China may be one step closer to becoming the one of the largest NFC payments markets. Shanghai-based payment card network China UnionPay (CUP) has tapped tech giant Intel to provide mobile payment services. Under the collaboration, announced last week at the Intel Developer Forum in Beijing, CUP will use Intel’s identity protection technology for its […]
The M-Pesa mobile money transfer service could be coming to Myanmar, thanks to a joint bid by Vodafone and China Mobile. The companies are among 12 groups being considered by the Myanmar government for one of two licenses to operate a mobile network in the Southeast Asian nation, according to a report in the Financial […]
The world is embracing digital technology in every area of economic and social activity, including those that appeared impossible to convert to a digital format completely, such as payments.
As Banking 3.0 continues its inexorable rise, banks are increasingly turning to hosted mobile services developed with vendors – but there is still more work to be done before mobile banking becomes mainstream, according to a new report by analyst firm Celent.
By the standards of the rest of the financial services sector, the payments industry has always progressed at a glacial pace. For the past 10 years, the key topic at the long-running International Payments Summit has been the Single Euro Payments Area.
Senior financial executives have clashed over the extent to which mobile payments technology has failed to reach its potential – and the best way to fix it.
The emergence of alternative payments providers such as PayPal and the growth of mobile payments systems such as M-Pesa should be seen as a major opportunity for banks, not a threat, according to Ron van Wezel, global head of emerging payment streams at Deutsche Bank.
Canadian consumers will be the first in North America to be able to use MasterCard’s new MasterPass digital wallet, the company announced today. Unveiled in February at Barcelona’s Mobile World Congress, MasterPass offers users a cloud-based mobile solution for online shopping. Consumers can store up to 25 credit, debit or prepaid cards in the wallet—whether […]
Global shipments of NFC-enabled SIM cards rose 87 percent in 2012 compared with the previous year, according to SIMalliance. The London-based nonprofit trade association, which supports the creation, deployment and management of secure mobile services and applications, this week released a report on 2012 SIM shipments based on data provided by its members, which represent […]
By Joseph DeSetto, Emerging Payments Blogger It wasn’t long ago that mobile payments apps for the current generation of smartphones were difficult and time consuming for even experienced programmers to create. Much like the early days of e-commerce, standard ways of protecting user data, providing a consistent interface and user experience that would be trusted, […]
Payments company Kalixa Group has launched a set of tools including an mPOS, e-wallet and acceptance kit, which it says will disrupt the global payments market in Europe, the Americas, Asia Pacific and the Middle East.
Banks should pay attention to the needs of a new generation of consumers if they want to secure their business lines for the future, according to Mark Hale, head of payments at KPMG.
Disruptive digital technologies such as mobile and the internet will destroy the established retail banking business models by removing the physical product and replacing it with a digitised bank account, according to Brett King, speaking at the IPS show in London today. “In the old days there was a physical product, and a physical store,” […]
PayPal and Discover will begin the rollout of PayPal as a payment option at the point of sale, starting April 19, Don Kingsborough, PayPal’s global vice president and general manager of retail and prepaid, said yesterday. Speaking at Card Forum in Boca Raton, Fla., Kingsborough shared the stage with Discover’s Joe Hurley, senior vice president, […]
Yum! Brands Inc.’s KFC is the latest fast-food giant to pilot a mobile payment app, launching its first such effort near London. Consumers will be able use their smartphones to place orders and pay ahead of time, then pick up their food upon arrival at the store. KFC joins Starbucks Corp., Burger King Corp., Dunkin’ […]
Orange and Vodafone customers now can use their mobile phones to pay for trips on the subway in Bucharest, Romania. The system this month is being expanded to the city’s entire 51-station metro network after testing in seven stations last year. Customers can purchase tickets by sending a text message to a special number. A […]
Students at two colleges have a new way to pay for campus meals, thanks to a pilot being launched by food service manager Chartwells Higher Education Dining Services and mobile payment and loyalty network LevelUp. The program—undergoing a test run at Buffalo State University in Buffalo, N.Y., and the Curry Student Center retail dining venue […]
A U.K. ban on merchants imposing “excessive” surcharges when consumers pay with credit or debit cards that went into effect April 6 could mean fewer surprises for consumers that previously complained about getting stung with unexpected transaction fees when paying for airline and rail tickets and other online purchases. But some observers say the new […]
Payments processor Global Payments Inc. will support Visa Europe when it launches its V.me digital wallet in the U.K. this spring. The country’s third-largest card payments processor, Global Payments joins WorldPay as processing partners for the U.K. version of the wallet, which launched a pilot with bank partner RBS late last year and is expected […]
As competition among mobile merchant acceptance services in India grows, merchants seem to be responding to the new technology. Bangalore-based iKaaz says that within three months of launching its NFC-based card reader for merchants, the company is processing 800,000 transactions monthly. The iKaaz NFC Reader, available for US$20, plugs into any mobile phone and enables […]
Video game giant Nintendo will launch a series of prepaid cards in Japan that feature characters from the popular Super Mario franchise. The cards will be available in monetary denominations of 1,000 yen (US$10.40), 2,000 yen (US$20.81) and 3,000 yen (US$31.21), and will be available starting in late April from convenience stores and other retailers […]
Personal financial management tools have spluttered in and out of fashion, but a combination of mobile, tablet and internet banking uptake may mean their time has come, Recent years have seen the emergence of a plethora of PFM tools, each of which purports to be the best way to keep track of your finances.
Mobile payments are evolving at different rates around the globe, with Asia leading other regions including Latin America, Europe and North America in growth. However, progress is uneven and it remains unclear which payment technology will prevail worldwide, according to a new report from Amsterdam-based payments consulting firm Innopay. In Japan, for example, contactless payments […]
Enterprise mobility is a constantly evolving undertaking. As with any technology, just when you think it’s safe to use a term, the wording changes or a new device or solution comes out. This report examines the technology behind mobile application development for the enterprise and takes a look at the platform landscape. Mobile application development […]
Canada’s national ATM and debit network Interac this week announced the completion of the nation’s first NFC mobile debit transaction in a demonstration at a Toronto McDonald’s restaurant. The transaction showcasing the contactless EMV Interact Flash technology was conducted with an NFC-ready BlackBerry smartphone linked to a RBC Royal Bank customer’s bank account through mobile […]
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. For Paybefore’s purposes, card may mean a physical card or alternate form factor, including a virtual card. Best in Category: PayPal Prepaid MasterCard […]
By Kate Fitzgerald, Emerging Payments Editor The proliferation of mobile wallet concepts enabling consumers to make payments with smartphones and tablets already may seem daunting, but get ready for more. Experts say it’s still quite early in the cycle as card-based payments morph into new, mobile forms with countless approaches to enriching the shopping process […]
By Lori Breitzke, E&S Consulting LLC In the initial installment of this article, we addressed how trends in EMV will impact the prepaid sector. But developments in near field communication (NFC) merit an equally close watch, as they, too, should have bearing on the prepaid market and how it plays out moving forward. Let’s start […]
By Lori Breitzke, E&S Consulting LLC In the initial installment of this article, we addressed how trends in EMV will impact the prepaid sector. But developments in near field communication (NFC) merit an equally close watch, as they, too, should have bearing on the prepaid market and how it plays out moving forward. Let’s start […]
Spain’s Banco Sabadell, operating under various local bank brands from its headquarters in the city of Sabadell, has launched an NFC payments pilot with mobile network operator Telefónica and BlackBerry. Participating customers will receive an NFC-enabled BlackBerry Curve smartphone with their Visa payment card details stored in the handset, the bank said. Customers may download […]
In today’s multi-channel age, banks cannot afford to focus all their efforts on a single digital strategy any more than solely on the branch experience – the winners will be those that can see beyond channel-specific efforts and provide a truly integrated offering.
The growing student card market has a new entrant. Chattanooga, Tenn.-based processor and program manager TransCard is targeting banks that want to offer prepaid cards to college students with its newest reloadable prepaid product. The company’s announcement of its Student Prepaid Card comes just weeks after unveiling a prepaid card for banks to offer customers […]
March 21, 2013 The news that MasterCard soon will begin charging a fee to operators of some types of digital wallets has many industry observers considering the move a shot across the bow in a coming struggle for access to digital wallet customers. But others say the fee simply represents a step forward in the […]
The Illinois Department of Financial & Professional Regulation recently released five cease and desist orders from January 2013 against six entities for unlicensed activities under the state’s Transmitters of Money Act. These six entities offer a variety of services in Illinois, including domestic and international money transfer, bill payment services and prepaid cards. One of […]
March 19, 2013 The key to widespread adoption of mobile payments will be the degree to which consumers trust the process of using smartphones or other mobile devices to pay, according to new survey data from Auriemma Consulting Group (ACG). In a Web survey conducted in December 2012 of 1,000 consumers in the U.K., where […]
March 19, 2013 Billtrust today has launched QR codes for biller statements, a service enabling consumers and businesses to pay their bills online by scanning the QR code with their smartphones. The Hamilton, N.J.-based provider of outsourced billing services can imprint a QR code on any outbound billing document, according to the company. When the […]
March 18, 2013 Samsung’s plan to embed Mobeam Inc.’s new light-pulse technology into its latest generation of smartphones could provide a quicker route to connecting consumers’ handsets with millions of retailers’ existing POS scanners than some other methods, including NFC, some experts suggest. The South Korean phone maker last week said the new Samsung Galaxy S4 […]
Read about our winners and view event photos. The Paybefore Awards Europe ceremony will be held during Prepaid Expo Europe on 18 April in London. Best-in-Category honorees will be announced for the first time. On March 4, Paybefore celebrated 72 programs in 23 categories, naming for the first time Best-in-Category honorees at the 7th Annual Paybefore Awards […]
An analysis of mobile solutions for financial advisors concludes that applications to support client interaction and advisory services “will become one of the most industry-disruptive, but potentially most rewarding” developments in the wealth management sector. This is the main finding of Mobile Apps for Financial Advisors and Wealth Managers by Swiss research company MyPrivateBanking Research. […]
PKO Bank Polski has added a mobile payment service that covers all payment situations using the Mobile Everywhere platform from Stockholm-based Accumulate.
