Chime Rings in Automated Saving Feature (Jan. 13, 2016)
Many millennials recognize the importance of saving but often find it difficult to follow through on actually setting aside funds.
Mobile
Canadian Mint Selects nanoPay to Bring Digital Currency to a Widespread Audience (Jan. 12, 2016)
Toronto-based fintech startup nanoPay is taking Canada another step toward delivering digital currency on a mass scale. Following a selection process of software developers charged with creating payment apps for the MintChip digital currency created by the Royal Canadian Mint, nanoPay today announced it has acquired all MintChip assets and was chosen to further expand MintChip acceptance.
Ford and Amazon Work to Make Cars Smarter (Jan. 12, 2016)
Ford wants to links its cars with Amazon’s Alexa technology, enabling drivers more Web-connected control over their cars and homes. The move represents the latest development in the Internet of Things, which was a hot topic at last week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
ADP’s ALINE Payroll Card Integrates Apple Pay (Jan. 11, 2016)
ADP has announced that its ALINE Card is integrated with Apple Pay, making the Paybefore Award-winning card one of the first prepaid cards in the mobile wallet.
Investment Roundup: Square, Starling, Deposit Solutions (Jan. 11, 2016)
After a hot 2015, fintech investment is off to a strong start in the New Year. In recent days, U.K. digital financial services provider Starling Bank and European retail banking disruptor Deposit Solutions each landed new financing, while global asset manager BlackRock acquired at least a 5 percent stake in New York City-based Square.
Blackhawk Continues Gifting, Incentives Expansion with $120 Million Buy (Jan. 7, 2016)
The holiday shopping season may be over, but Blackhawk Network remains in a buying mood.
MasterCard, Wirecard Offer MasterPass to Singapore Cab Riders (Jan. 7, 2016)
Commuters hailing a cab in Singapore now can use MasterPass, MasterCard’s digital wallet, to pay their fares.
Smartphones Surpass Tablets for E-Commerce Sales (Jan. 7, 2016)
Smartphones accounted for 17 percent of online sales in the U.S. last year, beating out tablets, at 14 percent, according to the State of Retailing Online 2016, a widely cited annual report from Forrester Research Inc., Bizrate Insights and Shop.org, the e-commerce arm of the National Retail Federation trade group.
MasterCard Enables Payments via Refrigerators and Fitness Devices (Jan. 6, 2016)
MasterCard wants consumers to use its cards and payment network to buy goods through their refrigerators and fitness devices, going by announcements made this week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
Orange, Groupama Banque Developing Mobile Bank (Jan. 5, 2016)
Orange’s new partnership with Groupama enables the French telco to offer banking services with the launch of Orange Bank while beefing up Groupama’s online banking business. The partnership also could lead to Orange acquiring a 65 percent stake in Groupama Banque.
More Mobile Payments Come to Latin America (Jan. 5, 2016)
Latin American consumers will have more access to mobile payments through a deal between ABnote and MeaWallet. The move comes as more consumers in the region turn to mobile devices to access the Web.
Orange to launch mobile-only bank in 2017
French telecoms firm Orange is to create a new bank called Orange Bank together with French insurer Groupama, in a move the two firms say will help to break open the banking market using mobile phone technology.
Will Mike Tyson Bitcoin Wallet Be Champ or Knocked Out? (Jan. 4, 2016)
Will the recently launched Mike Tyson Digital Wallet for bitcoin users be crowned the champ when other celebrity-endorsed payments products have failed to take hold? Bitcoin Direct is banking on Tyson’s endorsement of its digital wallet to become as synonymous as former boxing champ George Foreman and his grill.
Walmart Adds MasterPass for Online, Mobile Checkout (Jan. 4, 2016)
Hot on the heels of its December Walmart Pay launch, retail giant Walmart is taking additional steps to speed up payments for shoppers. MasterCard announced today that Walmart will accept MasterPass in 2016 across its domestic online properties. The partnership suggests that even as retailers launch proprietary ways to pay, giving consumers more payment options will win out over exclusivity.
Millennial Mashup: Young Consumers Mix GPR, Traditional Banking (Dec. 23, 2015)
Millennials continue to show high interest in GPR prepaid cards and other alternative financial services—but they’re not turning their backs on banks, according to a new report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s Payment Cards Center.
Idaho Ag Dept. First to Launch NIC’s eGovExpress Digital Wallet (Dec. 23, 2015)
Idaho’s Department of Agriculture is the first government department to launch the eGovExpress digital wallet developed by Olathe, Kan.-based NIC Inc., provider of official government Web portals and digital government services for more than 3,500 federal, state and local government agencies.
PayPal’s One Touch Attracts 10 Million Users (Dec. 22, 2015)
PayPal’s One Touch, a fledgling mobile payments tool that enables quick purchases, has attracted 10 million users since its April launch, just as other mobile payment programs strive for dominance.
Is Target Next to Develop Mobile Wallet? (Dec. 22, 2015)
Rumors are beginning to swirl around Target developing its own m-wallet, but like Walmart, the retailer says it’s still committed to MCX’s CurrentC.
China Welcomes Apple, Samsung; Australia Says ‘Yes’ to Android Pay, ‘No’ to Apple Pay (Dec. 21, 2015)
Chinese consumers soon will have a sizable selection of m-wallets to choose from as the country is becoming awash with big players in the m-wallet space. Both, Apple and Samsung Electronics, late last week announced deals with China UnionPay. Meanwhile, the road continues to be rocky for Apple in Australia, where banks have agreed to work with Android Pay, but not Apple Pay.
Dunkin’ Donuts Mobile App Integrates Apple Pay (Dec. 15, 2015)
Users of the popular Dunkin’ Donuts payment and loyalty app now can use Apple Pay to purchase, gift or reload virtual Dunkin’ Donuts Cards to fuel the retailer’s mobile app. The integration began on Dec. 7, in time for the holiday gifting season and adds another use case for Apple Pay.
UnionPay Debuts Mobile Wallet in China with Deep Partnership Roster (Dec. 15, 2015)
China-based payments giant UnionPay has launched QuickPass, a mobile payments service with more than 20 bank partners and acceptance at more than 10,000 retail locations. That deep roster of launch partners could help state-run UnionPay compete with privatelyheld players in the Chinese m-payments sector, most notably Alibaba and Tencent.
Wirecard Offers Alipay POS Acceptance in Europe (Dec. 14, 2015)
A new partnership between Germany’s Wirecard Group and Alipay will enable Chinese travelers to make POS payments in Europe using the Alipay mobile wallet. The initiative will give European brands and retailers access to the $165 billion Chinese tourism market—and Alipay’s more than 400 million active users.
Helping millennials chart today’s financial waters
Millennials – those highly sophisticated, tech-savvy men and women born between 1980 and 2000 – present enormous opportunities for banks and other financial institutions. Yet to be successful, these businesses must understand and meet the needs of a generation that grew up having it all, seeing it all, and being exposed to it all since early childhood – and that is no easy task.
As Fraud Moves to CNP, New Company Aims to ‘Armor’ Transactions (Dec. 9, 2015)
With EMV technology increasing security for card-present transactions, fraudsters are shifting their focus to the card-not-present (CNP) environment, including online, mobile and phone purchases—but new market entrant Tender Armor has a plan to increase security for CNP transactions.
InComm: Gift Cards Hot for Holiday Season (Dec. 9, 2015)
Consumers are hot for gift cards this holiday, but more are turning to online and mobile channels to purchase virtual and physical cards, new data from InComm show.
suretap, Enstream Testing Tap-to-Pay Service for Commuters (Dec. 8, 2015)
After adding a loyalty component to its mobile wallet last month, Canada-based suretap is working with mobile technology provider and sister company EnStream to test a program with the Société de transport de Montréal enabling commuters to pay transit fares using their mobile wallets.
Study: Global E-Commerce on the Rise (Dec. 7, 2015)
As the global e-commerce market surges to $2.4 trillion by 2019, 23 percent of this total is expected to come exclusively from mobile devices, according to a recent study by Worldpay. The results for prepaid are a mixed bag, with closed-loop vouchers/cards booming and network branded card e-commerce volume expected to decline.
Getting to grips with mobile security
The sensors built into mobile devices offer a whole new way of identifying their users though biometric techniques, according to security expert Uri Rivner.
Holiday E-Retail Roundup: Amazon the Big Black Friday Winner, A Record Cyber Monday (Dec. 3, 2015)
The online retail numbers keep rolling in as the holiday shopping season launches into high gear, and more shoppers than ever are making purchases online.
Mozido Supercharges TWallet for Indonesia’s Largest Telco (Dec. 3, 2015)
Boasting more than half of Indonesia’s 255 million people as wireless customers, mobile network operator Telkomsel Indonesia is tapping Mozido to help it entice more of its 140 million customers to use its mobile wallet.
House Committee Applauds Mobile Payments Innovation (Dec. 2, 2015)
In a Congressional hearing yesterday, lawmakers examined the role mobile payments technologies are playing in disrupting traditional payments, paying particular attention to how mobile has increased payments security and enabled small businesses and underbanked consumers to access electronic payments.
Samsung Pay Adds 8 New Issuers, Including Chase (Dec. 2, 2015)
Samsung Pay has expanded its roster of supported payment cards with the addition of eight new card issuers.
Krispy Kreme’s App May Be Late to the Party, but has Grand Plans (Dec. 2, 2015)
Competition for consumers looking to get their doughnut and coffee fix, among other offerings, has heated up with this week’s announcement of Krispy Kreme’s new loyalty app.
U.K. Licenses Second Digital Bank (Dec. 1, 2015)
A new digital banking startup has received a U.K. banking license, adding another challenger to the growing ranks of financial services providers seeking to contest the dominance of established banks. Tandem Bank is just the second digital-only bank to earn a license from the Bank of England, following Atom Bank, which was licensed in June.
M-Payments’ Next Mission
The pressure to build scale rises with new competitors—Android Pay, Samsung Pay and CurrentC—joining Apple Pay in the emerging m-payments fray. Will consumers climb aboard? How they’re using m-payments so far, may tell the tale.
Gift Cards, E-Commerce Drive Holiday Shopping
U.S. shoppers flocked to physical and online stores during the Thanksgiving weekend, with more than 151 million Americans shopping in-store and/or online, based on data from the National Retail Federation. The shopping frenzy is expected to continue, with Cyber Monday deals projected to drive 121 million U.S. consumers to shop online. Average spending per shopper was $299.60, and gift cards were especially popular, comprising a whopping 76.6 percent ($229.56) of that average total.
Visa Highlights Security Efforts during Peak Shopping Season (Nov. 30, 2015)
As consumers take to their computers and mobile devices in the hopes of getting great deals today and throughout the holidays, shoppers could fall prey to identity thieves and other scams. To thwart such crimes online and in stores, Visa has kicked off an educational campaign for issuers, merchants and consumers about the network’s security efforts.
ERPB Approves Instant Payments Plan (Nov. 29, 2015)
Instant payments are a step closer to becoming a reality in Europe, now that the European Payments Council (EPC) has submitted and received approval on its proposal for the design of a pan-European instant credit transfer framework.
Apple Pay Seeking February Launch in China; Wirecard Debuts New NFC Wallet (Nov. 24, 2015)
Apple Pay’s long-awaited arrival in China could be just months away, with the mobile payments service slated to launch in the country by early February 2016, according to a report. Meanwhile, Germany’s Wirecard has launched a new Android-based NFC mobile wallet in four European countries.
Shift, Coinbase Debut Bitcoin Visa Card (Nov. 23, 2015)
Bitcoin may be a step closer to going mainstream now that Coinbase is partnering with Shift Payments to launch a Visa-branded bitcoin debit card that lets users spend the funds in their bitcoin wallets anywhere Visa is accepted.
