July 2013 National Gift Card Corp. (NGC)—an Elgin, Ill.-based marketer and supplier of gift cards for use in loyalty, incentive and rewards programs—has appointed Eric Thiegs senior vice president, business development. He is a 15-year veteran of the partnership marketing, member benefits, loyalty and rewards arenas, and he will be responsible for leading the company’s […]
July 2013 LifeWork Search, a staffing firm with offices in Massachusetts and Florida, recently announced that Laura Patterson has joined the company’s executive search team, leading the compliance, fraud and risk department. Patterson has more than 15 years of experience in technical sales and account cultivation. Her merchant services career started in 2002 with American Express, […]
The surge in new mPOS tools and e-commerce options for micro and small businesses represents a significant growth opportunity to a diverse array of payments industry players. By Kate Fitzgerald, Emerging Payments Editor Local dog-sitters, dry cleaners and doughnut shops could become as important as gold nuggets to payments industry providers that recognize their potential […]
Despite what you’ve been seeing in the mainstream media recently, many prepaid card providers have not only lowered fees in the last few years but many are educating cardholders about how to avoid fees altogether.
July 2013 First Data Corp., an Atlanta-based payments processor, has appointed Guy Chiarello president. He will serve as a member of the management committee, and he will focus on innovation, product development and technological systems. Chiarello also will engage with customers and business leaders to create and enhance the many new solutions First Data plans […]
July 2013 ecoCard, a U.K.-based global payment solutions provider, has been rebranded ecoPayz to reflect the scope of its diverse range of payment solutions, according to the company. “Over the last few years we have significantly grown and extended our range of payment solutions to incorporate a range of virtual payment mechanisms, not just physical cards, so […]
July 2013 CPI Card Group, a Littleton, Colo.-based card producer, recently received several Élan Awards at the International Card Manufacturers Association (ICMA) annual meeting in Washington, D.C. The Élan Awards recognize innovative card designs, technologies and other criteria that establish the global vanguard for card manufacturing. CPI received the top honor in two categories: “Best Financial […]
July 2013 DFC Global Corp., a Berwyn, Pa.-based financial services company serving primarily unbanked and underbanked consumers, has promoted Norman Miller president and chief operating officer. He has served as the company’s executive vice president and chief operating officer since 2007. Previously, Miller was employed by ARAMARK Inc., where he was group president of sports […]
July 2013 Contact Solutions, a Reston, Va.-based provider of cloud-based customer self-service solutions, has appointed Michael Boustridge CEO. His focus will be to continue building on the strong market momentum Contact Solutions has built over the last 11 years and accelerate the company’s growth trajectory, including evolving partner relationships, sustaining operational excellence and expanding into commercial […]
July 2013 The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) recently has added several members to senior positions within the bureau. Sartaj Alag is returning to the CFPB and will serve as chief operating officer. In his previous role at the bureau, Alag was in charge of starting up and managing the Office of Consumer Response. Previously, […]
July 2013 Bank Solutions Group LLC, an Atlanta-based management consulting firm, has hired Peter J. Quadagno as a partner in its payments practice. He has more than 30 years of payments industry experience as an executive, business owner and consultant, most of it focused on prepaid cards. He founded several firms, including Maverick Network Solutions and […]
July 2013 Bank of America Merrill Lynch has named Jennifer Boussuge head of global transaction services (GTS) for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). She has been with the company for more than 19 years, during which time she has held a number of leadership roles, most recently as head of global sales for GTS. […]
July 2013 Ballard Spahr LLC recently announced the opening of its 14th office—this one in New York City—that will expand the firm’s capabilities in representing banks and other financial institutions in a wide range of consumer financial services regulatory matters, litigation and government investigations, according to the firm. The New York office operates under the […]
The International Card Manufacturers Association (ICMA) continues to honor innovators in card manufacturing through its Élan Awards for Card Manufacturing Excellence, and many prepaid programs were recognized as finalists and winners this year. The awards were presented last month during the association’s Annual Card Manufacturing and Personalization EXPO in Washington, D.C. “The graphics on many […]
By Loraine DeBonis, Editor-in-Chief On the final day of the NBPCA’s Power of Prepaid conference in Washington, D.C., last month, experts shared results from two recent studies that shed light on how U.S. consumers conduct their financial lives and where prepaid providers can fill a need. While the first shows encouraging signs about prepaid adoption […]
By Bill Grabarek, Senior Editor True to the pioneering spirit of the University of Oklahoma’s moniker, the Sooners (a nickname for settlers during the land rush of the late 1800s), OU is traversing a path seemingly untrodden by other colleges and universities. OU’s Office of the Bursar recently launched the OU Gift Card, enabling friends […]
July 16, 2013 Shanghai-based payment card network UnionPay continues to expand its NFC-based mobile payment offerings, launching a new smartphone app for contactless payments last week. Dubbed simply Wallet, the app enables users to link card accounts from eight participating Chinese banks to NFC-enabled smartphones from China Mobile and make purchases at POS terminals via […]
July 16, 2013 Cloud-based payment processor i2c Inc. has signed a deal to provide prepaid card processing services to Heartland Payment Systems. The collaboration will kick off with i2c taking over processing duties for Heartland’s National Restaurant Association (NRA) Edge payroll card program, which enables restaurant employees to load their paychecks and outside funds onto […]
July 16, 2013 Consumers in Brazil soon will be able to purchase Ukash vouchers in Brazilian currency at participating Petrobas and other independent stores across the country, and spend those vouchers at 3,500 e-commerce and digital entertainment Websites. Ukash, a London-based prepaid voucher provider and Paybefore Award winner, yesterday announced an agreement with Now Prepay Servicos […]
The National Consumer Law Center (NCLC) again is urging the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to prohibit overdraft on prepaid products and limit the ways in which credit and prepaid may be associated.
July 15, 2013 In a protracted battle over several of President Barack Obama’s nominations, including his appointment of Richard Cordray as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) last week filed cloture motions to force votes on seven nominees in an effort to bypass what he called “blatant […]
July 15, 2013 China’s central bank has granted new third-party payment licenses to 27 companies, including the first-ever foreign-funded payment service providers to receive licenses—Edenred China and Sodexo Pass China (Shanghai). Since the Peoples Bank of China (PBC) began issuing the licenses in May 2011, a total of 250 nonbank institutions have been granted the […]
July 15, 2013 A group of 16 U.S. Senators are calling on government regulators to investigate the fees and practices association with payroll cards. In a letter to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Department of Labor, the Senators said that all fees attached to prepaid cards must be clearly disclosed to employees who have […]
July 15, 2013 TIO Networks Corp., a Vancouver, B.C.-based expedited payments service provider, announced on Friday it will acquire Globex Financial Services Inc. and its Global Express Money Orders business. TIO expects to close on the deal for the Silver Spring, Md.-based bill payment services provider later this year. TIO plans to cross-sell its mobile […]
Patrice Peyret of Banking Up responds to a front-page article in the New York Times, “Paid via Card, Workers Feel Sting of Fees.”
BNP Paribas Securities Services is to use Swift’s value added network service to connect to T2S, the single European settlement platform due to roll out in 2015-16.
July 11, 2013 Another major piece of MCX’s jigsaw puzzle fell into place today with the announcement that payments technology provider FIS will provide the payments processing platform, including transaction routing and settlement, for the retail consortium’s evolving mobile commerce system. Jacksonville, Fla.-based FIS will execute mobile payments at participating retailer outlets in combination with […]
July 11, 2013 By the end of 2013, European consumers will be making more than 52 million contactless transactions every month, according to a projection by Visa Europe. That would represent a marked increase from 2012, which saw a total of 147 million contactless transactions. The rapid increase in NFC-enabled smartphones and digital wallets coming […]
July 11, 2013 Consumers continued to demonstrate strong spending habits in June, according to the latest SpendTrend data released by First Data Corp., an Atlanta-based payments processor. Wet weather that dampened demand on the East Coast in the early part of the month was offset by warmer weather across the rest of the U.S., leading […]
July 11, 2013 Seattle-area Metro riders who bike to transit stations have a new option for storing their cycles, thanks to a series of new “eLockers” that can be rented on an hourly basis using a stored value card. The lockers—located at 10 Metro stations throughout the Seattle area—are provided by BikeLink, a secure on-demand […]
The prepaid industry must seize on the recent media frenzy as an opportunity to inform and educate the public, government officials and other policymakers.
Regulators regulate, and when they do act, it can have dramatic impact on a company’s business model.
Tori Blake and Chuck Rouse explain the new rules of breakage connected to the Financial Accounting Standards Board and the International Accounting Standards Board’s upcoming Revenue Recognition Standards.
By Patrice Peyret, Banking Up In the July 1 New York Times story “Paid via Card, Workers Feel Sting of Fees,” reporters Jessica Silver-Greenberg and Stephanie Clifford raise an important question but fail to answer it: Are a significant number of employers forcing hourly workers to use expensive payroll cards? The three key conditions here […]
July 9, 2013 Money transfer giant Western Union Co. continues to expand its payment product offerings and grow its global footprint, unveiling a new payroll card in the United Arab Emirates and money transfer services in India. In the U.A.E, Western Union and Commercial Bank of Dubai have announced a new, co-branded prepaid payroll card […]
July 9, 2013 Prepaid processor and program manager TransCard has announced a new self-service gift card kiosk targeted for placement in shopping malls. Known as RUBY, the automated kiosk enables shoppers to select a gift card denomination, enter payment and receive the card without the assistance of a customer service mall employee. “After studying the […]
July 9, 2013 A Bitcoin wallet developer in Kenya this month launched a service enabling locals to send and receive the virtual currency to most nations around the world using any Internet-enabled mobile phone or desktop computer, with the capability of converting Bitcoins to M-Pesa, Kenya’s popular mobile money service. Nairobi-based Kipochi Ltd (Kipochi means […]
July 9, 2013 State Bank of India (SBI) has partnered with Indian forex firm UAE Exchange and Financial Services Ltd. to launch a co-branded prepaid card enabling users to receive remittances directly on the card. The State Bank Xpress Money Card, which runs on the Visa network, can be loaded with up to Rs50,000 (US$831.90) […]
A partnership between German and Turkish payments specialists aims to take advantage of Turkey’s rising levels of online commerce, with the help of three Turkish banks.
Mobile payments looks set to receive a boost in Poland after six banks announced they will collaborate to create a new standard in the country.
