CARTES: Gazing into the Payments Crystal Ball
Don’t get bogged down by existing technological limitations—they will inevitably fade with the march of innovation—and the future will be beyond what you can imagine.
Mobile
At APEX Europe: Mobile’s the Thing (May 19, 2014)
At the launch of the All Payments Expo Europe today in Marbella, Spain, speakers invariably turned to the topic of mobile, with strong emphasis on (and statistics to support) meeting the needs of merchants participating in mobile payments services and the consumers who use them.
Apple Set to Take Bite out of Payments? (May 19, 2014)
Apple’s recent deal with China’s UnionPay on a pair of contactless payment initiatives may be a sign that the tech giant is ready to make a major move into NFC payments, including equipping the next generation of the iPhone with NFC technology.
Isis Touts 600,000 Monthly Account Activations, as Pace Doubles (May 15, 2014)
Incentives may be working for Isis, which says consumers activated an average of 20,000 mobile wallets per day over the past 30 days. But activations don’t necessarily equal continued usage.
CARTES: For Mobile Wallets, Survival Means Adaptation (May 15, 2014)
“Winners” will be those platforms that are flexible enough to accommodate the breakneck pace of technological advancement.
Square Wallet Out, Square Order In as m-POS Pioneer Tweaks Strategy (May 13, 2014)
Square, no stranger to experimentation, this week surprised observers by pulling its Square Wallet from the Apple and Google stores three years after its launch and introducing an order-ahead app for cafes and restaurants.
Apple Adds EMV Features to its In-Store m-POS System (May 13, 2014)
Apple Inc. is joining the push to accommodate EMV cards in its stores with its EasyPay m-POS, which uses a special iPhone case made by VeriFone that employees may use for customer checkout.
In Money Transfer Push, Facebook Finds Plenty of Friends (May 12, 2014)
Facebook has already conquered the social media sphere—and now there are signs the company is seeking to capitalize on its global ubiquity and massive user base to make a splash as a money transfer service, recently partnering with financial service providers on transfer initiatives around the globe.
Small financial institutions must face the mobile challenge
As contactless and mobile payment methods continue to grow, building societies and other financial institutions need to avoid being complacent about new technology, according to senior delegates speaking at the BSA annual conference in Manchester this week.
Startup Taps Gift Cards for Fee-Free Remittances (May 6, 2014)
San Diego-headquartered Quippi is taking the fees out of remittances by offering gift cards that can be purchased online or in-store in the U.S. and redeemed by recipients in Mexico.
Blackhawk Opens Digital Gift Platform to suretap Users (May 5, 2014)
Digital gift cards are getting a boost in Canada as Blackhawk Network and Rogers Communications have opened Blackhawk’s digital gift card platform to users of the Rogers suretap mobile wallet app.
U.K. Banks Debut P2P Payments Service (May 5, 2014)
A group of the biggest financial institutions in the U.K. have banded together to launch a new P2P mobile payments system that by year-end will be accessible to 9 out of 10 bank account holders in the U.K.
With Square Knocking, Australian Bank Enters m-POS Market (Apr. 30, 2014)
Australia’s Commonwealth Bank could be looking to get out ahead of Square’s eventual arrival Down Under.
Mobile payment security will depend on using the ‘smart’ in smartphone
Confusion and concern over security is cited over and over again as the biggest barrier to widespread consumer uptake of mobile payments. And no wonder – confidence in the protection of sensitive cardholder data lies at the heart of trust in this technology. An EMV card as a physical asset is cryptographically secure. How can we emulate this security with something that is virtual?
SIMalliance: HCE No ‘Silver Bullet’ for Mobile Wallets (April 29, 2014)
Several major payments players recently have thrown their weight behind host card emulation (HCE), the technology many believe could be the key to finally bringing NFC-based mobile payments into the mainstream.
U.S. Bank Boosts P2P to Real-Time Speed (April 28, 2014)
U.S. Bank is going real-time with its P2P offerings and adding a few key new features in a field where the P2P ambitions of companies like Square, Google and Amazon are generating considerable interest.
A Square Deal? (April 24, 2014)
First the Wall Street Journal reported in November that Square Inc. was considering an IPO. Then acquisition rumors swirled after the newspaper reported this week that Square had been in M&A talks with companies including Google, Apple and PayPal.
Survey: Shoppers Unaware, Uncomfortable with Certain Mobile Technology (April 24, 2014)
Consumers may be embracing mobile apps, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re comfortable with or even aware of what their apps can do, a new study suggests.
LevelUp Trims Transaction Fees to Woo More Merchants (April 24, 2014)
LevelUp is tinkering again with the transaction fees it charges merchants for participating in its mobile wallet, cutting the cost from 2 percent to 1.95 percent as the SCVNGR-owned company seeks an appropriate balance for its bottom line.
Mobile payments push past 20% of transactions says PSP
Payment services provider Adyen has reported that one in five payments made on its network are now being made using a mobile device – a finding that reflects the rise of mobile payments worldwide, according to the firm.
Google Wallet’s HCE Push Making NFC Believers (April 23, 2014)
While Google Wallet forges partnerships with merchants that don’t rely on NFC, one of contactless payments’ most high-profile skeptics may be coming around to seeing some real potential in the technology.
Campus Cards Go Mobile with Heartland’s OneCard Mobile App (April 23, 2014)
As campus identification cards doubling as reloadable prepaid cards become more prevalent on college campuses, they’re also becoming more integrated into student life via smartphone.
Is Identification the Killer App for Mobile Wallets? (April 17, 2014)
The thus-far sluggish rate of mobile wallet adoption in the U.S. has been attributed to a range of factors, from security concerns, to lack of widespread merchant acceptance to the familiarity and convenience of traditional plastic payment cards. But according to a new report from TSYS, what might be holding mobile wallets back has less to do with the mobile and more to do with the wallet.
Baidu Enters China’s Competitive Mobile Wallet Market (April 17, 2014)
Baidu Inc., China’s version of Google, has entered the mobile wallet arena, pitting the country’s most popular search engine against the likes of Alibaba and Tencent Holding Inc., both of which launched mobile wallets last year.
European E-Money License Could Grow Facebook’s Remittance Biz (April 14, 2014)
Facebook is putting the pieces in place to launch a money transfer service in Europe.
FIS Solution Enables Banks to Compete with Alternative FSPs (April 10, 2014)
FIS wants to help banks in the pursuit of the coveted millennial consumer by focusing heavily on mobile banking.
MasterCard Sees Major Contactless Gains in Europe (April 10, 2014)
Contactless payments are spreading rapidly throughout Europe, according to new data from MasterCard.
Google Doubling Down on Wallet, Says Payments Chief (April 10, 2014)
Despite a somewhat bumpy rollout and several course-corrections, Google Wallet is here to stay, said the head of the tech giant’s payment division.
Study Dubs Omnichannel No. 1 Payments Trend (April 7, 2014)
Payments are in the midst of some fundamental changes that will continually reshape the industry landscape for years to come, according to a new white paper from Vantiv Inc., outlining the top 10 payment trends to watch in 2014.
DCR Strategies Inc./TruCash Partners with Carta to Launch Mobile Payments (April 3, 2014)
Program manager DCR Strategies Inc./TruCash and technology provider Carta Worldwide soon will be launching payment solutions, such as NFC mobile payments, virtual prepaid and integrated loyalty programs, using conventional payment methods and host card emulation (HCE), which emulates an NFC card in the cloud.
Banking Goliaths must learn to dance with “Digital Davids”
Partnerships and alliances with innovative digital entrepreneurs will allow the large incumbent banks to adapt and thrive in the new economic ecosystems being created by the mobile and digital revolutions currently changing the industry.
Banks – “Don’t Panic”, says Wells Fargo’s Ellis
The banking industry is complex by its nature but banks and bankers should look up from their budgets, listen to their customers, stop whining about regulations and collaborate on industry issues.
PayPal Cooks Up Success with Bistros, Food Trucks (April 1, 2014)
PayPal is expanding its reach by getting on the menu as a payment option at small bistros and food trucks around the world that are switching to tablet-based POS systems.
M-Pesa Enters Europe with Romanian Launch (April 1, 2014)
Mobile payment service M-Pesa has arrived in Europe with its launch yesterday in Romania, following expansions into other countries, such as Egypt and India, in recent years.
Survey: Mobile Apps Could Improve Customer Care Woes (April 1, 2014)
Mobile-based customer care is failing to meet the needs of users, who still suffer from many of the same old issues, along with some new problems that have cropped up more recently.
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.
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.
Banking in the Digital World
While established banks struggle with their legacy systems, smaller players and new entrants are quickly adopting new technologies – but there are some trends in digital banking that are being slowly adopted by the banking industry as a whole.
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.
