth in three years, according to the latest SpendTrend data released by First Data Corp., an Atlanta-based payments […]
Jan. 10, 2013 NetSpend Holdings Inc. has added another partner to its growing payroll card business. The Brink’s Company, which is best known for supplying security-related logistics and transportation services, will offer a new payroll card in partnership with NetSpend, which will serve as exclusive program manager and processor. The Brink’s Money prepaid card, set […]
Jan. 10, 2013 Tupelo, Miss.-based BancorpSouth Inc. has announced the launch of a new GPR prepaid card targeted at travelers, students and online shoppers. The MasterCard-branded card can be used at retailers, online and for cash withdrawal at ATMs, and features an online account management system that enables reloads over the Web. BancorpSouth said there […]
ATM maker Diebold has developed an ATM that lets customers withdraw cash without using a card – and saves the bank money in the process.
January 2013 By Jeremy T. Rosenblum and Stefanie H. Jackman, Ballard Spahr LLP The sky is not falling—at least yet. The ability of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to supervise smaller banks (less than $10 billion in assets) and other companies providing prepaid cards to consumers is currently limited. For participants in the […]
NFC technology advocates face continued disappointment in 2013 as it is likely to be overshadowed by other developments in retail payments, according to a new report by financial research firm Celent.
Jan. 8, 2013 Atlanta-based prepaid distribution and technology provider InComm has acquired Giftango Corp., the Portland, Ore.-headquartered digital gift card fulfillment provider, in a move InComm says is meant to expand the company’s reach into high-volume, e-commerce gift card sales and distribution. “This acquisition opens doors to new and meaningful distribution channels for InComm merchants […]
Jan. 8, 2013 Customers of U.S. Bank, Minneapolis-based lead bank of U.S. Bancorp, now will be able to set up bill payments by photographing their paper bills using the camera on smartphones and tablets. Mobile Photo Bill Pay could help spur bill pay adoption by eliminating the need to manually enter biller and payment information, […]
Jan. 8, 2013 After a strong post-Thanksgiving start, in-store holiday retail sales were sluggish this season as an uncooperative calendar and a continued shift toward online shopping dragged down store visits. According to retail analytics provider RetailNext, brick-and-mortar retail traffic was down significantly in the 2012 holiday season, as the number of store visits fell […]
