Worldwide


PayPal, Braintree Reach $800 Million Purchase Agreement (Sept. 26, 2013)

It’s official; eBay Inc. has announced it will acquire e-commerce processor Braintree Payment Solutions in an $800 million deal that will bring Chicago-based Braintree under eBay’s PayPal business unit. The two companies were reported to be in negotiations for a sale earlier this week. With the purchase agreement in place, PayPal gains Braintree’s more than […]

MasterCard, Bank of Egypt Unveil Mobile Payments App (Sept. 26, 2013)

The National Bank of Egypt (NBE) has partnered with MasterCard to launch a new mobile app that enables users to send money, pay bills and soon make purchases at selected merchants in Egypt and electronic retailers across the globe. Dubbed Phone Cash, the service was developed in conjunction with electronic bill payment provider Fawry and […]

m-POS Rivals Intuit and Square Announce QuickBooks Integration (Sept. 26, 2013)

Capitalizing on explosive growth in the m-POS arena, Square this week announced an integration with Intuit Inc.’s popular QuickBooks business and financial management software, enabling users of Square’s m-POS solutions to automatically import transactions directly into QuickBooks to streamline their operations.

Payment Networks to Slash Interchange Fees in France (Sept. 24, 2013)

MasterCard and Visa have agreed to cut interchange fees by nearly half in France, striking a deal with the French Competition Authority, the country’s anti-trust regulator. Under the agreement, the payment card networks will lower interchange fees on purchases to 0.28 percent of a transaction’s value starting on Nov. 1. Currently, MasterCard charges .055 percent […]

Saudi-U.K. Partners Ready for Prepaid Rollout (Sept. 24, 2013)

Today in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, at the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology, U.K.-based payments technology company Ixaris and Middle East technology provider 3omlti e-Commerce have announced a significant partnership to bring prepaid cards to Saudi consumers and companies. Together the companies plan to use Ixaris’ prepaid platform, known for its virtual prepaid cards, and […]

Report: Greater Input Helps CFPB Avoid Missteps (Sept. 24, 2013)

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is most successful when it solicits wide-ranging input before issuing guidance; when the agency doesn’t is when it could falter, according to a new report by the nonprofit organization Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC).

ACI Gains another Foothold in Bill Pay with $109 Million Acquisition (Sept. 24, 2013)

Sept. 24, 2013 Payment systems provider ACI Worldwide has bolstered its position in the bill payment business with the $109 million acquisition of Official Payments Holdings Inc., which provides bill payment solutions to federal, state and local governments, utilities, higher education institutions and charitable organizations throughout the U.S. Based in Norcross, Ga., Official Payments has […]

ACI Gains another Foothold in Bill Pay with $109 Million Acquisition (Sept. 24, 2013)

Sept. 24, 2013 Payment systems provider ACI Worldwide has bolstered its position in the bill payment business with the $109 million acquisition of Official Payments Holdings Inc., which provides bill payment solutions to federal, state and local governments, utilities, higher education institutions and charitable organizations throughout the U.S. Based in Norcross, Ga., Official Payments has […]

Visa Europe adopts BT’s managed network

Visa Europe’s decision to place its internal and external communications networks into the hands of BT will help the firm to realise economies of scale and offer a more efficient service to customers, according to Chris Pickles, Head of industry initiatives at BT.

PayPal Reportedly Close to Purchasing E-Commerce Processor Braintree (Sept. 23, 2013)

Sept. 23, 2013 PayPal Inc. reportedly is nearing a deal to acquire e-commerce payments processor Braintree Payment Solutions, which processes nearly $10 billion in annual payments for popular startups, including Uber Technologies, Rovio and Airbnb. Sources familiar with the discussions did not disclose financial terms of the potential deal, and cautioned that the talks could […]

TransCard Buys PayPartners, Forms Acquisition Division (Sept. 23, 2013)

Sept. 23, 2013  TransCard is continuing its acquisition spree with the announcement last week that it’s acquiring PayPartners Inc., a provider of payroll and other corporate prepaid cards. PayPartners’ platform and cloud-based back-office portal complement TransCard’s services, making it easy to on-board, issue and manage payroll card portfolios, according to the Tenn.-based prepaid processor and […]

Occupy Wall Street Movement Seeks Donations to Launch Prepaid Card (Sept. 23, 2013)

Sept. 23, 2013 Occupy Wall Street’s second anniversary last week did not draw large crowds, but organizers are pushing forward with plans to launch a reloadable prepaid card backed by a nonprofit cooperative, a spokesperson tells Paybefore. The Occupy Card, envisioned as an FDIC-insured Visa prepaid card, is designed so that anyone—including millions excluded by banks—may qualify […]

Basel has triggered “infrastructure reset”

The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision’s April 2013 report, Monitoring tools for intraday liquidity management, has provided banks with the “trigger to reset their current infrastructures”, said Detlef Braun, senior consultant at vendor SmartStream.

NDAB-Deutsche Bank deal will ease dollar flow

The National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD) has signed a deal with Deutsche Bank to use its Guaranteed US Plus payment solution, which it promises will improve price transparency for clients with individual US dollar flows into the US.

Study: Young Consumers Ready for Mobile Payments (Sept. 19, 2013)

Younger consumers likely will lead the charge toward mobile payments ubiquity over the coming years, but they have certain expectations that must be met by providers who seek to harness that demand, according to a new report from payments processor Vantiv Inc.

State Bank of India Taps Yalamanchili for Money Transfer Card (Sept. 19, 2013)

Sept. 19, 2013 The State Bank of India has selected international payments solutions provider Yalamanchili to provide the processing platform for the bank’s new State Bank Xpress Money Card, which enables cardholders to receive instant money transfers from the United Arab Emirates. The prepaid Visa card is co-branded by the State Bank of India and […]

Foundation Seeks Green Light for Bitcoin Campaign Contributions (Sept. 19, 2013)

Sept. 19, 2013 The Bitcoin Foundation is pushing for permission to allow bitcoins as a source of federal political contributions. The trade group this week made its pitch to the U.S. Federal Election Commission in a letter announcing its support for the concept, which the Conservative Action Fund PAC (CAF) proposed earlier this month. The […]

Infosys aims to help banks modernise ops

Infosys has launched Finacle 11E, a banking solution it said will help banks to modernise their operations, reduce cost and time to market and minimise risk. The product has a modular structure: banks can choose which parts they need and replace their existing systems one step at a time, depending on how far or fast they want to proceed.

“Become an intelligent bank” for the cyber age

In a time when information is king, the battle for data is not so much where to get it as how to get it and what to do with it. For many generation Y savers and spenders, the vast majority of their transactions are carried out online and their relationships with traditional banks are practically non-existent.

Clear2Pay extends hub to run virtual institutions

Clear2Pay has launched Business-in-a-Box, based on the company’s existing corporate payments hub (CPH) and open payments framework (OPF). The two products are aligned with the company’s new Virtual Vault Account Solution (Vivas) in a package that can be used to establish a virtual financial institution.

Trade: adjusting to a new direction of travel

As trade flows shift across regions and economic headwinds blow, the trade finance business is facing challenges. Anne Queree examines how correspondent banking networks are adapting

Talking Heads: RMB internationalisation

As the Chinese Government continues its phased internationalisation of the renminbi, financial institutions are evaluating their strategies. Daily News at Sibos asked some Sibos delegates what financial institutions need to do to take full advantage of the opportunities offered by RMB internationalisation.

Sibos delegates slam “ill-conceived” regulation

Sibos delegates have sent a blunt message to the world’s financial regulators that new regulations are neither well planned nor well implemented. Eighty per cent of delegates expressed their negative views regarding regulation in yesterday’s regulation plenary session.

SunTec lets Visa put its foot down and Xelerate

Visa Europe is to introduce a new services suite called Xelerate Card Services from revenue management and business assurance firm SunTec, which it will use to track a peak volume of 100 million transactions a day. Xelerate is designed to help bill member banks and approved non-members of Visa Europe in 36 countries. Visa Europe […]

Afghanistan hails its own bright banking future

Despite making headlines for all the wrong reasons for decades, Afghanistan is now trying to persuade the international banking community that there is a brighter future ahead for the country

Connecting the unbanked key to easing poverty

Globally, around 50 per cent of the population do not have a bank account. Whether that is perceived as a surprisingly large or surprisingly small ratio is questionable; what is certain is that there is a potentially significant opportunity to provide those financial services

More collaboration ahead, says Swift’s Leibbrandt

Front and centre of the agenda that Swift set out at the beginning of this week’s Sibos is the concept of collaboration and cooperation – a perennial theme for Swift, but Leibbrandt told Daily News at Sibos there is a change in the air.

Operational risk: Hell is other people

As the focus on operational risk increases, Nicholas Pratt discovers that the greatest threats to a bank’s security lie outside of its four walls

Innovation: there is a better way

Innovation in financial services may not generate products quite so world-changing as the inventions of Edison, but the principle of finding better ways to do something does inform most developments.