Issuers are beginning to put the fight against fraud into cardholders’ hands with mobile app controls, such as on/off switches and geolocation. Elan Financial Services is the latest to help issuers give debit and prepaid cardholders the ability to control their cards from their smartphones.
Transport for London (TfL), the city’s transit authority, and Cubic Transportation Systems have consummated a £15 million (US$20 million) licensing deal enabling Cubic to tailor London’s contactless system technology for other world cities’ transport systems.
With news on blockchain and Bitcoin appearing thick and fast, here’s a round-up of key events to save you time. Bitcoin has got some love in Russia when the centre-right Party of Growth says it is open to accepting donations in the digital currency. Boris Titov, head of the party, who also acts as an […]
Avox Data Services, a provider of legal entity reference data and a subsidiary of the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), has migrated its data servers to Amazon Web Services (AWS). The move is part of a company-wide initiative to implement new technologies to “increase scalability, further enhance the security of the data and reduce […]
Nationwide Building Society has launched a new mobile banking app – and users can now log on using Apple’s Touch ID biometric technology. Barnaby Davis, Nationwide’s divisional director group retail strategy, says: “As a mutual, Nationwide is owned by and run for the benefit of its members. This is why when designing our new mobile […]
Thomson Reuters and CME Group have reached an agreement to implement connectivity between their instant messaging networks, Thomson Reuters Eikon Messenger and CME Pivot Instant Messaging. The combined service will be available late Q3 2016; and will allow over 300,000 current market participants using the respective messenger services to communicate “seamlessly” across platforms. Shaun Sibley, […]
Samsung Electronics is bringing Samsung Pay to Puerto Rico. Samsung Pay will support eligible credit cards from Banco Popular, Puerto Rico’s largest bank, and will be available on AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint and Claro networks in Puerto Rico. The firm says Samsung Pay is the “only” mobile wallet that allows users to pay with their compatible […]
The latest FDIC guidance on brokered deposits, released on June 30, has done little to alleviate industry concerns about the treatment of prepaid card loads as brokered deposits.
Why are the next generation of virtual cards the key to commercial card adoption? Alex Mifsud, CEO of Ixaris, explores the issue. Commercial cards are relatively commonplace in the business world, with companies using these cards to buy a raft of business related items, including client lunches, airline tickets & office supplies. Commercial cards come in […]
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has named Beverly Cole as deputy comptroller for compliance supervision. In the role, Cole will be responsible for developing and instituting compliance operational protocols, examination strategies and schedules.
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority board of governors has appointed Robert Cook as president and CEO, effective the second half of 2016.
Safaricom is planning to add a companion prepaid card to its popular M-PESA mobile money transfer service in Kenya—a move that could help close the “missing link” in the e-money ecosystem, while helping Safaricom compete against a new rival in the P2P space.
Turning social media into a commerce channel is still a work in progress, but one that few are giving up on with a global user base across social media of more than 2 billion, according to Euromonitor International. The latest attempt from Facebook taps into the summer concert season with the social networking giant testing a feature enabling its U.S. users to buy tickets to concerts and other events from its desktop site and its iOS and Android apps.
Hoping to encourage fintech innovation, the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority has issued a 17-page document that offers guidelines for how financial services firm can use outsourced Web-hosted services without running afoul of regulators.
A transatlantic data-transfer deal has won approval from European Union officials, giving official life to what’s known at the Privacy Shield pact.
EMVCo, the global payment specification body, and the FIDO Alliance, an industry consortium developing open, interoperable authentication standards, are to collaborate and review how FIDO can support EMV (Europay, MasterCard and Visa) payment use cases. A “key aim” of the initiative is to investigate mobile payments using on-device authenticators, such as biometrics, as they seek […]
Walmart has rolled out its mobile payment service to all of its 4,600 U.S. stores. And although some analysts are skeptical the service will attract shoppers, the retailer is reporting a 45 percent jump in transactions already.
The government of Saudi Arabia has banned in-person sales of one of the leading online payment products in the Middle East over concerns about money laundering and terrorist financing. The Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency—the country’s central bank—has barred the sale of CASHU prepaid cards through local agents, though consumers still may purchase cards from the company’s Website.
A months-long investigation that spanned from Malaysia to 14 European countries resulted last week in the bust of a credit card fraud ring allegedly responsible for approximately €5 million (US$5.5 million) in losses. The police investigation led to the arrest of 105 suspects, 29 in Malaysia and 76 in Europe.
Omni Hotels & Resorts notified customers last week that hackers accessed the chain’s POS systems and installed malware that enabled them to access payment card information. In an alert posted on its Website, Omni said it discovered the attacks on May 30, 2016, and that the malware may have operated between Dec. 23, 2015, and June 14, 2016—although most of the systems were affected during a shorter time frame, the company said.
Swift is turning to outside help as it looks to improve security on its network following a number of hacking incidents. It has engaged cyber security firms BAE Systems and Fox-IT, and created a Forensics and Customer Security Intelligence team, as it wants to investigate security incidents “within customer environments”. The move follows a spate […]
Big data is a promise. In theory, banks can now know more about every single one of their customers than ever before. There is a real opportunity for them to cement their customer relationships; to create targeted offers and personalised experiences that attract new, and retain existing, customers. UK’s retail banks have increasingly been using […]
Neptune, the open standards network for pre-trade indications in bond markets, has set up a new company, Neptune Networks Ltd, to run the utility. Neptune was formulated by Etrading Software and a group of 40+ banks and asset managers in H2 2014. The pilot production network went live in August 2015. Its supporters include Barclays […]
Ewan MacLeod is heading to Nordea as co-head of its newly created “Group Digital” unit and is on the lookout for fintech companies, services and ideas to introduce to Nordea. MacLeod will be one of two chief digital officers at the Nordic banking group. The other one is Poul Raaholt, previously head of group IT […]
The key to unlocking the potential of real-time money movement is the delivery of an intuitive and seamless experience across accounts. As demand grows among early adopters—underserved consumers, millennials and those in the “gig” economy—a larger, more mainstream consumer audience will take note and engage.
Sure, mobile payments are taking much of the developing world by storm, giving consumers safer and more efficient ways to handle money. But merchant acceptance lags. Here’s why, along with ideas for improvement.
Brexit likely will cause issues for major processors and cross-border acquirers for whom London has been a key European and cross-border processing hub. That’s in addition to a restricted market and reduced talent pool.
If politicians were held to the same truthfulness and disclosure standards as businesspeople, the U.K. might have avoided its regrettable decision to leave the EU.
UniRush LLC, a provider of consumer financial services, including the Visa RushCard prepaid debit card and the rapid! PayCard, has named industry veteran Ron Hynes CEO. A 2014 Pay Award Industry Achievement Winner, Hynes previously served as executive vice president of global prepaid solutions at MasterCard Worldwide and, most recently, as president of global markets at Mozido.
Following up on its promise to tighten rules for prepaid cards and virtual currencies in an effort to thwart terrorism financing and money laundering, the European Commission has released a proposal this week to lower the threshold that triggers cardholder identification requirements for prepaid cards and ban the use of anonymous prepaid cards online.
Although the overall number of prepaid card-related complaints continues to represent less than 1 percent of total complaints the CFPB receives, prepaid complaints were up 28 percent in May to 226 from 177 the previous month, according to the federal consumer protection agency’s latest monthly complaint report.
MasterCard faces a $24.5 billion class action suit in the U.K. over its cross-border interchange fees. The suit arrives two years after the European Union labeled the interchange charged by the payment card network as unfair. European interchange caps went into effect in December of 2015.
ACI Worldwide, a global provider of real-time electronic payment and banking solutions, has announced the appointment of Marco Bravo as vice president for Latin America.
MetaBank has announce that Susan Cunningham has assumed the position of senior vice president of sales for the company’s premium finance division, AFS/IBEX.
Since launching a year ago, the Canadian Prepaid Providers Organization (CPPO) has made strides to educate and build awareness about the growing open-loop prepaid market in Canada.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) has announced the retirement of Cottrell Webster as the FDIC’s ombudsman, a role he has held since 2002.
Robert Courtneidge, global head of the cards and payments practice in the London office of Locke Lord LLP, has been selected again by the Payments Power 10, marking his fifth consecutive year on the highly competitive ranking.
MasterCard has announced the appointment of four senior executives in China, which the payments network describes as one of its most significant and largest markets.
MasterCard has appointed Emily Baum to the company’s prepaid management services team focusing on the U.K. and Irish markets.
Retailer advocacy group and services provider the National Merchants Association has appointed Tim Reynolds to the role of director of member support.
