July 2013 SIMalliance, a London-based nonprofit trade association supporting the creation, deployment and management of secure mobile services and applications, has announced its board of directors for the next 12 months. The four permanent SIMalliance board seats, retained by the founding SIMalliance member organizations, will continue to be served by: Frédéric Vasnier, senior vice president, […]
July 2013 C-SAM, a Chicago-based provider of mobile transactions technology, has announced that Kurt Weiss and Conrad Sheehan have joined the company as managing director of global financial institutions and vice president and general manager of strategic initiatives, respectively. Weiss will work closely with financial institutions and networks deploying C-SAM’s mobile transaction platform, which enables […]
July 29, 2013 Cash will be knocked out of its position as the No. 1 form of payment in Canada within the next five years, if present growth trends in mobile, prepaid and online payments continue, a new report suggests. All forms of electronic payment are experiencing substantial growth in Canada as consumers’ use of […]
July 29, 2013 Two-thirds of companies in a variety of sectors reported suspected fraud attempts in the last 12 months, according to a report by IDology Inc., an Atlanta-based identity-verification company. More than one-third of respondents reported that these suspected attempts have increased in the last year, according to the survey’s findings, while 50 percent […]
Orange and oil and gas group Total have forged a partnership in Africa and the Middle East, providing access to Orange Money services at all Total service stations in the regions, spanning a total of 13 countries to date.
July 23, 2013 A new smartphone-based prepaid wallet launching in the U.K. will enable iPhone and Android users to pay for in-store purchases via tap using NFC technology. First launched in the U.S. last August, the Paybefore Award-winning moneto digital wallet is a joint venture between Kalixa Group, DeviceFidelity and MasterCard. The wallet is powered […]
July 23, 2013 A new prepaid MasterCard is coming to Slovenia, now that Prepaid Financial Services (PFS) has unveiled what it calls the nation’s first domestically issued prepaid card bearing the MasterCard brand. The SmartPayCard Prepaid MasterCard is available in two versions: SmartPayCard Simple, a non-reloadable virtual prepaid card, which can be loaded up to […]
July 22, 2013 With its latest move making it easier for customers to pay using the Square Inc. mobile app, U.S. Bank left no doubt it plans to support multiple digital wallet providers. The Minneapolis bank last week announced that its customers may link a credit, debit or prepaid card to the Square app within […]
July 22, 2013 Two distribution deals in the last week promise to increase prepaid card availability for consumers. InComm announced it will be distributing gift cards for Cabela’s through its retail distribution network of 225,000 locations, while rival Blackhawk Network will be rolling out its Gift Card Mall in U.S. Home Depot locations this year. […]
July 18, 2013 The shift to omnichannel retail continues as InComm this week rolled out a pair of services to enable the prepaid provider’s client companies to expand their digital product offerings in stores and on the Web. InComm’s new in-store digital sales program opens the door for merchants to offer products such as downloadable music, […]
July 2013 Virtual Piggy Inc., a Hermosa Beach, Calif.-based provider of e-commerce solutions enabling children to manage and spend money within a parent-controlled environment, has appointed Ivo Weevers creative director, mobile design, to lead and manage the mobile consumer experience team. He has 15 years of experience creating highly successful mobile, Web, device and desktop […]
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.
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 […]
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 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 […]
Regulators regulate, and when they do act, it can have dramatic impact on a company’s business model.
July 8, 2013 With security among the most important issues for providers and users of mobile payments, a group of banks is working to develop a new standard to improve mobile transaction security online and at POS. The Clearing House (TCH), a banking association and payments company whose 22 member banks include Bank of America, […]
July 8, 2013 PrivatBank, a Ukraine-based financial institution, has launched a contactless mobile POS offering that enables small businesses to accept card payments by scanning the card using a smartphone and its iPay application. The mPOS service is available to corporate and private customers in Ukraine and Russia, according to PrivatBank, which says it is […]
July 2, 2013 London-based Prepaid Financial Services (PFS) today announced a new mobile app for its PFS Prepaid MasterCard customers enabling users to store and manage their prepaid cards through a mobile digital wallet controlled through a smartphone. The Pocket to Pocket mobile app is initially available for the Apple iOS platform; an Android version […]
July 1, 2013 Motorists in Germany soon will be able to use Visa payWave technology to make contactless payments when filling up their tanks at Shell petrol stations. Beginning in spring 2014, Shell stations in the country will accept payments via contactless Visa card or NFC-enabled smartphone. Full rollout to all 2,200 German Shell locations […]
July 1, 2013 Square Inc. is shutting down its digital gift card operation after little more than six months, due to operational difficulties, according to Reuters. Square announced its gift card program in December 2012, touting it as a way for small businesses that lacked a gift card program to instantly enable users to send […]
Mobile wallets get a considerable amount of media attention, but will any of them really drive users to leave the plastic card era behind? I recently did a comparison test of Square Wallet, Lemon and Starbucks’ own mobile app. While all the payment types I used worked surprisingly well, none of them was an experience that elevated shopping into the futuristic world these apps conjure up among payments enthusiasts.
June 27, 2013 Ontario’s Ministry of the Attorney General is accepting comments through July 19 on the possible inclusion of prepaid products into the province’s pending escheat law, and one trade group is hoping to organize a unified payments industry response. Earlier this week, Payments eXchange Canada released a notice calling for prepaid stakeholders to […]
June 27, 2013 Lloyds Bank is entering the mobile POS market via a new deal with Monitise plc under which the U.K. bank will sell Monitise’s card acceptance technology to small businesses and micro-merchants. The companies will begin offering “a suite of mobile payments products” beginning this fall, with Monitise’s technology also serving as the […]
The impact of the internet on the banking industry may yet turn out to be far more important than the financial crisis and the subsequent regulatory overhaul. Viewing statements on-line and making payments electronically is just the very beginning of the revolution.
June 26, 2013 MasterCard Worldwide, looking to extend its MasterPass e-commerce checkout service to merchants on a mass basis, today announced a partnership with online retail services provider Web.com Group Inc., making MasterPass immediately available to tens of thousands of small-business merchants. Web.com, which has about 3 million small-business customers, now bundles MasterPass e-commerce checkout […]
June 26, 2013 Square Inc. hopes to give a boost to micro-merchants that have traditionally sold items face to face as they move into e-commerce through its new Square Market, which the San Francisco company unveiled this week. Targeting local merchants selling items online for the first time, Square Market provides an easy path for […]
June 25, 2013 Green Dot Corp. is taking the “name your price” feature to financial services as it rolls out its GoBank mobile banking solution nationwide today. Since its January unveiling, GoBank has been in beta testing with a group of invited consumers. Now anyone can sign up for the service at GoBank.com or by […]
Will Egypt be next to ignite an m-payments program for millions of unbanked consumers, similar to M-Pesa’s success in Kenya?
June 25, 2013 Barclays is taking contactless payment in a new direction with a service enabling users to make payments directly from their bank accounts by tapping their phones on QR codes on billboards, magazine ads and other printed items, potentially including routine bill payments. Harnessing the Barclays Pingit mobile payments app, the new Buyit […]
Speakers at the Digital Services Conference hosted by Informa in London on Tuesday expressed frustration at the lack of progress made by mobile wallets in the UK and called for more innovative solutions to bypass the impasse.
Although the network EMV liability shift is about two years out, card manufacturers already are consulting with their U.S. issuing clients to help them make decisions now about how they will approach the transition to EMV. First and foremost is the decision on when to begin, then which cards in their portfolio should have priority. […]
By Bill Grabarek, Senior Editor Reading between the lines of announcements from Apple Inc. to anticipate the technology titan’s next moves not only keeps analysts busy and consumers guessing, it has spawned entire Websites devoted to scrutinizing everything the company says and does. This isn’t to imply Apple doesn’t excel at effective self-promotion, but the company […]
The in-market mobile wallet or mobile application that (1) provides end users with value-added features and/or enhances payment capabilities, user decision-making or loyalty, and (2) provides retailers with a strong value proposition. Best in Category: O2 Wallet Open to customers of any bank or MNO who want to shop, send money, compare prices and receive […]
June 18, 2013 Far EasTone Telecommunications Co., one of Taiwan’s largest telcos, is launching a mobile payments pilot in cooperation with Far Eastern International Bank and MasterCard. The program, scheduled to begin during the second half of 2013, will use near field communication (NFC) technology and be limited to mobile payments under NT$3,000 (US$100.37), according […]
Innotribe, the Swift-backed initiative to enable collaborative innovation in financial services, has announced the names of the five contenders from the US leg of its annual Startup Challenge to compete at Sibos 2013 in Dubai in September.
