Google has ended the grace period for unsupported payment cards that can be used with Android Pay. Those cards include products from such financial institutions as Citi, Discover and Wells Fargo, according to Google.
LG Electronics and Paymentwall said Oct. 4 that they will expand the online payment options available through LG’s webOS “smart” TVs. The program “will give consumers easier access to paid apps, movies, games and much more through LG’s intuitive webOS Smart TV platform,” LG said. The effort involves some 140 payment options in 200 countries.
Members of global payments network Eurogiro are now able to transfer funds to mobile money and bank accounts through a partnership with B2B mobile payment network TransferTo, the companies announced Oct. 3. Through TransferTo’s payments network, Eurogiro’s network members can expand their service offerings by providing mobile payments and, for example, accept remittances at a post office in one country and transfer the funds to a recipient’s mobile wallet in another country.
It’s a European roll-out as MasterCard has launched Identity Check Mobile, a new payment technology app that uses biometrics to verify a cardholder’s identity. The technology is now being introduced across 12 markets in Europe – including the UK, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and Sweden, following a […]
Apple Pay has launched in Russia with partners Sberbank and MasterCard. Russia is the tenth country where Apple Pay has been made available, following the US, UK, Canada, France, China and others. Alexander Torbakhov, deputy chairman of the executive board of Sberbank, says: “Apple Pay is driving the popularisation of contactless payments in Russia and […]
Western Union has unveiled its mobile platform in Canada for domestic and cross-border money transfers, available for iOS and Android. The new app allows users “instant, anytime, anywhere” access to Western Union’s physical and digital money transfer infrastructure. So people can send money face-to-face or online. “Whether on a smart phone or at a store […]
Arizon Sourcing has migrated its financial messaging traffic to Bottomline Technologies’ cloud-based solution GTExchange, hosted in Switzerland. Arizon, a joint venture between Raiffeisen Group and Avaloq, says the cloud offers cost transparency and cost reduction. On top of this, the Bottomline Swiss Service Bureau will support all of Arizon’s domestic (SIC) and cross-border (Swift) transactions. […]
In perhaps one of the most dramatic instances of resistance to EMV since the technology began rolling out more than a year ago, Austin, Texas, public transit plans to stop accepting payment card purchases at vending machines at its nine commuter rail stations, rather than upgrade to EMV-compatible machines.
Meta Financial Group, the parent of MetaBank and Meta Payment Systems, said Oct. 3 it will buy EPS Financial LLC, which sells tax-related financial transaction products, for $42.5 million. The half stock, half cash deal will close in the fourth quarter, Meta Financial said.
In a study conducted by the CFPB, with assistance from American Express, researchers found that offering a monetary incentive was most effective in motivating consumers to set money aside in savings accounts. The research results from the study, “Tools for Saving: Using Prepaid Accounts to Set Aside Funds,” also indicate that having a savings option reduced consumers’ use of payday loan services.
A bipartisan group of federal lawmakers has asked the CFPB to reconsider some of the agency’s proposed restrictions on short-term lenders, arguing that such loans provide much-needed access to credit for those who have few other alternatives.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Sept. 29 agreed to hear arguments from a group of New York merchants who want the right to impose surcharges on purchases made with credit cards. The outcome of the case could have an effect on laws in 10 states that restrict such surcharges.
To help consumers build a credit history or improve their existing credit scores, Green Dot Corp. launched Sept. 29 the Green Dot Platinum Visa Secured Credit Card. Being a secured credit card, the credit line is backed by the cardholder’s security deposit held with Green Dot Bank.
Of the total card base, global brand general purpose cards accounted for about 60.79 percent at the end of 2015. Domestic general purpose cards accounted for 5.53 percent, while private label cards accounted for 33.69 percent, Nilson said.
Within a two-day span, the CFPB ordered two companies in separate cases to pay a total of more than $12.6 million in civil penalties and refunds.
Ericsson has joined forces with HomeSend, a joint venture between Mastercard, eServGlobal and Bics that focuses on mobile money remittances in emerging markets. Ericsson’s digital wallet, Ericsson Wallet Platform, is now HomeSend Certified. The product has access to HomeSend’s network of money transfer operators, cash agents and banks in more than 200 countries. Peter Heuman, […]
To drive ISO 20022 adoption, the industry is calling for collaboration and for those with the ‘right stuff’ to lead the way. A panel yesterday, ISO 20022 market practice developments, gave a global view of the status of ISO 20022 in the payments and securities markets. Gerard Smith, director collateral services at LCH.Clearnet, said the […]
Financial regulators globally are putting pressure on financial institutions to move to real-time solutions in both retail and wholesale banking. Advances in technology and a desire by regulators to reduce risks in the financial system are driving the trend. Discussions about real time technology and solutions span the banking world at this year’s Sibos. While […]
Open application programming interface (API) banking and immediate payments are a perfect storm for new banking, according to FIS. Established payment systems do not work in the way most consumers and businesses expect in a digital, mobile, real time world. Consumers expect instant gratification; digital money should act more like physical cash in terms of […]
Following Emerchants’ May 2016 acquisition of Store Financial’s U.S. and Canada operations, the company has unveiled a new brand name and identity: EML.
CLS Group has started building a payment netting service, using existing message protocols and distributed ledger technology (DLT), which will be open to all FX market participants – not just CLS members –and will also enable CLS members to net some FX trades that are currently settled outside the CLS settlement service.
The single euro payments area is up and running and has proved to be a catalyst for change in the payments industry. We look at the story so far.
In the aftermath of the financial crisis, transaction banking was considered a reliable source of income for global banking groups. But nearly a decade on, multiple factors are putting pressure on transaction banks’ revenues. This year’s World Payments Report suggests banks increase their investments in digital solutions to offer more compelling propositions to their corporate treasury clients.
t’s been a bad month for the payments industry in the state of New York. Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a law Sept. 26 imposing restrictions on gift cards and gift certificates sold in the state. The new law comes just weeks after the New York Department of Labor (DOL) issued a final rule regulating the use of payroll cards. The gift card law goes into effect Dec. 25, 2016, as that is 90 days from the governor’s signing.
American Express scored a major legal victory on Sept. 26 when a federal appeals court ruled that Amex had the right to restrict retailers. Specifically, Amex had wanted to prevent Amex-accepting merchants from offering shoppers financial incentives to use other card brands. In its ruling, the U.S Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit New York tossed out a lower court’s decision that said language barring such “steering” in American Express’ contracts with its merchant clients violated anti-trust laws.
Blockchain, the decentralized transaction-verification system that underpins bitcoin, received a boost Sept. 27, with Microsoft and Bank of America Merrill Lynch saying they will team up to further develop the technology.
With the proliferation of smartphones among consumers, retailers have an opportunity to reach customers in thoughtful and engaging ways that could help influence the decision-making process when it comes to making a purchase. Discover offers tips on what strategies retailers should consider implementing to enhance their mobile marketing campaigns.
Delegates attending yesterday’s Making real time successful in the Eurozone session at Sibos 2016 heard that the key to success for banks will be to initially focus on their own domestic payments markets – which still constitute the vast majority of their payments.
ACI Worldwide and Vocalink have joined forces “to offer a complete end-to-end immediate payments solution to launch a domestic or regional immediate payments network”. The partnership will combine Vocalink’s Immediate Payments System (IPS) offering for central payment infrastructures and ACI’s UP Immediate Payments solution for banks and financial institutions.
Swift has committed to help its members combat the cyber threat “in challenging times”, delegates heard during yesterday’s opening plenary session. Security will be a feature every day of the conference because “the cyber threat is here to stay”, said Swift chief executive, Gottfried Leibbrandt.
The payments industry faces a perfect storm with immediate, open and context-based changes emanating from new technology, regulation and infrastructures set to “transform the landscape”.
Banif Bank in Malta has selected the Pelican Transaction Banking platform. The solution will provide end to end automation of both Swift and single euro payments area payments, including integration with over the counter instructions, Banif’s internet banking system and back office.
The European Central Bank has outlined its plans to consolidate the Target2 and Target2Securities (T2S) platforms, introduce a new European-wide instant payments platform by November 2017 and develop a new collateral management system. The Eurosystem’s “Vision 2020” plans were outlined by Yves Mersch, a member of the executive board at the ECB, at Sibos 2016.
Udayan Goyal’s vision for the future of money revolves around seamless, instant micropayments being made continuously between autonomous apps and services all triggered by thoughts and actions of humans as they go about their daily lives.
The CFPB has filed a federal lawsuit against a credit repair company over what the consumer protection agency called “a series of illegal advance fees” and misrepresentations of the cost and effectiveness of the company’s services.
The amount of money U.S. consumers are loading onto their open-loop prepaid cards continues to increase, and more consumers are buying open- and closed-loop gift cards for self-use, according to two separate studies by Mercator Advisory Group.
Global consumer card payments will surpass cash payments for the first time this year, reaching $23.1 trillion worldwide, according to new data from Euromonitor International. Cash transactions are projected at $22.6 trillion for the year, according to the research firm.
Global non-cash transactions grew 8.9 percent year-over-year in 2014 to reach 387.3 billion transactions, according to the 2016 “World Payments Report” from Capgemini and BNP Paribas. The report said that “developing markets drove this growth, recording a 16.7 percent increase in 2014 while mature markets grew by 6.0 percent.”
Read our first Daily News at Sibos edition of the Sibos 2016 conference in Geneva – all the latest news and analysis from Swift’s premier event of the year.
Join the consortium. PayCommerce, an open cross-border payments network, has launched an instant cross-border payment, clearing and integrated settlement programme for global banks.
