February 2013 Consult Hyperion, a London-based IT consultancy that specializes in secure electronic transactions, has opened a U.S. office in New York City. Lanny Byers and Howard Hall have been chosen to lead the U.S. headquarters, and they will serve as co-managing directors and report to CEO Neil McEvoy. Byers has more than 20 years of […]
UK retail banks could be forced to share branch premises with rivals under plans to increase competition in the market, according to the chief executive of the UK’s Office of Fair Trading, Clive Maxwell.
Jan. 31, 2013 The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) today announced it has begun an inquiry into “the impact of financial products marketed to students through colleges and universities” to determine whether these products are “in the best interest” of students. Such products include student ID cards that double as debit cards and cards used […]
Jan. 31, 2013 In a move intended to deepen its mobile payments offerings, banking and payments technology expert Fidelity National Information Services (FIS) today said it will pay $120 million to acquire mFoundry, the mobile banking app firm that helped devise Starbucks’ vaunted mobile payments operation, among others. The transaction will give FIS the remaining […]
Jan. 31, 2013 Money transfer and global financial services provider Western Union Co. has expanded its Receive remittance card to Costa Rica and Guatemala. Initially launched in El Salvador last June, Receive enables recipients of Western Union money transfers to put all or part of the transferred funds onto a MasterCard-branded prepaid card. The company […]
Jan. 31, 2013 Social media giant Facebook Inc. closed out its first calendar year as a public company with $1.59 billion in fourth-quarter revenue, up 40 percent from $1.13 billion in 2011’s fourth quarter, with the improvement spurred mainly by a surge in mobile ad revenue. The proportion of Facebook’s advertising revenue from mobile devices […]
A study shows that 62% of City traders “admit to missing key investment or sell opportunities because they didn’t keep track of time zone differences”.
The public perception of banks has been battered in recent years, but financial institutions have been working hard to repair the damage. A key tool in their strategy has been to improve customer service in a multichannel environment.
Jan. 30, 2013 State unemployment recipients who receive their benefits on prepaid cards are saving millions due to lower fees and improved services, according to a new report by the National Consumer Law Center (NCLC). The results of the agency’s 2013 Survey of Unemployment Prepaid Cards were an improvement over the NCLC’s 2011 study, which […]
Jan. 30, 2013 Citigroup Inc. and Visa Inc. are joining forces in the Philippines to launch the new Pag-IBIG Citi Prepaid Card, which could reach as many as 13 million Filipinos through its link to the nation’s social security program. The reloadable Visa card is available to all citizens who belong to the Philippine government’s […]
Jan. 30, 2013 Merchants across the U.S. are holding off on introducing a surcharge for Visa and MasterCard credit card transactions despite getting the green light to do so this week under the terms of a proposed settlement in the merchants’ antitrust case reached last November. The settlement, subject to final approval in a hearing […]
Jan. 30, 2013 GiftYa LLC, a mobile and digital gift credit platform and spinoff company of parent GiftCards.com LLC, has received $1 million of seed capital to develop the GiftYa platform. The $1 million investment comes from Jason Wolfe, founder of GiftCards.com and CEO of Wolfe LLC. GiftYa, which will be available online and as […]
Jan. 30, 2013 SALT Technology Inc., a San Francisco-based provider of a cloud-based mobile payments platform, has raised $2 million in financing from private investors with backgrounds in the mobile, financial and payments technology sectors. The company, which also has offices in London and Toronto, said it will use the new funding to accelerate the development […]
Regulatory demands and improved profitability are fuelling a move to dynamic capital planning, but few banks have firm plans.
Dutch bank ABN Amro has hired 11 new specialist staff as it attempts to build out its business for high net worth individuals in Asia and the Middle East.
Software company Information Mosaic has released an improved version of its corporate actions tool, IMActions, which it says will help banks and CSDs prepare for T2S.
Citi has introduced a new kind of ATM designed to help customers do virtually all their banking without visiting a branch.
Flawed decisions taken by machines are causing financial services firms to lose customers and suffer unexpected costs, according to new report by the Economist Intelligence unit. Yet retail banks are increasingly turning to technology to assess customers.
Jan. 29, 2013 Mobile wallets are far from fully developed, but a handful are gaining an early edge on competitors based on ease of use and payment options, according to new analysis from Carlisle & Gallagher Consulting Group. The firm’s “Mobile Wallet Market Analysis” set out to analyze “apps for smartphones or tablets enabling consumers […]
Jan. 29, 2013 Software maker Intuit Inc. has acquired Facebook e-commerce platform Payvment, taking over the Palo Alto, Calif., company’s employees, technology and patents—but not its customers. In a note posted on its Website yesterday, Payvment announced that its team was “joining a new company” and that the platform—which enables retailers to create their own […]
Jan. 29, 2013 In a move POS terminal maker Ingenico said is part of its bid to become a “one-stop-shop” for multichannel payment solutions, the Paris-based company has entered a deal to acquire payment processor Ogone Partners for EUR360 million (US$485 million). Ingenico will incorporate Ogone’s 42,000-merchant online payments platform into its existing POS and […]
Jan. 29, 2013 Adding to a growing array of mobile payments options for merchants, FreedomPay is entering the fray with “Vibe,” a mobile wallet initially targeting restaurant operators interested in creating targeted consumer promotions on the fly, based on specials, weather and in-store traffic conditions. The Radnor, Pa.-based payment processor says its cloud-based mobile wallet […]
A new social media tool designed for banks and built by British technology firm Integritie aims to break through the barriers that separate customers from their bank.
Conduct risk, which places emphasis on providers of credit to treat customers fairly, will challenge them to deliver higher standards of customer support across the whole relationship.
UK banks are still in “a difficult place” as they face economic uncertainty, increased cost and competitive pressures, complex regulations and rapid technological changes – but the changes that are happening in the payments industry offer scope for them to reclaim the initiative and deploy innovative solutions.
Four out of five financial institutions are not ready for new regulations governing the trading, reporting and clearing of OTC derivatives, according to a new survey by US communications company IPC.
Jan. 28, 2013 Paybefore today announced winners for the 2013 Paybefore Awards—the most prestigious recognition of excellence in the worldwide prepaid and emerging payments industry. And for the first time in the seven-year history of the awards, Paybefore is allowing visitors to Paybefore.com (subscribers and nonsubscribers) to cast their votes for Best in Category through Feb. […]
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. May be a new or established organization. Company Name: American Express American Express is a global financial services company, providing customers with access to products, insights and experiences […]
Best prepaid or emerging payments program launched and operated by a non-U.S. company outside the United States. Programs using a U.S.-based company for processing or similar support are eligible. Program Name: NuCard Prepaid CardCompany Name: Tutuka South Africa has a large microlending market that provides short-term, unsecured loans to millions of South Africans. NuCard was […]
The in-market mobile wallet or mobile application that (1) provides end users with value-added features and/or enhances payment capabilities, user decision-making or loyalty and (2) provides retailers with a strong value proposition. Program Name: moneto Prepaid MasterCardCompany Names: DeviceFidelity, MasterCard With real-time balance and transaction history, free P2P money transfers, the only instant cash-back rewards […]
Best use of a consumer-funded reloadable network branded prepaid card* for general use, such as ATM access and purchasing. Includes travel, remittance and youth-focused (including campus and student) programs; excludes payroll programs. Program Name: PayPal Prepaid MasterCardCompany Names: PayPal, MasterCard The PayPal Prepaid MasterCard is the only prepaid card that can link automatically to PayPal’s digital […]
US financial services regulators have not properly evaluated the impact of rules they have proposed or introduced in implementing the Dodd-Frank Act, and should improve their co-ordination says a critical report from a congressional watchdog.
The European Banking Authority has adopted a formal recommendation to push major EU cross-border banks into developing group recovery plans by the end of this year.
Peter Reitz, managing director of Eurex Repo and Eurex Bonds since 2006, has stepped down from the posts. He will continue to bear overall responsibility for the two subsidiaries on the Eurex Executive Board.
Jan. 25, 2013 Just a day after President Obama nominated CFPB Director Richard Cordray to continue in his role as the bureau’s director, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled that the President violated the Constitution when he bypassed the Senate to fill vacancies on the National Labor Relations Board, according to a […]
Total bank IT spending across North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific will grow to $179.2 billion in 2013, an increase of 3.4% over last year according to research and consulting firm Celent.
Jan. 24, 2013 Wasting little time following his inauguration on Monday, President Barack Obama this afternoon has re-nominated Richard Cordray as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). The confirmation process for the former Ohio Attorney General could be rocky, considering Obama’s appointment of Cordray last year during a congressional recess. “There were no […]
Jan. 24, 2013 With U.S. financial institutions increasingly using social media to market to and interact with consumers, federal regulators have set their sights on establishing guidelines for consumer protection and compliance over such channels. The Federal Financial Institutions Examinations Council (FFIEC) has issued a notice of proposed guidance and request for comment from the […]
Jan. 24, 2013 The number of consumers using mobile devices to pay bills is slowly gaining momentum, according to Fiserv Inc., a Brookfield, Wis.-based provider of financial services technology, in its fifth annual Billing Household Survey, which assesses bill payment habits of active online households and infrequent or non-Internet users. Though the percentage of households […]
Jan. 24, 2012 Mobile carriers around the world continue to join forces to enable mobile payments. On Jan. 23, Taiwan’s Fair Trade Commission (FTC) approved an application by five domestic mobile carriers and transit card provider EasyCard Corp. to jointly run a platform for mobile payment-related apps, according to the Central News Agency. Chunghwa Telecom […]
