Expert: Apple Watch Likely to Be Apple’s Most Profitable Product Ever (April 21, 2015)
The Apple Watch will be Apple’s most profitable product line ever, with gross margins exceeding 60 percent, according to some observers.
Mobile
Cachet Targets Millennials with Apple Watch (April 21, 2015)
Attracting millennials requires a better banking experience and Apple Watch may hold the key, according to Minneapolis-based mobile money technology provider Cachet Financial Solutions, which today announced its prepaid mobile platform supports Apple Watch.
Samsung’s Biometrics Plans Go beyond Samsung Pay (April 21, 2015)
Samsung has even larger plans for biometrics beyond including fingerprint-based authentication as part of its Samsung Pay mobile payments service.
ICICI Bank Introduces Contactless Payments at Large Corporate Campuses (April 21, 2015)
India’s largest private bank is exploring contactless payments in a limited rollout to corporate campuses that enables employees to use a mobile prepaid account to make NFC payments at corporate canteens and shops.
Report: Apple Pay Coming to Canada (April 20, 2015)
Apple Inc. is negotiating with Canadian banks to bring Apple Pay to Canada as early as November, with details about fees and security protocols at the center of discussions.
PayPal on Security: Thinking Outside the Box, Inside the Body (April 20, 2015)
Jonathan LeBlanc, global head of developer advocacy at PayPal, says the future for mobile payments and other sensitive transactions could lay with embeddable, injectable and ingestible devices.
InstaMed Integrates Apple Pay for Consumer Health Care Payments (April 16, 2015)
Apple Pay is expanding its reach to the health care sector, where InstaMed has integrated the mobile payments service as an option for consumers making payments to hospitals, clinics, doctors’ offices and insurance companies.
World Bank Reports 20 Percent Drop in Unbanked Since 2011 (April 16, 2015)
The world’s unbanked population plummeted by 20 percent between 2011 and 2014, as 700 million adults became account holders, according to a new report from the World Bank.
Study shows 60% of banks’ digital assets on wrong side of firewalls
Security specialist RiskIQ says the growth in digital business is producing an increasing threat to banks across the world, with the largest banks owning an average of 7,500 public facing digital assets – 60% of which are outside the company firewall.
Report: American Express, Jawbone to Launch NFC Fitness Band (April 15, 2015)
American Express Co. is getting in on the expanding niche of wearable technology.
Canada’s Code of Conduct Expands to Include Mobile (April 15, 2015)
Canada’s Financial Consumer Agency this week has released amendments to Canada’s code of conduct for credit and debit card transactions that extend to mobile payments.
5 Signs Microsoft Will Launch Payments Service (April 14, 2015)
More signs point to the fact that Microsoft is preparing to brand its own payments service, but the tech giant’s approach could be much different than that of mobile wallet rivals Apple Pay, Samsung Pay and Google Inc.’s Android Pay, some observers suggest.
Blackhawk GoWallet Makes Checking Balances, Redeeming Gift Cards a Snap (April 14, 2015)
With Blackhawk Network’s GoWallet mobile app, consumers now are able to determine gift card balances by taking photos of their cards.
Ingo’s Hot Streak Continues with $13.5 Million Funding Round (April 14, 2015)
Fresh off a major acquisition and a 2015 Paybefore Award for Breakout Company of the Year, Ingo Money’s big year continued with this week’s closing of a $13.5 million funding round. Baltimore-based private equity firm Camden Partners co-led the round with venture capital firm MissionOG.
Amex ‘Facing’ the Future of M-Payments with Biometrics Plan (April 13, 2015)
Biometrics continue to make inroads into payments, with American Express testing new technology that uses facial recognition to authenticate mobile transactions.
India: MobiKwik Raises $25 Million; PIF India Renews Focus on Financial Inclusion (April 8, 2015)
With a fresh infusion of cash, Indian payment startup MobiKwik plans to invest in data analytics, brand building and growing its network of mobile wallet users and merchants, according to reports.
PayPal Closes Paydiant Deal, Expanding NFC Options (April 6, 2015)
PayPal has moved significantly closer to its goal of making its digital wallet “ubiquitous” for consumers paying online, via mobile devices and at the POS.
U.S. Leads Europe in E-Commerce, Quicker to Adopt Mobile (April 6, 2015)
The U.S. continues to lead e-commerce sales with expected revenue of $349.2 billion in 2015—compared with a combined $254 billion in projected sales in eight European countries, according to a report.
Fiserv: Billers Need to Catch Up with Customers’ Mobile Ways
Customer usage of mobile bill pay has grown substantially over the past year, but many billers aren’t keeping up with how their customers want to pay, according to the “Third Annual Biller Mobile Bill Pay Benchmark Study,” commissioned by Fiserv Inc., a global provider of financial services technology solutions.
Is ‘Microsoft Pay’ in the Works? (March 31, 2015)
Mobile wallet rivals for Apple Pay, including Samsung Pay and Google Inc.’s rumored Android Pay, may face another giant tech competitor. Microsoft Corp.’s latest moves suggest it may brand its own mobile payments service, too.
MasterCard Contactless Users in Asia-Pacific Increase 49 Percent (March 31, 2015)
Consumers in Asia-Pacific are taking to contactless payments in a big way, with the number of unique contactless users in 2014 up by 49 percent, compared with the previous year, according to MasterCard.
Fed Study: Mobile Banking, Deposit Use Growing Among Consumers (March 30, 2015)
More than half (51 percent) of mobile banking users in the U.S. had deposited a check using their mobile phones last year, up from 38 percent in 2013, according to the Federal Reserve’s latest study, “Consumers and Mobile Financial Services 2015.”
Bell ID supports ANZ New Zealand mobile app
Host card emulation specialist Bell ID is enabling the launch of ANZ New Zealand’s upgraded goMoney mobile app, which is set to feature a cloud-based HCE NFC mobile wallet. The project, for the New Zealand division of ANZ Bank, will bring contactless mobile payments to the smartphones of more than 120,000 ANZ customers. The ANZ […]
Monitise No Longer for Sale (March 25, 2015)
U.K.-based Monitise plc is no longer for sale.
Santander launches ISA mobile app
Santander has launched the UK’s first standalone ISA mobile app , which was designed and developed with mobile specialist company Monitise.
Türk Ekonomi Bankası to deploy HCE for contactless payments
Türk Ekonomi Bankası is to launch a mobile contactless payment application using Visa Europe’s host card emulation functionality to provide secure contactless payments.
Optimal Payments Makes €1.1 Billion Play for Skrill (March 23, 2015)
Two of Europe’s biggest e-commerce brands are coming together. Optimal Payments today announced plans to acquire rival Skrill Group for €1.1 billion (US$1.2 billion).
What Facebook’s P2P Play Means for Competitors and the Social Media Titan (March 19, 2015)
Now that Facebook has made its move to launch P2P within its Messenger app, the question is how it may affect competitors—including financial services providers pushing P2P—and fit into the company’s long-term goals.
Alibaba Unveils ‘Smile to Pay’ as Latest Biometrics Approach for M-Payments (March 17, 2015)
Alibaba Founder Jack Ma this week wowed the audience at a computer technology conference in Germany with a live demonstration of “Smile to Pay,” a facial recognition technology the China-based e-commerce giant is developing for mobile shopping and payments.
Financial Services Tools in First Wave of Apple Watch Apps (March 16, 2015)
The Apple Watch is still more than five weeks away from rollout, but thousands of developers are scurrying to ready apps for April 24 when the device goes on sale.
Digitisation replaces regulation as top concern for retail banks
The need for a digital strategy has leapt to the top of retail banks’ agendas over the past year, replacing regulatory issues, as they look to fend of competition from tech and e-commerce rivals.
Experts: Cardholder Authentication Key to Stemming Apple Pay Fraud (March 9, 2015)
The Wall Street Journal reported last week that fraudsters were exploiting stolen credit card data to set up fake Apple Pay accounts and buying big-ticket items in Apple’s own stores and other retail outlets.
Despite 1 Million Cards on Apple Pay, Chase Sees ‘Need to Be Everywhere’ (March 9, 2015)
JPMorgan Chase isn’t putting all of its mobile payments eggs (or apples) in one basket.
Transfast Partners with Trio of Kenyan Banks for Same-Day Deposits, M-Pesa (March 9, 2015)
International money transfer company Transfast has announced partnerships with three of Kenya’s largest banks to speed up its services for sending and receiving funds across borders.
Securing the future of NFC?
Ever since the deployment of Apple’s NFC solution – ‘Apple Pay’, and the various competitors launches since, there’s been speculation around what the future holds for consumer payments and how security will impact it
Citi Mobile Challenge extends deadline
The Citi Mobile Challenge, which seeks to unearth innovation and developer talent in some of the most far flung reaches of globe in a bid to get the best talent to help change the way the world banks, has extended its registration deadline to allow more people to take part.
Schulman: PayPal’s Open Platform Is Key to Success in Digitization of Money
Explosive developments in mobile commerce and payments will drive a level of disruption in the next three to five years unlike anything the financial services industry has seen before, Dan Schulman, incoming CEO of PayPal, forecast this week.
Blackhawk Boosts Wallet App with Gift Card Exchange, Scanning (Mar. 5, 2015)
Blackhawk Network Inc. is bolstering its mobile wallet app, adding a feature that will enable users to sell and exchange gift cards as well as the ability to scan physical gift cards to add them to the wallet.
Meet the Jetsons? Visa and MasterCard Unveil In-Car Food Ordering, Transit Innovations (March 3, 2015)
New mobile payments and loyalty management technologies envisioned for public transportation and automobiles may spark some big changes in commuters’ daily routines, according to announcements from Visa and MasterCard this week at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
Mobile money goes global in 2015 reports GSMA
Mobile money is expanding rapidly as global smartphone penetration grows. This year, many providers are looking to expand their range of mobile money services to areas such as credit and savings – but operators must be wary of the remaining challenges, including regulation and market sizes, according to a new report by the GSMA.
