Viewpoint: Hiring and Retention Tips from a Payments Recruiter (September 2013)
The scoop on the hottest jobs in prepaid. Plus, how to attract (and keep) the best talent.
PayTech
Reports: Prepaid Card Market Slows But Can Rebound (September 2013)
Prepaid card market growth slowed from 2011 to 2012 as a then-softening economy and compliance complexities finally caught up to the industry.
Green Dot Seeks $90 Million in Sallie Mae Prepaid Card Breach of Contract Suit (Sept. 4, 2013)
Sept. 4, 2013 Green Dot Corp. is seeking $90 million in damages from Sallie Mae in a lawsuit claiming the student loan giant misled Green Dot about the prospects for a prepaid card the two companies announced last year to help colleges disburse student financial aid refunds that Sallie Mae pulled the plug on. In a […]
Russia Launch Gives PayPal Access to Hot Market (Sept. 4, 2013)
Sept. 4, 2013 PayPal Inc. is opening for business in Russia, now that the San Jose, Calif., payment giant has overcome the regulatory barriers to fully operating in the country. According to a report in the Moscow Times, PayPal will begin enabling account holders to transfer funds to Russian banks in rubles starting on Sept […]
Mint Wireless Unveils New Platform for Australia, New Zealand Payments (Sept. 4, 2013)
Australia-based mobile payment processor Mint Wireless has announced the launch of a new platform the company says will simplify the integration of card payments across multiple mobile devices and platforms.
More Payment Terminal and Software Providers Support Isis SmartTap (Sept. 4, 2013)
Isis says it’s bolstering its market position before its national rollout with a handful of payment terminal manufacturers and software providers that are integrating Isis SmartTap capabilities into a range of POS systems, including integrated POS terminals and vending machines.
MasterCard, Blue Label Telecoms Tackle Card Acceptance in Rural South Africa (Sept. 3, 2013)
Blue Label Telecoms today announced a partnership with MasterCard that will expand electronic payment terminals to 22,000 small traders and rural shops in South Africa.
PreCash Eyes Bill Pay/Mobile App Combo to Drive Customer Relationships (Sept. 3, 2013)
Payments processor PreCash is combining a mobile app with its bill payment technology to help consumers pay bills with cash, which the company hopes will translate to a broader financial services relationship with PreCash.
Win Me Over: What Will it Take for Consumers to Embrace Mobile/Digital Wallets? (September 2013)
What consumers want from mobile wallets is a question not easily answered, nor is it clear whether any of the mobile wallets developed so far will hit the jackpot in creating a consumer experience compelling enough to change entrenched habits.
CMS Says Insurers Must Accept Prepaid Cards (Sept. 3, 2013)
Sept. 3, 2013 Health insurers must accept prepaid cards as payment for coverage mandated by the Affordable Care Act, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) said in a rule issued last week. The rule paves the way for more than 8.5 million uninsured people who would otherwise have difficulty buying coverage on insurance […]
Banco Santander Partners with iZettle in Mexico, Oberthur in Chile (Sept. 3, 2013)
Less than three months after iZettle’s first venture outside of Europe, the Swedish mobile payments company again has partnered with Spain’s Banco Santander to launch its m-payments service, which enables customers to accept card payments with their smartphones or tablets and an iZettle card reader, in Brazil.
Companies on the Move: Transaction Wireless, ACE Award (September 2013)
Transaction Wireless, a San Diego-based provider of cloud-based solutions for B2C and B2B gift cards, recently received the Incentive Gift Card Council’s ACE Award.
People on the Move: Brian Tordsen, Sunrise Banks (September 2013)
St. Paul, Minn.-based Sunrise Banks recently appointed Brian Tordsen executive vice president and director, national products group.
People on the Move: Lance Johnson, Sequent Software (September 2013)
Sequent Software, a Redwood City, Calif.-based Trusted Service Manager software and services platform provider, announced that Lance Johnson has joined the executive team as chief security officer.
People on the Move: Raja Rajamannar, MasterCard (September 2013)
MasterCard has named Raja Rajamannar chief marketing officer, effective Sept. 9, 2013.
Companies on the Move: FIS, Forbes Magazine’s “World’s 100 Most Innovative Companies” (September 2013)
FIS, a Jacksonville, Fla.-based payments technology provider, has been named by Forbes Magazine as one of the most innovative companies in the world.
People on the Move: Kathleen Ryan, Cheryl Parker Rose, Christopher Carroll and Elizabeth Ellis, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (September 2013)
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau recently named new senior staff in four divisions.
Reports: Open- and Closed-Loop Markets Slow to Single-Digit Growth (Aug. 29, 2013)
Aug. 29, 2013 Following double-digit growth a year earlier, market growth for open- and closed-loop prepaid cards, as measured by total dollars loaded, slowed from 2011 to 2012, according to recently released annual reports by Mercator Advisory Group. Total dollars loaded in the open-loop prepaid market grew by only 6 percent to $194.5 billion year […]
MasterCard, C-SAM Continue Global Wallet Initiative with Japan Launch (Aug. 29, 2013)
Aug. 29, 2013 MasterCard is joining with mobile payment technology provider C-SAM and mobile wallet service provider DNP to bring a white-label NFC-based mobile wallet service to Japan. The service will integrate MasterCard’s PayPass Wallet Services contactless payment technology with C-SAM’s mobile transaction platform and DNP’s mobile wallet services, enabling merchants to offer their customers […]
Report: India’s Prepaid Card Market to Grow 40 Percent Through 2017 (Aug. 29, 2013)
Aug. 29, 2013 Prepaid cards are booming in India, where the prepaid card market is on track to grow 40 percent over the next four years, according to a new report from the Noida, India-based firm RNCOS Research. In its Indian Prepaid Card Market Outlook to 2017 report released this month, the consulting firm said […]
Fiserv Banks on Rise of Tablets with New Mobile Banking Service (Aug. 29, 2013)
Aug. 29, 2013 Financial services technology provider Fiserv Inc. is seeking to capitalize on the recent boom in tablet-based banking with a new turnkey mobile banking app specifically for tablet users. The Mobiliti: Tablet service is being offered to banks and credit unions, which can use the system to offer their tablet banking customers a […]
eGifter Deal Enables Consumers to Buy Gift Cards with Bitcoin (Aug. 29, 2013)
Aug. 29, 2013 eGifter, a social and mobile gifting company and subsidiary of Melville, N.Y.-based GroupGifting.com, has partnered with Bitcoin wallet and platform provider Coinbase, enabling users of the eGifter Web and mobile apps to use Bitcoin virtual currency to purchase eGift cards from more than 100 brands, including GameStop, Home Depot and CVS. Coinbase enables its […]
Blog: Will Prepaid Change the Way China Shops? (August 2013)
By Shoney Yuan, Ceridian Stored Value Solutions (SVS) Take a stroll down any street in one of China’s big cities and it’s hard not to feel excited about the business potential this vast nation offers. Sophisticated marketing and innovative advertising compete for your attention as a consumer. There is much to buy—from groceries, to household […]
Fed, Merchants File Motion to Extend Stay of Interchange Ruling (Aug. 27, 2013)
Aug. 27, 2013 The Federal Reserve Board of Governors has filed a motion to extend the stay of a July 31 court decision that invalidated the agency’s rules implementing debit interchange and network routing requirements under the Durbin Amendment. The consent order, filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., requests that Judge Richard […]
Facebook Commits to Gift Cards, Facebook Card (Aug. 27, 2013)
Aug. 27, 2013 After several months of experimentation, Facebook has made the decision to focus on gift cards and eliminate the gift service in which it sold and shipped physical gifts to recipients. Since launching its Gifts service in September 2012, 80 percent of the gifts users chose to send to other Facebook users were […]
Bitcoin Group Discusses ‘Safe and Sane’ Regulations with Feds (Aug. 27, 2013)
Aug. 27, 2013 Bitcoin Foundation, an advocacy group whose stated objectives include Bitcoin standardization, promotion and protection from counterfeiters and thieves, met yesterday with several federal agencies to provide information about the decentralized virtual currency. “The meeting was educational in nature,” says Jinyoung Englund, spokesperson for Bitcoin Foundation and director of communications and marketing at […]
Nigerian Prepaid Card Aims to Reduce Unclaimed Dividends (Aug. 27, 2013)
Aug. 27, 2013 A new prepaid card in Nigeria enables shareholders to receive dividend payments directly onto the card. The First Dividend Plus Prepaid Card is being billed as a “revolutionary product” by Verve International, the payment card provider that is releasing the card in partnership with stock registrar service First Registrars Nigeria. The card […]
TSYS Inks Deal with Discover to Process In-Store PayPal Transactions (Aug. 26, 2013)
Aug. 26, 2013 Another element of PayPal Inc.’s in-store payments strategy fell into place today with the announcement that TSYS has inked an agreement with Discover Network to process PayPal transactions at U.S. brick-and-mortar locations as part of the PayPal in-store payment acceptance partnership announced last year with Discover. TSYS’s involvement will provide an expanded […]
Shell Canada Taps StoreFinancial for Gift Card Program (Aug. 26, 2013)
Aug. 26, 2013 Shell Canada has launched a gift card program with StoreFinancial, which is providing processing and program management services. StoreFinancial is providing Shell with a restricted authorization network (RAN) card, along with its RASER card activation technology, which enables client retailers to sell and activate gift cards without a third-party distributor, regardless of […]
Report: Canada’s Employers Embrace Corporate Incentives (Aug. 26, 2013)
Aug. 26, 2013 A growing number of Canadian companies are using corporate incentive programs to motivate and reward employees and customers—and to greater effect, according to a recent report by Berkeley Payment Solutions, a Toronto-based provider of MasterCard and Visa prepaid card programs for corporations, governments and financial institutions. Slightly more than three-quarters of respondents […]
Vodafone Expands Availability of M-Pesa (Aug. 26, 2013)
Aug. 26, 2013 Vodafone continues to expand availability of M-Pesa throughout India as it readies the launch of the money service in at least two other countries by the end of this year. As an expansion of its partnership with ICICI Bank, India’s largest private sector bank, M-Pesa is now available to consumers in Delhi, […]
Diverse Reactions on Interchange Appeal; Judge Requests Briefs on Possible Interim Rule (Aug. 22, 2013)
Aug. 22, 2013 Financial industry groups are applauding yesterday’s announcement by the Federal Reserve Board of Governors that it will appeal a court ruling invalidating the agency’s debit interchange and network routing rules. Though the Fed’s rules setting debit interchange fee limits under the Durbin Amendment are “far from perfect,” the court’s July 31 decision […]
PayPal Inks Deals with MICROS, Mercury Payment Systems (Aug. 22, 2013)
Aug. 22, 2013 MICROS Systems Inc. and PayPal Inc. this week announced a strategic global collaboration that will pave the way for thousands of restaurants and other hospitality industry businesses using MICROS’s payment platforms to add PayPal as a POS and mobile app payment option. MICROS, used in more than half a million businesses around the […]
Prepaid Card Facilitates Exchange of Traditional Currency to Bitcoins (Aug. 22, 2013)
Aug. 22, 2013 Bitcoin Ventures Inc. is aiming to make it easier for consumers to obtain and make transactions with Bitcoin virtual currency. The Calgary, Alberta-based software development company and provider of Bitcoin e-commerce solutions has announced CoinTap, a prepaid card the company says streamlines “an otherwise tricky and time-consuming process” of exchanging traditional currency […]
GiftCard.com Launches Affiliate Program for Online Publishers (Aug. 22, 2013)
Aug. 22, 2013 Online gift card provider GiftCard.com has announced a new affiliate program that will enable online publishers and bloggers to earn revenue for referrals to the company’s gift and incentive card Websites. Affiliate e-publishers and bloggers will have access to banner graphics and text links for both GiftCard.com and IncentiveCardLab.com to help direct […]
MCX Picks FIS to Develop M-Commerce Platform (August 2013)
July 11, 2013 Another major piece of MCX’s jigsaw puzzle fell into place today with the announcement that payments technology provider FIS will provide the payments processing platform, including transaction routing and settlement, for the retail consortium’s evolving mobile commerce system. Jacksonville, Fla.-based FIS will execute mobile payments at participating retailer outlets in combination with […]
Isis Tightens Mobile Wallet Race with Serve Integration, Chase Commitment (August 2013)
By Kate Fitzgerald, Emerging Payments Editor Isis, the mobile wallet system backed by AT&T Mobility, T-Mobile, Verizon and three major card networks, is gathering steam as it nears its national rollout, with a new co-branding effort with American Express Co.’s Serve payments platform providing the latest push forward. Amex earlier this month announced plans to […]
Q&A with David Hunter, Ukash
Ukash recently has undertaken a slate of major new initiatives, expanding its Paybefore Award-winning platform to offer a full spectrum of services to cash-preferred consumers.
Breaking News: Fed to Appeal Interchange Ruling (Aug. 21, 2013)
Aug. 21, 2013 Certainty on debit interchange and network routing regulation isn’t likely any time soon. The Federal Reserve Board of Governors has decided to appeal a judge’s ruling requiring the agency to rewrite those rules. During a hearing today in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., the Fed’s lead attorney, Scott Alvarez, said the […]
Groupon Gets Physical, Adding Traditional POS to Merchant Offering (Aug. 20, 2013)
Aug. 20, 2013 Groupon bucked the mPOS system from the outset with its unique merchant pricing strategy, and its latest move to embrace traditional payment terminals seems equally novel as mainstream acquirers like Chase Paymentech are now getting into dongles. Groupon last week said it will add traditional credit card terminals to its merchant payments […]
