Green Dot Aids Apple’s Bid to Bite into P2P
Apple has made a bold foray into the P2P money transfer market—and Green Dot is helping the tech giant in its bid to unseat Venmo and other established players in the increasingly crowded space.
PayTech
Amex Faces State Pressure over Anti-Steering Case as DOJ Backs Off
The U.S. Justice Department may have dropped its antitrust suit against American Express, but 11 states want to press on in a case that started in 2010. At issue is the company’s push to prevent Amex-accepting merchants from offering shoppers financial incentives to use other card brands.
Flywire Nabs Multi-Currency Specialist PACE
On the heels of expanding into the B2B sector earlier this year, cross-border payments specialist Flywire has acquired PACE Invoice, a multicurrency invoicing platform provider based in London. The purchase bolsters Flywire’s offerings to enable its business, education and health care clients to more easily link invoices to cross-border receivables, increasing efficiency and savings, according to the company.
Sage Sells its Payment Processing Arm to Chicago Private Equity Firm
Chicago-based private equity firm GTCR said it will buy Sage Payment Solutions, the Virginia-based merchant-services offshoot of U.K.-based Sage Group, for $260 million. Sage Group sells business software, and Sage Payment serves some 100,000 merchants.
Apple squares up to rivals with Pay Cash feature
Apple has unveiled Pay Cash as it looks to fight it out with PayPal, Square and Venmo in the overcrowded peer-to-peer (P2P) payments market. In a range of updates to its mobile operating system, iOS 11, new features to the iPhone and iPad are coming this autumn. Apple Pay users will be able to make […]
LG Electronics unleashes mobile payments in South Korea
Watch out Samsung Pay, but South Korean titan LG Electronics has unleashed its mobile payment service in the country. Called LG Pay, it will be offered first as a service that allows users to pay offline in the same way as a credit card. Its use is limited at the moment to Shinhan, KB, BC […]
CPI Touts Speed, Security of New Instant-Issuance Printer
A new instant-issuance product from CPI Card Group promises faster card processing times along with higher resolution printing. Called Precision by Card@Once, the system is designed to improve security and the customer experience.
GPS Captures Contactless Lightning in a Bottle
You’ve heard of wearables—now meet “drinkables.” Global Processing Services (GPS) is helping support a new energy drink marketing campaign featuring special bottles equipped with contactless chips, each preloaded with a credit for a trip on the London Underground. The campaign for the Lucozade Energy brand launched last week, with bottles distributed free at major London train stations and commuter hubs.
Payments firm Tilt wilts
Following Airbnb’s acquisition of crowdfunding and social payments start-up Tilt in February, it is now being wound down. Tilt (formerly Crowdtilt) was built with the aim to allow groups and communities to collect, fundraise, or pool money online. It was founded five years ago with high hopes. Its co-founder and CEO James Beshara said at […]
Payments Firm Tilt Wilts
Following Airbnb’s acquisition of crowdfunding and social payments startup Tilt in February, it is now being wound down.
Abcul perseveres with Model Credit Union project
The Association of British Credit Unions (Abcul) says it is making progress with its Model Credit Union initiative, to modernise the tech and operations of its members. Three credit unions are now live with new core and mobile banking software.
GTCR to acquire Sage Payment Solutions for $260m
Private equity firm GTCR will buy Virginia-based Sage Payment Solutions (SPS) for $260 million. Chicago-based GTCR is acquiring SPS from the Sage Group, a provider of accounting, payroll and payment solutions headquartered in the UK. GTCR says it will work with SPS management to pursue organic growth and fund future acquisitions in the payment processing […]
UK payments firm Helixion is liquidated
It’s not only the end of the working week but the end of the line for Edinburgh-based payments firm Helixion. The company has gone into liquidation and intellectual property (IP) firm Metis Partners has been appointed to support the marketing and sale of its assets. On Metis’ website, it says the deadline for offers has […]
Flywire acquires UK-based PACE Invoice
US payments firm Flywire has acquired PACE Invoice, a multi-currency invoicing platform provider based in London. International business law firm Addleshaw Goddard advised PACE on this transaction. With the acquisition, Flywire adds international invoicing to its cross-border payments and receivables services, enabling its business, education and healthcare clients to “more easily link invoices to cross-border […]
Is Loyalty the New Currency?
Earning top-of-wallet privileges from consumers requires deeper thinking about the what, when, where, why and how of loyalty rewards. But the most important ingredient is simplicity.
Contactless Fraud Scare? Not So Fast.
Breathless reports point to a terrifying increase in U.K. contactless fraud. Dig a little deeper, however, and the story changes.
Want to Fight Fraud? Join the Team—Literally
All payment providers and merchants grasp the dynamic nature of fraud. But fraud prevention requires more than the latest software and security protections—it requires active collaboration. Here’s why.
Android Pay arrives in Taiwan
Android Pay has now launched in Taiwan and users can add an eligible Visa or Mastercard credit card from one of its supported banks, including CTBC and First Bank. It will have the usual rivals – Apple Pay arrived in Taiwan in March this year, while Samsung Pay was launched across the island nation just […]
Letter from the Editor: Prepping for the Year’s Biggest Industry Event
I can scarcely believe we’re approaching the halfway point of 2017. But I can’t think of a better time for the year’s biggest prepaid industry event. On June 21-23, the NBPCA will host its sixth annual Power of Prepaid conference in Washington, D.C. The business of compliance—not to mention keeping up with technology trends—is keeping everyone on their toes, but it’s vital to stop and reflect with colleagues about the state of the industry and its future. It’s also critical to actually talk to those shaping the legislation and regulations that determine the rules of the road.
ING’s Yolt money app beta launches in UK
With an intended jolt and volt of energy, Yolt, a new money platform backed by ING, has launched its open beta for iOS and Android in the UK. The app has been tested in closed beta since October last year, and is now ready to invite more people to the platform. Yolt enables users to […]
Banking Technology June 2017 issue out now
The latest edition of our flagship magazine – Banking Technology – is out now, packed with news, analysis and insights, case studies, research and expert commentary.
People on the Move: A.J. Koehn, Urban FT
A.J. Koehn has joined Urban FT Inc., a digital payments platform provider and 2017 Pay Awards winner for Startup of the Year, as its new senior vice president of compliance and program management.
BofA Simplifies Money Management for Customers Using Third-Party Apps
Bank of America is testing a service enabling its customers who use third-party data aggregators to view their financial information in one place. BofA is testing the capability with two financial data aggregators to enable customers to securely connect data from their bank accounts to third-party money management apps.
Visa Bolsters Transaction Security
Visa is beefing up its Verified by Visa authentication service. The payments network said it’s upgrading its back-end to support 3-D Secure 2.0. The 3-D Secure messaging protocol was invented by the network more than 15 years ago and has become an industry standard for online authentication.
Square Launches Virtual Terminal Service in U.K.
About two months after launching in the U.K., Square has introduced its Virtual Terminal service there. The technology enables merchants to accept payments through the Square dashboard, an appealing prospect for online service providers, contractors and other smaller firms that do relatively few face-to-face transactions.
Analysis: commercial cards, clear lines and communication
There is no question that the commercial card sector is growing strongly. According to Research and Markets, the US commercial card market in particular is outstripping other B2B payment types. For banks and banking services providers, this presents a huge opportunity to grow revenues while improving customer experience – a vital component in customer retention and increased lifetime value.
People on the Move: Tommaso Zanobini, Deutsche Bank
Deutsche Bank has named Tommaso Zanobini global head of financial technology.
People on the Move: Bryan Lewis and Edward Chandler, eNett International
eNett International, a Singapore-based provider of B2B travel payment solutions, has announced two new executive appointments.
People on the Move: Jeff Hibbard, Fidor
Fidor, a digital banking solutions provider, has appointed Jeff Hibbard chief product officer. Hibbard’s focus is on driving product innovation for Fidor’s operating system.
People on the Move: Chris Shockley, PSCU Board
PSCU, a credit union service organization, has appointed Chris Shockley associate director to its board.
People on the Move: Ryan Farley, Judopay
Mobile payments platform provider Judopay has appointed Ryan Farley CEO.
People on the Move: Shafi Shaikh, Mastercard
Mastercard has appointed Shafi Shaikh executive vice president, customer delivery, Asia-Pacific. Shaikh oversees customer support, product delivery and customer relationships.
People on the move: Peter De Caluwe and Thierry Siminger, TransferTo
TransferTo, a global B2B cross-border payments network, has appointed two senior executive team members as part of the company’s plan to accelerate business growth.
People on the Move: Ron Kalifa, Worldpay
Worldpay vice chairman Ron Kalifa has ranked third out of 100 in the EMpower Ethnic Minority Leaders List, presented by The Financial Times
People on the Move: Manish Kohli, Citi
Citi has appointed Manish Kohli global head of the payments and receivables business.
Companies on the Move: International Regtech Association Forms
International Regtech Association, a global nonprofit association focusing on regulation technology has been formed, with more than 100 founding members.
People on the Move: Kevin Brown, Wirecard North America
Wirecard North America, a provider of global payment solutions, has appointed Kevin Brown to the Wirecard executive team in North America.
OCBC Bank unveils first standalone mobile payments app
Singapore’s OCBC Bank has launched its first standalone mobile app for QR code cashless payments at nearly 2,500 NETS terminals. The new OCBC Pay Anyone app brings together all its Pay Anyone services – peer-to-peer e-payments, QR code payments, and integration with Siri and iMessage – into one place. Pranav Seth, OCBC Bank’s head of […]
NCR makes it nice and Eazy for Bahrain’s biometric payments
Bahrain-based Eazy Financial Services will launch the region’s “first” biometric payment network powered by NCR. Consumers will be able to register their fingerprint through any bank linked to Eazy’s network and then use that at any device (ATM or POS) to start a transaction rather than using a card. In the first phase, NCR will […]
House Balks at Repealing Interchange Reform amid Dodd-Frank Overhaul
Retailers are claiming victory in the battle, if not the war, regarding proposed legislation that would have repealed interchange reform included in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Full House set to vote on amended Financial CHOICE Act June 9.
