Payments
Heartland Digs into School Lunch Payments with Mobile App (June 4, 2013)
Heartland School Solutions, a division of Princeton, N.J.-based payments processor Heartland Payment Systems, has unveiled a new mobile app that enables parents of school-aged children to manage their kids’ lunch expenses via smartphone or tablet.
payleven Signals International Expansion Ambitions with Apple, Wirecard Connections (June 4, 2013)
As competition heats up in the mobile merchant acceptance arena, payleven hopes to improve its odds of gaining international market share with a deal to sell its chip-and-PIN readers in Apple Inc. stores across Europe plus a new strategic alliance it’s formed with Germany-based Wirecard AG.
Study Shows Growth in Mobile Banking Usage, Functionality (June 3, 2013)
June 3, 2013 Mobile banking is on the rise, with 33 percent of consumers now using banking apps on a mobile phone or tablet device, according to a report by electronic payments association SWACHA. The organization’s newly released 2013 Consumer Insights Survey shows just how quickly mobile banking has grown; in 2011, just 20 percent […]
Notch one up for the War on Cash
The latest figures from UK retailers show a significant move to debit cards and new mechanisms like PayPal as consumers shy away from cash and credit cards.
NetSpend Delays Shareholder Meeting to Consider Alternative Acquisition Proposals (May 30, 2013)
May 30, 2013 NetSpend Holdings Inc. this week said it will postpone a special shareholder meeting originally planned to finalize its proposed $1.4 billion merger with Total Systems Services Inc. (TSYS) from May 31 to June 18 to allow time to consider other unsolicited proposals and announce certain modifications to its TSYS agreement. Austin, Texas-based […]
Telefónica Joins with Spanish FIs for New Mobile JV (May 30, 2013)
May 30, 2013 Spain-based telecom giant Telefónica has joined with Spanish financial services providers CaixaBank and Santander to form a new company to develop “business opportunities based on the latest mobile and communication technologies.” According to the involved companies, the alliance is Europe’s first full joint venture between financial institutions and telecom operators for the […]
Vesta E-Wallet Targets Unbanked, Prepaid Mobile Users (May 30, 2013)
May 30, 2013 Vesta Corp., an Atlanta-based electronic payments services provider with offices in Ireland and China, has teamed up with three firms to develop Vesta PayMobile, a white-label e-wallet to help MNOs provide financial services to their prepaid customers. The smartphone application will launch with, yet unnamed, major mobile operators in the U.S. in […]
Mobey Forum: Most FIs Likely to Go It Alone on Digital Wallets (May 30, 2013)
May 30, 2013 Banks and other financial institutions looking to enter into the mobile wallet arena are likely to find a market rife with competition, mostly in the form of own-branded products that deliver proprietary services only. That was among the findings in a new white paper by Mobey Forum’s Business Workgroup, the fourth in […]
Visa, MasterCard Sue to Block Interchange Lawsuits as Merchants Opt Out of $7.25 B Settlement (May 29, 2013)
Several hundred U.S retailers this week formally opted out of the proposed settlement of U.S. merchants’ long-running antitrust case against Visa and MasterCard, four days after the payment networks filed a new complaint in federal court to block further interchange-related lawsuits.
FTC Proposes Ban on Prepaid, Remittance Payments to Telemarketers; Seeks Industry Comment (May 28, 2013)
The FTC has proposed barring telemarketers from accepting payments via wired funds, remotely created checks and payment orders, and authorization codes for prepaid cards.
IDology Beefs Up ID-Verification Tools, Harnessing Home Webcams (May 28, 2013)
May 28, 2013 Atlanta-based technology company IDology has beefed up its tools to verify individuals’ identities in card-not-present environments. The latest version of IDology’s verification tools, ExpectID Scan and ExpectID Scan Verify, build on the company’s core products, which have been in use for several years for organizations that routinely use them to verify identity […]
Cards top target list for fraudsters
Credit and store cards have returned to the top of the list of fraud targets, with a 28% increase in the first four months of the year – at a time when overall fraud levels fell by 16.5%.
Celent study says banks should put outsourced payment infrastructures into the cloud
Banks need to cross a psychological barrier and embrace the concept of outsourcing their payments operations if they are to compete on product innovation and customer service rather than simply on cost.
Money via email: will Google bring the breakthrough?
The idea of sending money via email is not entirely new. This month, however, a new financial player entered this arena: Google announced that it will integrate Google Wallet into Gmail.
Boost Mobile’s Wallet Packs One-Two Punch (May 23, 2013)
May 23, 2013 Sprint’s Boost Mobile is taking a page out of O2’s playbook in the U.K.—launching a mobile wallet for online transactions with a companion prepaid Visa card for use at brick-and-mortar locations. One of the first telcos in the U.S. to launch its own wallet—AT&T Mobility, Verizon and T-Mobile have joined together on […]
Square Ventures Overseas: First Stop, Japan (May 23, 2013)
Mobile payments platform Square has ventured into its first market outside North America, becoming publicly available in Japan, the company announced today. “I am honored to introduce Square to a country with a rich history of design, innovation and tradition. Square shares the same values and attention to detail in our products,” said Jack Dorsey, […]
GiftCards.com Bolsters Mobile Offerings with Giftly Acquisition (May 23, 2013)
May 23, 2013 GiftCards.com, a subsidiary of Pittsburgh-based Wolfe LLC, is deepening its digital offerings with the acquisition this week of Giftly, a mobile app-based digital gift card service. Giftly, a San Francisco-based startup launched in 2011, enables consumers to purchase digital gift cards that may be designated for specific purchases at any U.S. merchant […]
Blog: User Experience Flaws Bog Down Top Retail Apps (May 2013)
By Joseph DeSetto, Emerging Payments Blogger In every technology shift, users are confronted with interfaces that were designed for the previous generation. For example, early PCs rendered graphics of Rolodexes, clocks and other analog desk accoutrements. In this tradition, users of today’s smartphones often are presented with a shopping experience that was designed for the […]
Blog: Mobile Payments: A Solution Looking for a Problem? (May 2013)
By Ginger Schmeltzer, Fiserv For years we’ve been debating why mobile payments haven’t taken off faster. Debaters point out issues with the number of players in the value chain, business model challenges, competing technologies, lack of a compelling value proposition, security concerns and more. All of these points are valid: Business models are all over […]
Commerzbank chooses Clear2Pay payments platform
Commerzbank is to deploy Clear2Pay’s Open Payment Framework as a central platform for end-to-end XML-processing and to interface with new technology and products. Commerzbank will implement OPF as part of a longer term strategic payments renewal project for its clients in and outside Germany. The project will be implemented in phases, with the first go-live […]
Remittances: a window to the future?
The $400 billion global remittances market is moving from cash to account-based transfer, but costs, regulations and new competitors are still the key issues.
Tearing up the financial services value chain
Traditional finance is not as we once knew it. The internet has completely disrupted the financial services value chain. The banks are struggling to keep up with advancing technology. Understanding mobile, cloud computing, social media, big data and how to utilise each capability are key challenges for the banks to overcome.
