News


Payments Council pushes mobile payments back another year

The UK Payments Council has announced that the introduction of its planned Mobile Payments Service has been pushed back until “spring 2014” – a year after its previously expected introduction, and two years after Barclays broke from the rest of the UK banks and launched its Pingit service. The delay comes despite commitments from financial […]

German HFT proposals earn buy-side support

Market participants have expressed support for controversial new proposals in Germany to control high-frequency trading, including a requirement to obtain a licence or stop trading.

Prepaid Regulation Could Have Adverse Effects, Says Study (Jan. 15, 2013)

Jan. 15, 2013 Competition in the network branded prepaid card market has led to lower costs and better functionality for card users, says a new working paper from the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. The well-functioning market, combined with a lack of evidence that consumers are making errors when choosing a prepaid card, means […]

NCR Adds PayPal to Mobile Payment Menu for Restaurants, Retailers (Jan. 15, 2013)

Jan. 15, 2013 NCR Corp., eager to expand use of its mobile apps for restaurants and retailers, this week announced an agreement with PayPal Inc. designed to make it easier for consumers to manage their bills and pay for food using their smartphones when dining out. Duluth, Ga.-based NCR plans to integrate PayPal alongside credit […]

MasterCard Continues Africa Push with Equity Bank Partnership (Jan. 15, 2013)

Jan. 15, 2013 MasterCard has inked a deal with Kenya’s Equity Bank to issue new debit and prepaid cards over the next 18 months. The 5 million new cards will be equipped with PayPass contactless technology and EMV chips, and are set to roll out initially in Kenya, followed by Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and South […]

TransCard Buys HQ Gift Cards, Expanding Reach to Malls and Casinos (Jan. 15, 2013)

Jan. 15, 2013 Chattanooga, Tenn.-based processor and program manager TransCard this week said it has acquired HQ Gift Cards, the nation’s largest program manager of mall-based prepaid and gift cards, as part of a broader expansion push. Gardena, Calif.-based HQ, founded in 2000 and acquired in 2006 by Ceridian Stored Value Solutions, manages gift and […]

Managing PEX Cards Goes Mobile (Jan. 15, 2013)

Jan. 15, 2013 PEX Card, a New York City-based provider of the Visa-branded PEX Card prepaid expense-management card for small and midsize businesses, has launched PEX Mobile, a suite of iOS and Android applications enabling PEX Card administrators to perform day-to-day cash management and expense control functions using a smartphone. “PEX Card administrators often play […]

Savvis Deal Strengthens Mozido’s Cloud Infrastructure, Hosted IT Offerings (Jan. 15, 2013)

Jan. 15, 2013 Mozido LLC, an Austin, Texas-based startup providing cloud-based, white-label mobile payments services for banks and merchants, has signed a multiyear deal for access to the cloud infrastructure and hosted IT solutions of Savvis, a subsidiary of telecom CenturyLink. “By leveraging Savvis’ leading cloud and hosting infrastructure, we will enable customers in the […]

Boots on the Ground (January 2013)

January 2013   Experts on five markets—Brazil, France, Italy, Middle East and Russia—discuss how prepaid is developing where they’re doing business, as providers and consultants. By Loraine DeBonis, Editor-in-Chief   Paybefore: How widely has prepaid been adopted in Brazil beyond the meal voucher market? Neissan Monadjem: The food voucher programs along with the mobile prepaid “card” vertical represent 80 […]

Social media trading goes live on DCM

Online trading service DCM Capital has released a trading platform with a social media sentiment feed, allowing traders to incorporate information from channels such as twitter and Facebook into their trading decisions.

HSBC plans to pilot FX netting in China

HSBC is to pilot a foreign exchange netting system in China after getting approval from authorities there – the first foreign bank to get such approval. The programme is part of the Chinese State Administration of Foreign Exchange’s recently launched Foreign Currency Centralised Management pilot scheme for multinational companies.

Vienna bourse debuts high-speed data

Vienna Stock Exchange has started a new low-latency market data service that it says will provide better, faster market data for investors interested in trading Vienna, Prague and Ljubljana.

Misys markets “competitive advantages” for trade finance

Banking software provider Misys has incorporated global processing into its trade finance solution, TI Plus, in a move that the firm says will help banks gain a competitive advantage through improved customer service and reduced costs.

Moscow draws closer as TMX Atrium opens new trading link

Investors looking to trade in Russia can now take advantage of a new high-speed route from Frankfurt to Moscow, built by technology and connectivity provider TMX Atrium. The idea behind the new link is to provide access for clients that need low-latency access to the Russian market, which currently represents the world’s sixth largest economy, […]

MCX Will Start with Cloud/Barcode (Jan. 14, 2013)

Jan. 14, 2013 MCX executives and member merchants revealed a few more details about their plans for mobile payments during a panel at the National Retail Federation’s Annual Convention & EXPO in New York City today, including that its initial mobile payments solution will be primarily barcode- and cloud-based. The coalition of merchants, which announced formation […]

People on the Move: Jonathan J. Judge, First Data (January 2013)

Jan. 14, 2013 First Data Corp.’s CEO Jonathan J. Judge plans to step down from the company for health reasons, the company said. First Data will conduct a search for a new CEO and Judge will maintain his positions as CEO and board member until a replacement is found, but no later than March 31, […]

Medagate Rolls Out ‘Dual-Network’ Healthcare Card (Jan. 14, 2013)

Jan. 14, 2013 Restricted-spend healthcare payment provider Medagate, a wholly owned subsidiary of InComm, has announced the launch of what the company calls the first dual-network healthcare spending card. The MasterCard-branded Dual Value Health Card enables employers and health plans to offer members a healthcare funding account, such as a health savings account (HSA) or […]

Payelp Partners with Qiwi for Reloadable Prepaid Visa Card in Eastern Europe (Jan. 14, 2013)

Jan. 14, 2013 Payelp Global, a Los Angeles-based e-commerce platform serving merchants via 300 different payment gateways worldwide, is expanding its services to include a reloadable virtual prepaid card for consumers in regions that lack broad credit and debit card penetration. The offering builds on Payelp’s existing partnership with Moscow-based Qiwi Ltd., which recently introduced […]

Report: Mobile Banking Users to Reach 1 Billion Globally (Jan. 14, 2013)

Jan. 14, 2013 Nearly twice as many mobile phone users by the end of 2017 will have used their devices for mobile banking, compared with this year—1 billion versus 590 million—according to a new report from U.K.-based Juniper Research. The developed markets of Far East & China, North America and Western Europe will have the […]

Boku Earns E-Money License in Europe (Jan. 14, 2013)

Jan. 14, 2013 San Francisco-based mobile direct carrier biller Boku has received an e-money license for its European payments platform. Boku said the approval from the U.K.’s Financial Services Authority will enable the company to expand its platform in Europe. Currently operating in more than 65 countries, Boku has direct billing deals with about 250 […]

Consumer Attitudes on Mobile Banking Impact Mobile Commerce (January 2013)

January 2013   By Bill Grabarek, Senior Editor Financial institutions must combat persistent consumer indifference toward mobile banking in the United States if they want to see consumers move toward mobile commerce, according to a recent report by Javelin Strategy & Research. The research, which outlines financial services trends in 2013 as well as how […]

People on the Move: Dan Åkhagen, Payair (January 2013)

January 2013 Payair, a Swedish mobile commerce company, has hired Dan Åkhagen as human resources director. He will be responsible for the recruitment of new staff and the development of existing employees. Åkhagen has extensive experience with human resources issues in both public and private sectors. Before joining Payair, he was employed by game developer […]

People on the Move: Yunsok Chang, Ari Sarker and TV Seshadri, MasterCard Worldwide (January 2013)

January 2013 MasterCard Worldwide has announced three new appointments to bolster its Asia-Pacific, Middle East & Africa (APMEA) leadership teams. TV Seshadri is moving from India to Singapore as group executive, global products and solutions (GP&S) for APMEA. Seshadri will assume responsibilities for developing, driving and implementing product strategies and solutions for MasterCard to maximize the […]

Wall Street Systems acquires IT2 Treasury Solutions

IT2 Treasury Solutions, a UK company that provides treasury management software and services for large corporations and small and mid-sized financial institutions, has been sold to Wall Street Systems, a subsidiary of trading technology provider ION Trading.

Bank AlJazira upgrades Saudi data centres with Siemon

Bank AlJazira has commissioned infrastructure specialist Siemon to supply the IT infrastructure for new data centres across Saudi Arabia as part of its strategy for growth and to secure technical advantage. Siemon was selected as the supplier of choice in a competitive tender with two other industry-leading manufacturers. According to Ahmed Al Hassan, head of […]

March deadline for code to tackle fixing of interbank lending rates

European regulators have until March to impose a code of conduct on banks contributing to the creation of the Euribor interbank lending rate benchmark. The deadline is included in recommendations published by the European Securities and Markets Authority and the European Banking Authority following their joint work on benchmark rate-setting processes in the wake of the Barclays Libor scandal and other rate-fixing revelations.

BATS trading errors highlight perils of technology arms race

US exchange operator BATS Global Markets’ revelation earlier this week that it may have accidentally breached best execution regulation on thousands of client transactions over a four-year period has been criticised by senior buy-side traders, who have expressed disappointment at the failure of exchanges to serve long-term investors.

Mobile banking to hit 1 billion users by 2017

As uptake of mobile banking services is predicted to reach 1 billion by 2017, banks are starting to view the mobile channel as an indispensable revenue stream, according to Nitin Bhas, senior analyst at telecoms research firm Juniper Research.

Swift appoints Kennel to head market infrastructure efforts

Swift, the Brussels-based financial messaging consortium has appointed Juliette Kennel to the newly-created post of head of market infrastructures. Kennel, formerly head of standards, will be responsible for bringing together Swift’s activities in this area. Swift’s relationships with other market infrastructures is a focus for Gottfried Leibbrandt, who took over as chief executive last summer, […]

Citi targets “dangerous” global collateral shortfall

Citi has established a set of alliances with Clearstream and Euroclear Bank that it says will transform the way broker-dealers manage their collateral, freeing up precious resources as onerous new regulations in the US and Europe burden banks with tougher collateral requirements.

Push for Pan-European Account Access Could Spur Prepaid Card Growth (Jan. 10, 2013)

Jan. 10, 2013 European banks and prepaid card marketers are weighing their options as they await word on a European Parliament initiative to guarantee all European Union citizens access to a payment account, according to observers. The push to bring payment services to all springs from a European Commission announcement in March 2012 that laid […]

U.S. Bank Launches NFC Payment Pilot in Salt Lake City, Portland (Jan. 10, 2013)

Jan. 10, 2013 Salt Lake City’s focus as a hotbed of NFC-based mobile payment intensified today as U.S. Bank announced the launch of its “Go Mobile” app enabling some of its credit card customers to convert their iPhones to an NFC payment device. Salt Lake City residents can now wave their phones to pay at […]

First Data: Slow Spending Growth in December (Jan. 10, 2013)

Jan. 10, 2013 Down-to-the-wire drama over the U.S. economy and the “fiscal cliff,” lasting effects of Hurricane Sandy and relatively modest retail discounts during the holidays are likely contributors to December having the lowest monthly dollar volume growth in three years, according to the latest SpendTrend data released by First Data Corp., an Atlanta-based payments […]

Brink’s Enters Payroll Card Business with NetSpend (Jan. 10, 2013)

Jan. 10, 2013 NetSpend Holdings Inc. has added another partner to its growing payroll card business. The Brink’s Company, which is best known for supplying security-related logistics and transportation services, will offer a new payroll card in partnership with NetSpend, which will serve as exclusive program manager and processor. The Brink’s Money prepaid card, set […]

BancorpSouth to Offer New Prepaid Card through Community Bank Program (Jan. 10, 2013)

Jan. 10, 2013 Tupelo, Miss.-based BancorpSouth Inc. has announced the launch of a new GPR prepaid card targeted at travelers, students and online shoppers. The MasterCard-branded card can be used at retailers, online and for cash withdrawal at ATMs, and features an online account management system that enables reloads over the Web. BancorpSouth said there […]

ConvergEx targets “dark” Asia Pacific capital markets

Western investment firms looking to trade in Asia Pacific should not rely on algorithms that have been ported from the US or Europe, according to William Capuzzi, president of trading technology company ConvergEx’s global execution business – instead, they should adopt dedicated tools built from the ground up.

JP Morgan trade platform promises joined-up thinking

JP Morgan has begun rollout of its new multi-asset class trading platform, JP Morgan Markets, which the firm says will make it easier for clients to bring together different elements such as research and analytics and convert them into successful trades.

Diebold debuts cardless ATM at CES

ATM maker Diebold has developed an ATM that lets customers withdraw cash without using a card – and saves the bank money in the process.