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. 7, 2013 Telecom network and equipment provider ZTE Corp. has been selected by Shanghai-based card network China UnionPay (CUP) to provide mobile payment services to CUP cardholders. As part of the deal, ZTE—the world’s fifth-largest maker of telecom equipment—plans to develop an NFC-based mobile phone. The firms also said they would explore the development […]
Jan. 7, 2013 Financial institutions and mobile wallet vendors will encourage consumers to use mobile payments over the next few years through hybrid solutions intended to bridge the gap between the physical, online and mobile channels, according to a recent report by Javelin Strategy & Research that outlines financial services trends in 2013, as well […]
Jan. 4, 2013 Customers now can purchase a Square mobile payment card reader along with their venti Caffè lattes and blueberry scones at all of Starbucks’ 7,000 company-operated stores in the United States. Square enables anyone with an iPhone, iPad or Android device to accept credit and debit cards with its card reader that plugs […]
Jan. 4, 2013 Mobile payment provider mPowa is starting the new year in expansion mode, as the U.K.-based company unveils plans to enter new markets, including new cities in the U.S. and India. mPowa, which offers merchants a card reader that plugs into a mobile device for payment card acceptance, is competing with Square—the market […]
Canada’s CIBC bank has launched a novel promotion aimed at increasing uptake of NFC technology for mobile payments.
January 2013 We wanted to start the year off with some perspective from industry thought leaders across the globe to find out what will shape prepaid and emerging payments in the new year. We asked several executives from a variety of companies as well as a few analysts to share their thoughts about what the […]
San Francisco-based startup Cardfree is taking a merchant-centric approach to mobile wallets, leveraging a leadership team that has worked on mobile programs for some big-name retailers.
Jan. 2, 2013 JP Morgan Chase & Co. will pay $35 million to acquire San Francisco-based daily deals startup Bloomspot Inc. in a bid to bolster the local merchant discounts the bank can offer its Chase credit card customers. Bloomspot, which competes with daily Web deals titan Groupon Inc. as well as other city-specific deals […]
M-Payments in 2013 to Bring More New Startups, Intensified Competition January 2013 By Kate Fitzgerald, Emerging Payments Editor The pace of mobile payments entrepreneurial development is likely to remain brisk this year, with venture capital flowing into the sector and likely to drive a number of new concepts from new POS approaches to mobile […]
January 2013 By Bill Grabarek, Senior Editor If anyone thought last year couldn’t compare with the events of 2011, they quickly were proved wrong as 2012 turned out to be every bit as transformational. In the U.S. market, we saw a fledgling federal watchdog agency, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), go from crawling […]
December 20, 2012 Canada’s mobile payments offerings continue to multiply. BMO Bank of Montreal is poised to boost its mobile banking and payments offerings through a strategic alliance with London-based Monitise plc to develop a range of new smartphone applications, mobile Web offerings and text-notification services for online and mobile banking. The deal builds on […]
December 2012 It’s been an exciting year for prepaid and emerging payments. We’ve seen intriguing, unexpected partnerships (Starbucks and Square, PayPal and Discover), a steady stream of new mobile entrants attracting investors and, in the past few months, prepaid card launches in the Middle East, Russia and Africa. We expect 2013 to bring even […]
Dec. 18, 2012 The bold prediction this week by PayPal’s president David Marcus that NFC will fail to gain adoption and “the NFC payments debate will slowly die in 2013” is touching off fresh arguments as payments industry execs head to office holiday parties. In a Dec. 17 blog post, Marcus explained why he doubts […]
Dec. 18, 2012 On the heels of announcing it would cease marketing its mobile POS system directly to merchants, electronic payments service provider VeriFone Systems Inc. has signed a deal to provide NFC payments and mobile marketing in the city of Shen Yang, China. Under the new partnership with China Mobile and Bank of China, […]
December 2012 By Bill Grabarek, Senior Editor Crossing the pond and moving its headquarters from the U.K. to New York City, Waspit Inc. is creating a buzz on college campuses with a unique marketing style for its mobile banking product that’s heavily steeped in social media. Waspit users can make purchases with a Waspit […]
Dec. 17, 2012 VeriFone Systems Inc.’s decision to withdraw from marketing its mobile POS device directly to merchants is the first sign of retrenchment and likely consolidation in what has been a fast-growing niche. The San Jose-based company last week said from now on it will sell its Sail smartphone attachment for mobile card payments […]
Dec. 17, 2012 Colorado-based card producer CPI Card Group was selected by Portuguese retail firm Sonae to design and manufacture gift cards available at Sonae’s Continente supermarket locations throughout the country. The cards will be sold at special free-standing displays rather than at points of sale—one of the first gift card lines in Portugal to […]
Dec. 17, 2012 QSecure Inc., a Los Altos, Calif.-based developer of dynamic payment card technology, has announced its digital wallet, Imago, which consists of a smartphone app to manage payment, gift and loyalty cards, and the powered ImagoCard that holds the data of those cards and can be swiped at the point of sale like […]
December 2012 Smart Packaging Solutions, a smart card technology provider based in France, has appointed Alex Chung chief representative, greater China and South East Asia. Chung, who has experience within the smart card industry, will be in charge of expanding SPS business in the Chinese market and ensuring SPS local presence in Southeast Asia. Most […]
Dec. 13, 2012 The latest blow in the continuing court battle over interchange fees charged to merchants for accepting Visa and MasterCard credit cards was struck this week, when an appeals court declined a request by Home Depot to expedite the retailer’s appeal of a $7.25 billion settlement proposed in July. The agreement—which received preliminary […]
Dec. 13, 2012 MasterCard Worldwide’s new stake in mobile wallet back-end technology expert C-SAM Inc. is the latest in a series of moves aimed to make it easy for consumers to pay with a minimum of steps through any channel. MasterCard did not disclose the terms of its deal with C-SAM, but calls it a […]
Dec. 13, 2012 PayPal Inc. has been pushing hard into brick-and-mortar retail this year—and now the online payment giant is giving users yet another reason to get into stores. The company—in partnership with third-party distributor and technology provider InComm—has unveiled its new PayPal My Cash Card, which enables users to fund their PayPal accounts via […]
Dec. 11, 2012 HSBC’s record $1.9 billion payout to settle allegations that it violated U.S. anti-money laundering (AML) rules suggests that the government is getting better at spotting and punishing organizations that try to skirt regulations, legal experts say. U.K.-based HSBC Holdings plc today said it reached a deferred-prosecution agreement with the U.S. government following […]
Dec. 11, 2012 Prepaid services provider InComm has reached a deal to acquire a majority stake in Adility Inc., a platform for “online-to-offline” commerce, which InComm will integrate into its existing in-store POS infrastructure in a bid to help retailers generate retail sales using virtual prepaid cards and coupons. Adility enables retailers and brands to […]
Dec. 10, 2012 Apple Inc.’s Passbook mobile wallet app gradually is gaining momentum with merchants and card issuers integrating with the mobile wallet app. And while Apple continues to remain mum about plans to add NFC to its handsets, where Apple is going with its proliferating number of other payments-related patents is anyone’s guess. Apple […]
Dec. 10, 2012 Small merchants that accept Square Wallet are hoping to get a holiday sales boost from Square Inc.’s introduction this week of digital gift cards. San Mateo-based Square’s latest offering enables smartphone users to purchase a gift card from 250,000 merchants participating in Square Wallet, and pay using any card. Consumers buying Square […]
December 2012 By Adam Perrotta, Assistant Editor Prepaid providers are setting their sights on Africa, where large underbanked populations, emerging economies and advancing technology are combining to offer what many industry players see as a golden opportunity—and not just for outside companies looking to enter the market. African banks and other local firms also […]
Once considered too difficult and unreliable to be viable, video banking can now help banks increase engagement with the retail customer while cutting costs, according to Gene Pranger, chief executive and founder at uGenius, a provider of personal transaction technologies.
Back in May, I chaired the 2012 Future of Mobile Banking conference held in London, writes Karl Rieder, delivery manager, GFT. At the event, I expressed my disappointment with the state of mobile banking (and with my own bank, in particular).
Mobile and NFC payment technologies have been on the rise in recent years. But with many merchants and retail outlets still reluctant to invest in the new technologies, and with the rise of fraud in existing solutions, industry participants are divided over how and whether the technology will ever gain widespread acceptance in developed markets.
An avid but long-suffering Cleveland Browns fan, Rick Fletcher knows the meaning of passion and persistence—two qualities that have served him well on his path to professional success.
Dec. 4, 2012 Spain’s La Caixa bank this month begins an aggressive push to distribute contactless payment stickers to 200,000 of its customers in Barcelona, aiming to become a model city for mobile contactless payments by the end of February when Barcelona hosts the annual Mobile World Congress trade show. Though such NFC-based stickers lack […]
Dec. 4, 2012 In time for the holiday season, CVS/pharmacy stores are promoting a gift card exchange through a partnership with Plastic Jungle. CVS customers with a smartphone scan a QR code in the store that launches their mobile Web browsers and takes them to cvsgiftcard.plasticjungle.com. To exchange their cards, consumers enter the card number and […]
Dec. 4, 2012 Amsterdam-based digital payment security provider Gemalto has achieved a milestone in its UpTeq NFC payment system for mobile SIM cards, landing certifications from payment card networks American Express, MasterCard and Visa, making UpTeq the first SIM to earn certification from all three networks, according to Gemalto. Unveiled last February, the UpTeq NFC […]
