March 12, 2013 Ingenico, a Paris-based POS terminal maker, today announced that subsidiary easycash Loyalty Solutions has developed a gift card for gas station company JET Tankstellen Austria GmbH, enabling the Phillips 66 subsidiary to replace paper vouchers. Customers can use the card to pay for gas purchases at the more than 140 JET gas […]
March 11, 2013 The Federal Reserve Board last week said it has no plans to change its regulations on debit card interchange fee limits, despite outcry from retail and consumer groups that claim the limits are currently too high. The Fed issued its second biennial report on the debit card market—as required by Dodd-Frank—which surveyed card […]
March 11, 2013 Many U.S. banks are taking a cautious approach in making any plans to broadly issue EMV cards to consumers prior to October 2015, when the card networks’ liability-shift deadlines take effect, as they weigh the cost of the migration against the risks of doing nothing, several banking executives said today during a […]
March 11, 2013 The Federal Trade Commission is setting its sights on the mobile sector. Late last week, the agency filed a series of lawsuits against accused senders of mobile marketing spam and released a report on mobile payments expressing concern over privacy, security and billing issues. The FTC filed eight complaints in courts around […]
March 11, 2013 Government agencies must use their full enforcement authority to penalize institutions that run afoul of Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) requirements, especially with the advent of mobile payments, which present “huge potential” for fraud, said Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) during his summation of a hearing last week on BSA compliance. Warner added that […]
Rising to the challenge of reconnecting with customers, rebuilding trust and renewing the banking experience, banks are starting to explore digital technologies and solutions.
SEPA solutions specialist Sentenial has completed its planned investment in the Benelux Region with the opening of a fully-supported operational office in Amsterdam and the relocation and expansion of its Brussels office.
March 7, 2013 Earvin “Magic” Johnson is no stranger to winning—whether on the basketball court or in the board room. During his Hall-of-Fame career with the Los Angeles Lakers, the NBA legend racked up five championships and three league MVP awards, but his accomplishments as a businessman might be just as impressive. His Magic Johnson […]
March 7, 2013 During a Tuesday session entitled GPR: A Destination or Journey?, panelists at Prepaid Expo USA in Orlando, Fla., discussed whether GPR cards should be a stepping stone to a bank account and other products or if they are sufficient financial tools in their own right. The consensus seemed to be that moving everyone […]
March 7, 2013 On the final day of Prepaid Expo USA in Orlando, Fla., this week, First Data’s Michael Hursta, vice president, prepaid category manager, discussed consumer research that reveals some challenges and opportunities with taking closed-loop gift cards into international markets. In Latin America, First Data looked at five countries—Mexico, Brazil, Guatemala, Chile and […]
March 7, 2013 “Banklike” card products, such as American Express Co.’s Bluebird, Chase Liquid and Green Dot’s GoBank, that target underserved customers who are disproportionately “young and mobile” are just the tip of the iceberg of innovative new products emerging to serve a changing society, according to Rachel Schneider, senior vice president for insight and analytics for […]
March 6, 2013 Visa Europe is deepening its relationship with Monitise plc with a new deal to expand mobile payments and mobile commerce services to 3,000 European banks across 36 countries and a commitment to increase Visa Europe’s existing stake in London-based banking and mobile payments provider Monitise, the companies announced today. Visa Europe will […]
March 6, 2013 As GPR card providers seek to develop long-term cardholder relationships, a panel of industry experts at the Prepaid Expo USA in Orlando, Fla., discussed strategies of dealing with one of the prepaid industry’s biggest hurdles—reducing customer churn. The lifespan of a typical GPR card is a short one; cards distributed online average […]
March 6, 2013 The prepaid card industry may appear to have little in common with the airline industry, but prepaid card marketers could learn a few lessons from Southwest Airlines about surviving turbulent times and transforming commodity-like financial services products into unique and successful brands, Southwest’s former top executive told attendees during a keynote session […]
March 6, 2013 Visibility, replenishment and store associate awareness are three keys to energizing a retailer’s gift card category, according to Colleen Dorwart, senior manager of gift card services at Cabela’s Inc. Dorwart, who was part of a panel discussion this week at Prepaid Expo USA in Orlando, Fla., also stressed frequent conference calls between […]
March 4, 2013 Paybefore celebrated 72 programs in 23 categories, naming for the first time Best-in-Category honorees at the 7th Annual Paybefore Awards Ceremony, which capped off the first day of Prepaid Expo USA in Orlando, Fla. This year—for the very first time—there was a sixth judge, consisting of the votes of visitors to Paybefore.com, […]
March 5, 2013 As competitive pressure drives prepaid card pricing and fees steadily downward, prepaid marketers must become savvier about managing portfolios on a holistic basis rather than as low-cost standalone products, a panel of industry executives suggested during a panel discussion on the future of prepaid cards on March 4 at the Prepaid Expo […]
March 5, 2013 The prepaid card industry as it matures is reaching a broader range of consumers at all age and income levels, and competition is forcing prepaid products to become more innovative, said Beth Horowitz, Discover senior vice president, on March 4 at Prepaid Expo USA in Orlando, Fla. Mainstream consumer groups steadily adopting […]
March, 5, 2013 CPI Card Group, a Littleton, Colo.-based card producer, has expanded capabilities at its Petersfield facility in the U.K. to support demand for secure prepaid card packaging, the company announced yesterday. The new capabilities, which include gift card packaging for distribution within an open- or closed-loop environment, add to the existing products and […]
March 5, 2013 Tracking their finances, saving time and money, avoiding risk and maintaining close relationships with their parents are some of the hallmarks of older “Millennials,” the generation born between 1982 and 2005, according to Neil Howe, founding partner and president, LifeCourse Associates, a consulting company focused on the attributes of generations. Howe, a […]
March 5, 2013 Prepaid Resources, a New York City-based technology specialist for the prepaid and banking industry, has announced a partnership with Atlanta-based technology provider IDology to incorporate advanced identity verification and prescreening solutions within Prepaid Resources’ FraudGuard security services. Fraud Guard protects against unauthorized direct-deposit enrollments using Prepaid Resources’ BenefitsDirect Direct Deposit Management application. […]
March 5, 2013 GroupGifting.com, the developers of the eGifter Web and mobile social gifting app, debuted its integration with LinkedIn at the Prepaid Expo USA in Orlando, Fla., yesterday. The new feature enables consumers to send eGift cards to their LinkedIn Connections. “Social gifting in a business context is now a reality,” said Tyler Roye, […]
March 2013 Expanding the Boundaries of PrepaidLeft to right: Lisa Breitengross and Kevin Boglarsky, Discover 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 Ceremony, which capped off the first day of Prepaid Expo USA in Orlando, Fla. This year—for […]
The introduction of a seven-day account switching service in the autumn is meant to increase competition among UK High Street banks. Will it succeed?
Feb. 28, 2013 Discover Financial Services is taking on the likes of online banking specialists Simple and Moven with Discover Cashback Checking, introducing a mainstream debit card, to be processed on its Pulse network. Initially targeting only select Discover credit card customers by invitation, Discover’s new banking service carries no monthly fees or minimum balances […]
Feb. 28, 2013 MasterCard Worldwide pushed its global mobile payments strategy forward this week with announcements of diverse initiatives targeting new customers, including a strategic partnership with Amsterdam-based mobile network operator VimpelCom Ltd. to reach unbanked consumers in 18 countries with a “mobile money” service, as well as the card network’s first NFC launch in […]
Feb. 28, 2013 A new startup from PayPal co-founder Max Levchin is aiming to improve the process of making online purchases via mobile device—an improvement he says is a boon to customers and retailers alike. Known as Affirm, the new company is the brainchild of Levchin’s tech incubator Hard, Valuable, Fun and is launching a […]
Feb. 28, 2013 As part of a partnership established last year with The Members Group (TMG), a Des Moines, Iowa-based card processing and payment solutions provider, CO-OP Financial Services today announced it will be offering TMG’s reloadable prepaid cards to all of its client credit unions. The TMG reloadable prepaid cards are in addition to […]
Feb. 28, 2013 Customer service is in the news for the second time this week as prepaid card provider AccountNow Inc. reported that more than 90 percent of its call volume is now resolved in the automated system rather than via live agent. The increase follows AccountNow’s move to VoltDelta for customer service 18 months […]
The two specialists in an organization most likely to have strong opinions on mobile payments and the impact on the business—software developers and accountants—are unlikely to assign value the same way.
Blog: New Credit Card Surcharges Could Impact Prepaid Market February 2013 By Lori Breitzke, E&S Consulting LLC A proposed settlement agreement in the In re Payment Card Interchange Fee and Merchant Discount Antitrust Litigation—filed in 2005 on behalf of approximately 7 million merchants alleging, among other claims, that MasterCard and Visa had separately colluded […]
February 2013 By Lori Breitzke, E&S Consulting LLC A proposed settlement agreement in the In re Payment Card Interchange Fee and Merchant Discount Antitrust Litigation—filed in 2005 on behalf of approximately 7 million merchants alleging, among other claims, that MasterCard and Visa had separately colluded with banks to eliminate competition and increase interchange (swipe) […]
Payment service provider Payment Exchange has moved its Mauritius operation onto BPC Banking Technologies’ HP Integrity NonStop platform, which is designed to make it easier, faster and cheaper to launch new products.
Feb. 26, 2013 Payments industry experts eyeing the October 2015 target date for the U.S. migration to EMV card technology are contemplating plans to set up an EMV pilot in a single U.S. city to boost EMV planning and to work out the bugs in chip-card deployment. The concept, hatched by a committee within the […]
Feb. 26, 2013 European e-voucher provider paysafecard group has launched a new service it says will simplify the process of Internet shopping for its customers. The Paybefore Award-winning firm’s new system—dubbed “my paysafecard”—enables customers to combine all of their paysafecard e-vouchers into a single account. Instead of having to enter separate 16-digit PINs for each […]
Feb. 26. 2013 Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.) today told attendees at a Credit Union National Association Government Affairs Conference in Washington, D.C., that federal lawmakers may revisit the debit interchange fee cap created by the Durbin Amendment this year, according to CUNA’s News Now. The publication also reports the Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) said earlier […]
Feb. 26, 2013 The Payment Cards Center of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia hosted a workshop last week focused on customer service in the prepaid card industry. Susan Herbst-Murphy, a senior industry specialist at the PCC, says the center was eager to learn more about customer service issues in light of the Treasury’s mandate […]
Feb. 26, 2013 Oman’s largest bank said a dozen of its prepaid travel cards were compromised outside of the country. Bank Muscat will take an impairment charge of up to 15 million rials (US$39 million) as a result of the unspecified fraud—a figure representing more than 10 percent of the bank’s latest annual earnings. […]
MasterCard has announced the roll-out of a new integrated authorisation tool that straddles the card, online and mobile payments areas, while allowing merchants and digital wallet providers to integrate it with their services.
Big banks and their large corporate clients are in the final stages of preparation for the SEPA end date of February next year, but what about the smaller clients in the non-euro countries?
