People on the Move: NBPCA Chair and Board Members
The Network Branded Prepaid Card Association (NBPCA) announced Robert Skiba will return to the role of chairman of the board at the NBPCA. The association named additional officers for FY 2016.
PayTech
AsiaHawala powers Iraq’s “first” mobile money service with Mahindra Comviva
AsiaHawala, Iraq’s “first” mobile money service, has chosen Mahindra Comviva’s Mobiquity Money solution as it looks to expand its reach across the country. The Iraqi company offers consumers a mobile account for a range of financial transactions – such as P2P transfer, bill payments, merchant payments, salary payments and a recharge service. With Mobiquity Money […]
Net Element enters Azerbaijan’s mobile payments market
Florida-based Net Element has launched its mobile payments platform, Digital Provider, in Azerbaijan. The venture is done via the company’s Russian subsidiary, OOO Digital Provider. The company says the new integration allows content providers and aggregators access to all “major” mobile operators in the country. It has also signed a contract with a national television […]
Swift’s Innotribe looks for best start-ups in Latin America – now open for applications
Swift’s Innotribe Start-up Challenge is to be unveiled in Latin America. The best fintech start-ups will be able to showcase their products at the Swift’s Latin American Regional Conference (LARC) this summer. Get your applications in! This is the first time the Swift innovation arm – Innotribe – has partnered with LARC, which will take […]
Talbott Roche Named Blackhawk Network CEO
Last fall Talbott Roche, along with seven other female executives at Blackhawk Network, was selected as one of the Women Driving Payments Change. Now she takes the helm of Blackhawk Network, a company she helped build from the ground up.
Ingo Money Rolls out ‘Me-to-Me’ Funding Feature
Instead of focusing on P2P, Ingo Money Inc. has its sights set on enabling what Founder and CEO Drew Edwards calls “me-to-me” payments. The company, which specializes in digitizing cash and checks through its Good Funds Network, today announced the rollout of a service within its Ingo Money App that enables consumers to cash a check with their smartphones and send the funds instantly to multiple accounts, including prepaid, PayPal, bank and private-label credit card accounts.
MWC: Mobile Money Driving Inclusion Worldwide, Says Report
There were more than 1 billion mobile money transactions worldwide in December 2015, according to a report released by the GSMA this week at the mobile association’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. In its fifth annual State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money, the GSMA outlined the growth of mobile money, which it said is “changing the landscape of financial inclusion.”
Flywire CEO Sees Increasing Demand for Cross-Border Payments
The demand for large cross-border transactions is on the rise, and consumers making those purchases are seeking the most convenient and cost-effective transaction methods and channels. That’s according to Flywire, a 4-year-old company that got its start in the international student tuition sector and has since expanded to enable multiple types of cross-border payments.
Starbucks Will Reward Spending, Not Visits, in Revamped Loyalty Program
Starbucks will change its loyalty program, rewarding what consumers spend instead of how often they visit. The change, due in April, has drawn some criticism from the chain’s customers although the coffee giant claims customers suggested it.
Achieving merchant acceptance – the key to successful digital financial services
Digital financial services (DFS) have the power to transform the lives of millions living in poverty. However, the lack of merchant acceptance presents a significant obstacle to its success. Sacha Polverini, chairman of the International Telecommunication Union’s (ITU) focus group on digital financial services and Carol Benson, managing partner at Glenbrook Partners, look at how […]
Fiserv’s CUnify core processing system bags 25 US credit unions
Fiserv has revealed that 25 US credit unions, with approximately $2.5 billion in assets and 250,000 members collectively, have committed to its CUnify account processing platform. Five of these credit unions are new core processing clients of Fiserv, and will be converting to CUnify in the course of 2016. CUnify is a core platform used […]
EACHA to deliver ACH interoperability framework for instant payments
The European Automated Clearing House Association (EACHA) is to deliver a framework for ACH interoperability for instant payments by March 2016. EACHA leads, upon invitation by the European Central Bank (ECB), a taskforce consisting of ACHs (including members of EACHA, EBA Clearing and representatives of Target2), national central banks, the ECB, and “ad hoc other […]
MasterCard, Visa Debut IoT, Wearables Moves at MWC
Wearable payments technology and the Internet of Things continue to gain steam, with MasterCard and Visa announcing separate initiatives involving the technologies at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week.
Peoples Amps up Issuing as Canadian Prepaid Demand, Loads Increase
Growing demand for prepaid products of all types in Canada helped drive Vancouver-based issuer Peoples Trust to add 150 new programs in 2015, and led to a 19 percent increase in the bank’s overall prepaid load volume, to CAN$1.2 billion (US$870 million), for the year, Peoples tells Pay News.
Apple Pay Launches in China with UnionPay; Samsung Pay up Next
Apple Pay launches in China via a UnionPay deal, giving further mobile payment competition to homegrown rivals such as Alipay. Meanwhile, Samsung Pay also is set to enter the market.
CopSonic and Natixis join forces for SwipeSonic ultrasound payments
Natixis Payment Solutions has teamed up with French start-up CopSonic to create SwipeSonic, an ultrasound payment solution for online shopping transactions. CopSonic’s technology uses ultrasound to encrypt information within music and voice, or transmit data “entirely inaudibly to the human ear”. Emmanuel Ruiz, CEO of CopSonic, says: “Sound is the easiest and most effective technology […]
Barclays and BlackBerry bringing BBM to Pingit mobile payments
Barclays and BlackBerry are bringing BBM, the mobile instant messaging service, to Pingit money transfers in the UK. BBM users can now make mobile payments to each other using Barclays’ mobile payment app Pingit. Matthew Talbot, SVP, BBM at BlackBerry, says to “exchange money was a logical extension” of BBM’s functions. Once a user has […]
Ingenico Group’s FY 2015 revenue up by 14%
Payments provider Ingenico Group has reported a revenue of €2.197 billion in its full year (FY) 2015 results – a rise of 14% on a comparable basis. For the period ended 31 December 2015, it says revenue was also up 37% on a reported basis, and adds that the US is now its number one […]
Yes Bank teams with Ultracash Technologies for sound-based payments
India-based Yes Bank is partnering with Ultracash Technologies to launch payments processing through sound waves. The bank, the fifth largest in the Indian private sector, says the collaboration will let Ultracash issue Yes Bank-sponsored mobile wallets and use its Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) payments platform for the processing of instant proximity transactions. Ritesh Pai, senior […]
Iranian banks reconnecting to Swift’s payment system after four-year break
Iranian banks are being reconnected to Swift’s international payments system after a four-year hiatus. Following the lifting of economic sanctions last month under the nuclear deal with world powers, Iran’s Central Bank and 15 other banks have restored access to Swift. The Central Bank says: “The on-boarding process including administrative and technical measures for all […]
Apple Pay launches in China
Apple has launched its mobile payment system in China today, in partnership with state-owned bankcard association, China UnionPay. The company will face tough competition, but it received good news this week when Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) said its customers would be able to use Apple Pay. In an interview with Reuters, Jennifer […]
Viewpoint: Super Bowl 50 Ads that Got Money Right
Three commercials tied to the big game, including one from PayPal, reflect how transactions are changing and what consumers expect from their payment systems.
Viewpoint: A Bright Spot for Prepaid Card Issuers
The CFPB wants the nation’s top banks to offer consumers more lower-risk account choices. That could be good news for the prepaid card industry even as some might grumble about the agency meddling in their affairs.
Viewpoint: Why Tokenization May Be the Hotel Industry’s Best Fraud Protection
With the hospitality industry accounting for 38 percent of credit card fraud, and recent breaches showing ongoing vulnerability, the time has come for stronger security measures.
Viewpoint: How Consumers Use Apple Pay
Consumers certainly know of Apple Pay. But recent survey results shed light on how shoppers are employing the mobile payment technology and suggest that challenges to further use remain.
FinCEN Stresses Importance of Cyberdata in SARs
With recent legislation calling for increased cooperation between companies and government agencies to combat potential cyberthreats, officials are asking financial institutions to include information such as IP and bitcoin wallet addresses in suspicious activity reports (SARs).
European Supervisor Wants to Tighten up EU-U.S. Agreement
Following a new privacy shield agreement, which upon approval will replace an expired Safe Harbor pact between the U.S. and the EU Commission, European Data Protection Supervisor Giovanni Buttarelli last week said he supported the agreement.
Amazon Acquires India-Based EMVANTAGE Payments
Online marketplace giant Amazon is acquiring India-based online services provider EMVANTAGE Payments.
New Mobile Money Service Reaches Peru’s Unbanked
Peru’s new nationwide mobile money network has launched with the goal of bringing 5 million of the country’s unbanked citizens into the financial system over the next five years.
Wendy’s Faces Lawsuit over Stolen Debit Card Data
A Wendy’s customer has filed a class action complaint against the fast food chain for its alleged failure to protect consumers’ credit and debit card information.
Visa Reveals its Stake in Square
Nearly five years after Square founder Jack Dorsey announced that Visa had invested in the business, the payments network reveals its stake in the m-POS company, which went public last year. In related news, a Swedish m-POS provider launches a loan service for merchant clients.
MoneyGram Settles Claims that it Transferred Money to Fraudsters
MoneyGram agrees to pay $13 million to settle claims that criminals used its network for fraudulent transactions. The company also will increase its anti-fraud activities.
A Year In, Progress for Fed’s Payments Improvement Plan
A year after the Federal Reserve announced a plan to enhance the speed, safety and efficiency of payments in the U.S., the program has made substantial progress, the Fed reports.
BBVA Puts $250 Million into New VC Firm
Spanish financial services group BBVA is changing its fintech investment strategy, closing its in-house VC fund and contributing $250 million to a new, independently managed firm, Propel Venture Partners.
Visa Europe expands tokenisation service for cloud-based payments
Visa Europe is expanding its Visa Europe Payment Tokenisation Service (VEPTS) for cloud-based payments. VEPTS will be available for payment credentials such as banks’ own mobile payment apps, a variety of wearable and other connected devices, internet browser-based wallets, and retailer-specific checkout offerings such as Visa Checkout. Sandra Alzetta, executive director product enablement for Visa […]
FIS Cardless Cash app wins two new US banks
Popular Community Bank and Oriental Bank are to deploy FIS Cardless Cash, a mobile banking app to withdraw money from many ATMs in the US. Financial services technology provider FIS and PayPal launched Cardless Cash in January 2015, as a mobile ATM solution that avoids the plastic debit card. This technology provides banks with a revenue opportunity from transactions […]
BBVA breaks off fintech fund
BBVA, a major shareholder in Atom Bank, a UK challenger, has announced an increase in its financial technology fund to US$250 million from US$100 million and a partnership with Propel Venture Partners which will see Propel managing the investment independently. Propel will use the US$250 million in a US and a European fund while opening an office […]
Grocery Shoppers with Gift Cards Prefer Online Rebates
A Blackhawk study finds that grocery shoppers with gift cards prefer larger online rebates than smaller instant discounts at checkout. The study also examines which mobile apps top shoppers’ lists.
Canada Sees Surge in Mobile, Contactless Payments
Canada’s payments system is undergoing a rapid transition, with mobile P2P, e-wallet and contactless transactions on the rise, according to a report from the Canadian Payments Association.
Innovators’ Spotlight: PaySwag
Retailers have long recognized the importance of customer engagement to drive sales and retain customers. But Reno, Nev.-based PaySwag is proving the power of engagement to improve results in a somewhat unexpected sector—bill payments.
