Payments round-up: 20 October 2016
Words cut. Time saved. A round-up of key events in the payments enclave.
Azimo, the money transfer service, has launched a new version of its mobile app for Apple and Android users. On the iPhone, the app will allow users to transfer money through the voice-activated Siri system.
Customers can transfer money by telling Siri the amount of money they want to send and the recipient’s name… if you could all use my name, I’d appreciate it.
Do you want to send it? No, I want to spend it.
Etisalat, the branded trade name of Emirates Telecommunications Corporation, has adopted Oberthur Technologies’ (OT) digital platforms to introduce the “first of its kind” mobile wallet service in the UAE.
Etisalat’s subscribers will be able to use their smartphone to pay utility bills, top up airtime, pay for parking in different cities or purchase various goods and services. The subscriber can control the transactions with automatic reports, notifications and account management features.
Payments firm i2c is working with Kiwibank, New Zealand’s largest prepaid issuer, to expand the latter’s prepaid gift and travel card programmes, and to roll out new features.
The bank says it has recently completed the migration of its “Prezzy” gift cards and “popular” (they all say that) multi-currency travel cards. Kiwibank adds that end-to-end processing times have improved.
Wirecard and Orange are “broadening the range” of functionalities available for Orange’s mobile wallet app, Orange Cash, in France. It has been extended to the new “Orange Cash Jeune” offer, which is aimed at children up to 18 years and under their parent’s charge.
The firms note that teens are “increasingly” using their smartphones for online purchases but “yet many don’t have any bank account or payment card that they can use for those purposes”. With Orange Cash Jeune, they can create an account, parents or legal guardians sign up over the web interface of Orange Cash and install the app on their children’s smartphones. Via the web interface, parents are in control of the sums of money, which should be charged on the account and get a real-time overview of the expenses. The entire financial administration is managed through the parent’s Orange Cash account.
