Feb. 26. 2013 Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.) today told attendees at a Credit Union National Association Government Affairs Conference in Washington, D.C., that federal lawmakers may revisit the debit interchange fee cap created by the Durbin Amendment this year, according to CUNA’s News Now. The publication also reports the Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) said earlier […]
Feb. 26, 2013 The Payment Cards Center of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia hosted a workshop last week focused on customer service in the prepaid card industry. Susan Herbst-Murphy, a senior industry specialist at the PCC, says the center was eager to learn more about customer service issues in light of the Treasury’s mandate […]
Feb. 26, 2013 Oman’s largest bank said a dozen of its prepaid travel cards were compromised outside of the country. Bank Muscat will take an impairment charge of up to 15 million rials (US$39 million) as a result of the unspecified fraud—a figure representing more than 10 percent of the bank’s latest annual earnings. […]
Dutch bank ABN Amro has been fined by Nasdaq OMX Stockholm for a technology failure that led to an erroneous order entering the market.
MasterCard has announced the roll-out of a new integrated authorisation tool that straddles the card, online and mobile payments areas, while allowing merchants and digital wallet providers to integrate it with their services.
The Luxembourg Stock Exchange is cooperating with IT support company Altus to develop a market infrastructure for European investment funds, which constitute a large part of the Luxembourg economy.
US investment bank Jefferies is to use a financial extranet and data service from IPC Systems, a New Jersey-based technology specialist.
Saxo Bank has added new features to its trading app SaxoTrader, which works on iPhone and iPad and is designed to make trading more mobile.
The Qatar Exchange has introduced sponsored access and market making for the first time, in a move intended to boost liquidity and make it easier for a wider pool of investors to access the market.
Feb. 25, 2013 Aiming to speed up development of mobile payment technologies, Visa Inc. on the eve of this week’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona announced the Visa Ready Partner Program, a framework it hopes will make it easier for mobile device manufacturers, mobile network operators and various of their technology partners around the world […]
Feb. 25, 2013 MasterCard Inc. today unveiled MasterPass, a cloud-based service that builds on its PayPass Wallet Services by eliminating the need for consumers to enter card or shipping details with each purchase and adding new tools to enhance online, mobile and in-store shopping. MasterPass will roll out through banks in Canada and Australia beginning […]
Feb. 25, 2013 PayPal continues its diversification into brick-and-mortar payments with the announcement that it will expand its PayPal Here mobile card reader to Europe, beginning in the U.K. this summer. The European iteration of PayPal Here will differ from the version launched in the U.S. nearly a year ago in some key ways, due […]
Feb. 25, 2013 Recent research into the prepaid card-buying habits of ATM users indicates an opportunity for credit unions and banks to capture a portion of the prepaid card market by leveraging the convenience of ATMs. More than 85 percent of credit union members use ATMs and 70 percent of those ATM-using members also buy […]
Feb. 25, 2013 Shanghai-based payment card network China UnionPay (CUP) continues its efforts to develop NFC payments, signing an agreement with Dutch digital payment security provider Gemalto to build “a secure mobile NFC ecosystem.” The partnership will cover deployment issues including trusted service manager interoperability, along with technology standards and specifications, the firms said. China […]
Foreign exchange utility CLS Group has appointed Dino Kos as head of global regulatory affairs. In his new role, he will report to David Puth, chief executive at CLS from his base in New York.
New guidelines published earlier this month by European regulator ESMA could have a major impact on market making across Europe, according to Matthew Coupe, director of regulation and market structure at NICE Actimize.
Payment provider PayPal has launched a card reader device that handles Chip & PIN and PayPal payments in Europe. The device will be available to select UK businesses over the coming months before becoming generally available this summer.
The Payments Council’s latest report, The Way We Pay, shows rapid changes in use of payment methods over the past decade – but cash is still in the mix.
Payments specialist Sentenial has hired former Logica CGI sales director Jean-Pierre Arens to head up its efforts in France, as the Irish firm expands its ambitions across Europe.
US post-trade services utility the DTCC has begun client testing ISO 20022 messages for corporate actions covering distribution events.
Poland’s Warsaw Stock Exchange has set a date for its migration onto NYSE Euronext’s UTP trading system.
Spanish bank Banco Santander has signed a deal with iZettle, a fledgling Swedish payments specialist that focuses on ‘social’ payments. The two companies plan to distribute mini chip-card readers to customers, so that they can accept card payments with smartphones and tablets.
February 2013 By Kate Fitzgerald, Emerging Payments Editor With less than three years to go before U.S. EMV liability-shift deadlines begin to take effect, payment industry participants beginning to make their plans are facing their first obstacle, as the U.S. debit networks wrestle with options for choosing a technology approach for routing chip-based debit transactions under […]
European exchanges Eurex and NYSE Liffe are soon to list a host of new derivatives, based on MSCI indices. From March, market participants will be able to trade futures and options based on the MSCI World, MSCI Europe, MSCI All Countries Asia Pacific ex-Japan and futures on the MSCI Frontier Markets.
February 2013 By Adam Perrotta, Assistant Editor Dozens of prepaid program managers are scrambling to find a new bank issuer with First California Bank (FCB) exiting the issuing business ahead of its acquisition by PacWest Bancorp. In November, PacWest agreed to pay $231 million for FCB’s parent company, Westlake Village, Calif.-based First California Financial […]
The Australian Securities Exchange has expanded its efforts to connect to international market with the launch of the ASX Net Global network, which connects to Asia, Europe and North America.
Information company Experian has improved its Hunter anti-fraud software to help banks and other financial services firms keep track of fraud.
The Alternative Investment Management Association, which serves hedge funds, has chosen two deputy chairmen from its existing directors and an investor appointee to the AIMA Council.
The Philippine Dealing and Exchange has chosen a system to monitor its fixed income markets and make sure that any market abuse is swiftly discovered and dealt with.
Infosys has formally announced its BigDataEdge platform, designed to allow banks to bring together Big Data analytics onto one platform. “There have been several point solutions, but it is important to have a platform,” said Vishnu Bhat, vice president and global head for cloud at Infosys. Customers that have already deployed the platform – some […]
Dutch bank Rabobank is to sell its asset management business Robeco to Japanese financial services group Orix for €1.9 billion.
By Aleia Van Dyke, Javelin Strategy & Research The slow economic recovery from the Great Recession has forced young Americans to confront a dismal financial reality marked by unprecedented student loan debt and soaring unemployment. But the financial industry cannot afford to ignore Gen Y, the generation of consumers born from 1979 to 1999. By […]
Feb. 20, 2013 In a deal that could alter the competitive landscape of the prepaid industry, payments processor TSYS yesterday announced plans to acquire GPR and payroll card provider NetSpend Corp. for $1.4 billion in cash. The purchase—characterized by TSYS as a “transformational event”—enhances the Columbus, Ga.-based firm’s role in the prepaid processing arena and […]
Feb. 20, 2013 Sweden-based mobile payments player iZettle this week announced the launch of a new smartphone-based card reader for small-business merchants that uses chip-and-PIN technology and Bluetooth to accept all major card brands, resolving iZettle’s six-month impasse with Visa Europe over a security issue. iZettle in 2011 began offering its card reader to merchants […]
Feb. 20, 2013 Australian supermarket giant Wesfarmers Ltd.’s Coles is conducting a small pilot of a MasterCard mobile wallet that enables customers to pay using NFC-equipped phones through an app that automatically links to the store’s loyalty program. The three-month pilot, conducted in partnership with GE Capital Australia, Vodafone and Gemalto, involves 60 Coles supermarket […]
Feb. 20, 2013 As more companies work to combine the power of social media with the popularity of gift cards, Melville, N.Y.-based GroupGifting.com has added a card scanning feature to its eGifter Web and mobile social gifting app. The scanning feature enables consumers to add plastic gift cards to their digital wallets in the eGifter app […]
February 2013 By Bill Grabarek, Senior Editor What started in late 2008 as a reseller operation, consisting of two people in an office offering payroll and corporate cards to small and midsize firms, London-based Prepaid Financial Services (PFS) has evolved into a program manager, e-money issuer, acquirer and provider of turnkey, white-label solutions. PFS […]
High frequency trading specialist Rapid Addition has partnered with IBM to provide an ultra-low latency service for financial firms that are very sensitive to speed.
The National Bank of Abu Dhabi has adopted a monitoring service from Canadian technology company Inetco Systems, which it says will enable it to better keep track of its ATMs and ensure they are working properly.
Barclays has appointed Nicki Thomson as head of business services for corporate banking. In her new role, Thomson will lead a team of relationship directors tasked with providing lending and banking support to the business services sector.
