Has Death Knell Sounded for MCX’s CurrentC?
MCX, led by a consortium of large retailers such as Walmart, Target and Best Buy, has announced it’s ending the beta test of its mobile payments service CurrentC, and accounts will be deactivated June 28.
PayTech
Dodd-Frank Faces New Challenge from House Republicans
A less powerful CFPB and looser caps on card interchange fees: Those are among the potential features of a bill that Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) plans to introduce later this month that would overturn major provisions of the Dodd-Frank act.
A Class-Action Suit Targets Chase Debit Card Program for Prisoners
Chase faces a class-action suit filed in federal court this week that alleges the bank’s debit card program for prisoners locks them in a cycle of fees upon their release.
People on the Move: Rich Baich, FSSCC
The Financial Services Sector Coordinating Council (FSSCC) has announced the election of Rich Baich, chief information security officer of Wells Fargo and Co., as its new chairman.
Companies on the Move: Blackhawk Network, Hawk Awards
Blackhawk Network Inc. has announced the winners of its 10th annual Hawk Awards, which recognize the prepaid industry’s most innovative leaders.
People on the Move: Tristan Blampied, Pelican
Tristan Blampied has joined Pelican, where he will serve as senior product manager for the firm’s suite of transaction banking, regulatory compliance and corporate payments solutions.
People on the Move: Warren Humphries, M&S for Business
Warren Humphries has joined M&S for Business, the corporate services arm of U.K.-based department store chain Marks & Spencer, in the role of client relationship manager.
People on the Move: Brooke Norton Lais, Green Dot Corp.
Green Dot Corp. has named Brooke Norton Lais to the position of chief marketing officer.
People on the Move: Govind Rajan, Freecharge
India-based digital payment platform Freecharge has appointed Govind Rajan as its new CEO.
People on the Move: Dean Schlader, RPG Card Services
Dean Schlader has joined the RPG Card Services as vice president of retail services.
People on the Move, Fiona Tee, Currency Cloud
Payments technology provider Currency Cloud has appointed Fiona Tee to the role of chief financial officer.
People on the Move: Leonore Van Waaij, Backbase
Omnichannel digital banking technology provider Backbase has hired Leonore Van Waaij to be the company’s new chief financial officer, heading all of the firm’s financial, legal and compliance operations.
Four UK banks sign up for VocaLink’s Zapp app
Four of the UK’s biggest high street banks have signed up to launch Zapp’s “Pay by Bank app” mobile payment service. Bank of Scotland, Barclays, Halifax and Lloyds Bank are working with Zapp, VocaLink’s payments innovation team, to deliver the service. David Yates, CEO VocaLink, says the gang of four join a “growing number of […]
Cater Allen Private Bank in major tech overhaul with Temenos
Cater Allen, a London-based private bank and a subsidiary of Santander, is undergoing a major technology overhaul. The bank is going to implement a new core banking system, Temenos’ T24, Banking Technology understands. It is now looking to recruit T24 specialists and project managers to help it with system customisation and implementation, and migration from […]
Cybercriminals Take Bite out of O’Charley’s
National restaurant chain O’Charley’s announced it suffered a security breach that may have exposed diners’ payment card information during a three-week period starting in mid-March.
ACI Worldwide teams with Raphaels Bank for Faster Payments Scheme access
ACI Worldwide is partnering with UK-based Raphaels Bank, opening up access to the Faster Payments Scheme in the UK for financial institutions (FIs), including challenger banks and payment service providers (PSPs). ACI says its relationship with the bank means FIs and PSPs can use ACI as a “technical aggregator” providing real-time access to Faster Payments […]
Olympic Athletes Hope for Medal, Guaranteed Visa Payments Ring
Not all Olympic athletes will be coming home from the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games with medals around their necks, but they’ll be coming home with rings on their fingers. The first contactless payments ring linked to a Visa-branded GPR account will be given to approximately 45 athletes that are part of Team Visa.
Green Dot, Uber Partnership Goes Nationwide
Ride-hailing service Uber has expanded a pilot partnership with Green Dot to all markets in which Uber operates in the U.S.
Report: Prepaid Fraud Remains Low; Other Fraud Worries Increase
Prepaid cards accounted for approximately $500 million fraud losses in the past year, translating into 4 percent of U.S. card fraud, an amount that equals $4.70 in fraud loss per card, according to a study released today by LexisNexis Risk Solutions.
Paper: Despite Looming CFPB Regs, Credit Unions Shouldn’t Fear Short-Term Lending
With the CFPB’s recently announced NPRM on small-dollar loans expected to have significant effects on the industry, QCash Financial released a white paper to quell concerns credit unions might have about entering the space.
LCH signs up to Swift’s ISO 20022 Harmonisation Charter
LCH is the first central counterparty clearing house (CCP) to sign up to Swift’s ISO 20022 Harmonisation Charter. The charter is designed to help rollout the ISO 20022 messaging standard and “promote harmonisation”. LCH, which is majority-owned by the London Stock Exchange, is one of 17 financial market infrastructure providers to have “endorsed” the charter, […]
Volante launches a “plug and play” Ripple integration solution
Volante Technologies has launched a new solution – as part of its VolPay Foundation payments platform – for integration with Ripple’s distributed ledger technology. Volante’s software has been Ripple-ready since last autumn, says the vendor, and following “close engagement with Ripple” it has now brought to market an “integration solution wholly designed to simplify the […]
Real-time payments in the US: right said Fed
Will everyone really benefit from the real-time payments coming to the US? Can the US regulator mandate the banking sector to adopt it? And what are the chances of this new faster payments system becoming ubiquitous? Banking Technology digs deeper, past the hype. It’s a pretty safe bet that the roll-out of faster payments in […]
New instant payments platform for PSPs comes to Italy
Nets and Istituto Centrale delle Banche Popolari Italiane (ICBPI) have joined forces to launch an instant payments solution in Italy. The new offering is set to go live in Q1 next year. It will be based on Nets’ RealTime24/7 platform and will serve the Italian payment service providers (PSPs). “We will provide to the Italian […]
Financial Sector Pushes Hard for Data Security Bills; Retailers Want PCI Probe
Members of the financial services industry have launched a media campaign in support of a bill they say would provide better protection of consumer data, bring retailer accountability for data breaches in line with the financial sector and supersede myriad state laws pertaining to breach-notification regulations.
Euro Deals Update: Visa Europe Sale Gets Final OK; Global Payments Completes New JV
The European Commission has granted final approval to Visa Inc.’s planned acquisition of Visa Europe, with the transaction expected to close by the end of this month, Visa Inc. announced.
PFS to Offer Prepaid Cards in Finnish Prisons
The Finnish government and Prepaid Financial Services (PFS) have teamed up to launch a new prepaid platform offering cards for use by the country’s prison inmates. Rolled out in May, the program makes prepaid cards available to prisoners upon arrival at prisons throughout Finland.
Congress Wants a Closer Look at Bangladesh Bank Theft
The theft earlier this year of $81 million from the Bangladesh central bank account at the New York Federal Reserve has caught the attention of more Congressional investigators. The chairman of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology, Lamar Smith (R-Texas), has given New York Federal Reserve officials until June 14 to turn over documents related to the incident.
Swift hacks lead to Philippine central bank cyber security boost
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the Philippine central bank, is strengthening its cyber security surveillance in light of the recent Swift hacking saga. Nestor Espenilla, the central bank deputy governor in charge of banking supervision, says it wants to reinforce its defences and is also considering regulating Bitcoin firms due to money laundering issues. This development […]
Amazon Web Services outage causes digital banking problems in Australia
A technical outage of the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud this weekend left many customers of Australian banks unable to use cards, ATMs and Eftpos terminals. The banks affected include Westpac, ME Bank and Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA). Some also pointed the finger of blame at payment providers such as First Data. Just a […]
Digital currency & payments: heads together on the blockchain
It’s difficult to avoid writing about distributed ledger technologies, so we won’t. Last month Australian Craig Wright claimed to be the elusive inventor of bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto. Displaying uncharacteristic scepticism, many mainstream media outlets doubted his claims. Whether it’s true or not, the story attracted great interest. Distributed ledger, blockchain (some argue the two are […]
Visa Inc gets green light to take over Visa Europe
The European Commission has approved the proposed acquisition of Visa Europe by Visa Inc. This concludes all regulatory approvals required for this deal to go ahead, as the Jersey and the Turkish competition authorities have already given their stamps of approval. The transaction is expected to close in Visa Inc’s fiscal Q3 2016. The takeover […]
SIA partners with Raphaels Bank for payments
Italian payments firm SIA has teamed with Raphaels Bank to develop and launch payment solutions in the UK and across Europe. As part of the agreement, UK-based Raphaels and SIA will offer SEPA payments services to clients through the bank’s “indirect participation” in the SEPA Credit Transfer and SEPA Direct Debit schemes. Cristina Astore, head […]
No room for the weak says Swift CEO
You are the weakest link. Goodbye. Banks with inadequate cyber defences could find themselves booted off Swift’s payment network, warns Swift CEO Gottfried Leibbrandt. The threat from Leibbrandt follows a spate of hacks. Investigators are looking at more potential computer breaches following three attacks – a $101 million cyber heist in Bangladesh – the biggest […]
Temenos beats Fiserv to core banking deal in the US
Temenos is believed to be heading towards a new contract for its T24 core banking in the US, Banking Technology understands. Commerce Bank is going to renovate its core processing software – and the system selection is nearing completion. Two vendors are believed to be on the shortlist – Temenos with T24 and Fiserv, which […]
New major IT renovation project for SAP in Germany
Germany’s largest building society, Bausparkasse Schwäbisch Hall, is modernising its core banking operations with SAP. The building society is implementing SAP’s Deposits Management and Loans Management systems. The project has been underway since late 2015. Bausparkasse Schwäbisch Hall was established in the 1930s. Today, it has 7.5 million customers in Germany and over three million […]
Viewpoint: Why the Wells Fargo Mobile Wallet Stands Out
Wells Fargo is poised to beat Chase Pay to the punch with a summer release of its mobile wallet. But it’s more than timing that could give the financial institution an edge in the mobile wallet competition.
Viewpoint: Regulatory Uncertainty Continues with Delays in Final Prepaid Accounts Rule
Recent media reports that prepaid cards have “hidden fees” simply because card packaging doesn’t follow the format contained in the CFPB’s proposed prepaid accounts rule are misleading and misinformed. Of course, the industry is waiting for the final rule before making standardized disclosure changes.
Viewpoint: MCX Has Been a Big Success, Really
We’ve been hearing a lot about the demise of MCX since it announced yet another launch delay of its CurrentC app to focus on deals with financial institutions. While this move is clearly a pivot for MCX, it’s way too early to call the organization dead. In fact, we should be calling MCX a roaring success.
Viewpoint: The Canadian Opportunity for U.S. Prepaid Providers
With the dollar down and prepaid use up in Canada, the U.S.’s top trading partner presents fertile ground for expansion.
