Payments


2013 Paybefore Awards Europe: Best Consumer Value in Prepaid/Emerging Payments (June 2013)

The prepaid or emerging payments program or product that delivers the best consumer value proposition for the combination of features, functionality, service and price. Best-in-Category: paysafecard paysafecard, an e-voucher with 16-digit PIN, is sold in 450,000 retail locations, bringing e-commerce to cash customers in 29 European countries at no cost to the customer.  paysafecard group […]

2013 Paybefore Awards Europe: Best Gift Card or Voucher Program (June 2013)

Best use of a consumer-funded gift card/voucher or line of gift cards/vouchers. Best in Category: £5 for a £10 Starbucks Card eGift LivingSocial Deal Delivered nearly 65,000 Starbucks Card eGifts from Nov. 29-Dec. 1, 2012, powered by CashStar’s eGifting platform and LivingSocial’s local marketing engine.       Starbucks LivingSocial CashStar CashStar, LivingSocial and coffee giant […]

Taiwan Continues to Develop M-Payments with Far EasTone Pilot (June 18, 2013)

June 18, 2013 Far EasTone Telecommunications Co., one of Taiwan’s largest telcos, is launching a mobile payments pilot in cooperation with Far Eastern International Bank and MasterCard. The program, scheduled to begin during the second half of 2013, will use near field communication (NFC) technology and be limited to mobile payments under NT$3,000 (US$100.37), according […]

Amazon.com Inc. Is Extending Its Gift Cards to Facebook (June 18, 2013)

Amazon.com Inc. is extending its gift cards to Facebook. The Seattle-based e-commerce giant today unveiled Amazon Birthday Gift, enabling users to surprise their friends on Facebook by purchasing a digital gift card that shows up on the recipient’s Facebook Timeline on his birthday. The social media multiplier effect: Any other friend can add funds to […]

Blog: Physical and Digital Products In-Store Pack a One-Two Punch

By Thomas Cornelius, SVP, InComm Today’s consumers are constantly on the go—they’re busier, they multitask more and they have less time to get everything done. As a result, their shopping habits have changed. In fact, according to Forrester, more than 50 percent of in-store retail sales (approximately $1.2 trillion) are now Web-influenced. To meet the […]

U.K. Payments Council Maps Plan to Create 10-Year Industry ‘Roadmap’ (June 17, 2013)

June 17, 2013 The U.K. Payments Council hopes to map the future of its nation’s payment infrastructure by creating a roadmap for the next decade, drawing broad input from government, business, charity and consumer groups, the London-based organization announced today. In “Payments Roadmap—An Initial Report,” the council outlined an approach to nurturing development of the […]

Payments validation in the cloud through new UK service

A new cloud-based payments validation, enrichment and account conversion service has been launched by UK start-up Apply Financial. Called Validate, the service enables banks, non-banking financial institutions, corporates and individuals transferring money internationally to check and validate that international payment details are correct.

Stopping Tax Refund Fraud in Its Tracks (June 2013)

Strong customer authentication and account monitoring are keys to preventing tax refund/benefits fraud on prepaid cards. By Loraine DeBonis, Editor-in-Chief  As identity theft increases in the digital age, fraud perpetrated with stolen identities has risen dramatically. And, tax refunds have become a target for fraudsters. Tax-related identity theft jumped more than 650 percent between 2008 and […]

Apple Grows Payments Patent War Chest (June 10, 2013)

  Just days before Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference, which runs all this week in San Francisco, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has granted Apple another patent that could be a signal of what the tech giant is planning for mobile payments. The patent relates to a “method and system for managing credits […]

Green Dot to Replace GE Capital as Walmart MoneyCard Issuer (June 10, 2013)

Green Dot Corp. will benefit from its exempt status from debit interchange caps by becoming the issuer of one of the largest GPR programs on the market—the Walmart MoneyCard. Green Dot Bank, which also serves as the issuer for Green Dot’s GPR cards, replaces GE Capital Retail Bank, which is bowing out of the relationship […]

Making cross-border payments work

As the value of global cross-border payments such as workers’ remittances increases, billions of dollars are being lost to inefficient legacy systems – but that could be about to change, according to Hank Uberoi, executive director at Earthport.

Tescher: ‘Set Up People for Success’ (June 6, 2013)

During the opening keynote address at the Underbanked Financial Services Forum, which kicked off yesterday in Miami, CFSI President and CEO Jennifer Tescher suggested that conference attendees view themselves as being in the financial health business. Drawing heavily on analogies to the health care industry throughout her address, Tescher explained that the American psyche is […]

2013 Paybefore Awards: Breakout Company of the Year (June 2013)

The organization that stood out from the crowd in 2012 to make a positive, game-changing difference in the prepaid/emerging payments environment in a geographic region or globally. Best in Category: Rêv Worldwide  Launched low-cost mobile card reader targeting 400 million SMEs in 12 countries, along with Brazil’s first GPR card and Mexico’s first mobile banking/prepaid […]

2013 Paybefore Awards: Best Retail-Based Prepaid Card Program (June 2013)

The retailer that has used prepaid most effectively to increase sales, promote its brand and/or extend convenience to customers. Best in Category: Walmart Prepaid Card Program    Jason Marshall and Sabrina Chin, Walmart Aggressively promotes broadest assortment of innovative prepaid products at everyday low prices through extensive merchandising in the most valuable space in the […]

2013 Paybefore Awards: Expanding Boundaries, Judges’ Choice, Breakout Company of the Year and More

In our final installment of winners coverage for the 2013 Paybefore Awards, you’ll find out how companies are innovating and expanding the boundaries of prepaid to solve problems, reach more consumers and change the industry for the better. Most Innovative Program Best Retail-Based Prepaid Card Program Expanding the Boundaries of Prepaid Outstanding Newcomer Breakout Company of […]

The Intersection of Corporate Governance and Compliance: Helping Your Directors Fulfill Their Responsibilities

An Interview with John Walsh, CEO, SightSpan  Serving on a corporate board is a great honor and a great responsibility, especially for those involved in financial services organizations. Gone are the days when directors were management’s rubberstamp. And particularly since the global financial crisis of 2008, significantly more is expected of non-management corporate directors. Today’s […]