Growth in prepaid GPR and payroll cards today exceeds that of all other noncash forms of payment, but stickiness remains a problem for issuers and program managers. Adding mobile access and other financial tools to the mix—such as check deposits with instant good funds and expedited bill pay–makes prepaid a compelling proposition for consumers and providers alike.
A lesson learned from the global financial crises was how critical free cash flow can be for corporates, their customers, and their suppliers. As businesses seek to unlock cash flow from day-to-day operations, savvy treasurers have discovered vendor payments as a means to extend payment terms while improving vendor health, writes Chris Bozek, Managing Director, Head of Global Trade and Supply Chain Products Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
CARD.com, a mobile-focused financial product provider, has expanded its team with the additions of Linda Castillon as senior vice president of licensing, and Heather Inocencio as senior vice president of product.
Discover Financial Services announced that Walter H. Morris Jr. has joined the company’s board of directors.
Harbortouch, a national POS system and merchant services provider, recently has recruited several executives to grow the company’s overall operations.
Raphaels Bank Card Services has appointed Emily Utton senior relationship manager and Alex Reddish relationship manager.
Sidley Austin LLP announced that Maria B. Earley has joined the firm’s Banking and Financial Services practice as counsel.
SimplyTapp, a provider of host card emulation solutions for mobile payments, announced that Mohammad Khan has been named to its board of directors.
TSYS announced that Philip W. Tomlinson has decided to retire as CEO, and M. Troy Woods has been elected by the TSYS board of directors as president and CEO, effective July 31, 2014.
The combination of prepaid card infrastructure and mobile wallets will disrupt the current account model in Europe, according to a new white paper from Mobey Forum.
A consortium of merchant groups has been given more time to decide if it will try to take a long-running lawsuit against the Federal Reserve Board of Governors to the U.S. Supreme Court.
While digital currency has received a frosty reception from many national governments, it has been greeted a bit more warmly in Canada.
CashStar, a Portland, Maine-based provider of digital gifting technology and Paybefore Award-winner, has appointed John Caron chief marketing officer.
Doug Ferraro, president and CEO at Bellco Credit Union, has been elected to serve as board chairman of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.-based CO-OP Financial Services.
David Marcus has joined Facebook as vice president, messaging products.
Green Dot Corp. has named Joshua Goines general manager of GoBank. The company also hired Thien Truong as senior vice president of business development and sales.
Mercator Advisory Group has announced the addition of Nikhil Joseph and Jennifer Marble to its team of analysts, and Marcellena Wood as project manager of Consulting Services.
Meta Financial Group Inc., holding company of MetaBank, has been included in the annual “Top 200 Community Banks and Thrifts” list in American Banker Magazine.
Robert Courtneidge, global head of cards and payments at law firm Locke Lord, has been named the world’s sixth leading authority on global payments, as part of the Payment Power 10, an international group of key leaders in the payments industry.
The annual transaction value of online, mobile and contactless payments will nearly double over the next four years, reaching $4.7 trillion by 2019, up from just over $2.5 trillion this year, with contactless payments primarily driven by card purchases rather than mobile.
Host card emulation (HCE) technology has gained an unlikely supporter. SIMalliance, which had been critical of HCE’s role in bringing NFC-based mobile payments into the mainstream, said today that HCE likely will expedite SIM-based NFC payment deployments.
MasterCard is continuing to expand the reach of its rePower reload network, partnering with DCR Strategies Inc./TruCash to enable reloads in Canada.
NJ S 2235 was introduced in the State Senate, offering hope that New Jersey’s attempt to grab unclaimed funds that otherwise may be owed to another state finally might be put to rest.
Mass transit continues to be among the most promising areas for NFC payments, with Washington, D.C., reportedly planning to put the technology in motion next year.
Earlier this month American Express announced several new budgeting capabilities it’s adding to Serve, along with expanded retail distribution in Safeway and other retailers through a new partnership with Blackhawk Network.
Cardtronics plans to add a new deposit function to more than 2,500 ATMs in the company’s Allpoint Network.
CFPB Director Richard Cordray headed to the House yesterday to present his bureau’s semi-annual report to the House Financial Services Committee, headed by Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas).
The FDIC has issued another consent order for a company with significant prepaid business and again the focus is on Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) compliance.
The prepaid card continues to be the fastest-growing form of electronic payment, but to maintain that position in a world where emerging payments are gaining ground every day, the industry must keep innovating.
Payments M&A activity continues as corporate payments provider WEX Inc. announced a major move into the health care payments sector, entering a definitive agreement to acquire Evolution1 for $532.5 million.
After splashy debuts two years ago, two celebrity-backed prepaid cards quietly are exiting the market this summer.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is turning its attention to mobile financial services and is seeking information from the industry and consumers.
New York State lawmakers, along with Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, came out with guns blazing last week—their target: payroll cards.
Congressman Steve Stivers (R-Ohio) stressed the importance of the prepaid card industry continuing its work of getting to know federal rulemakers and explaining to them the value the industry’s products provide to consumers, businesses and state and local governments.
More mobile wallet providers are pinning their hopes on host card emulation technology to facilitate NFC payments.
Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba’s new U.S. retail portal eventually could present a challenge for some of the biggest names in the online shopping sector, including Amazon and eBay.
The Bancorp Bank, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Bancorp Inc., this week revealed in an 8K filing with the SEC that it’s stepping up its Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) compliance efforts in accordance with an FDIC consent order that went into effect June 5.
The Euro Banking Association has published results of research and assessment work on supply chain finance topics and alternative electronic payments, including recommendations on managing financial industry collaboration and partnerships.
Rather than spending time debating which option is worse for consumers—overdraft or payday loans—or focusing solely on reining in overdraft, we ought to shift our energies to creating new credit products that meet consumers’ needs transparently and affordably.
While asking a customer for multiple pieces of information and presenting him with various questions satisfies federal guidelines and other legal compliance, it can throw a major wrench in the prepaid card activation model. Out-of-wallet authentication must be accomplished in real time—and that means mobile.
