Awards Night Honors Industry Achievements (Oct. 27, 2014)
Several Paybefore Award-winning companies also were recent recipients of accolades at the Emerging Payments Awards held in London last week.
Payments
Visa’s Frew: Banks Moving GPR to the Forefront Will See Results (Oct. 23, 2014)
As GPR cards go mainstream for certain consumer sectors, banks that bring GPR cards to the forefront of their branch marketing efforts are seeing positive results, according to Cecilia Frew, Visa’s head of U.S. prepaid products.
CEO Nelms: Don’t Know When but Discover to Participate in Apple Pay (Oct. 23, 2014)
David Nelms, CEO at Discover Financial Services, kept his cards close to the vest about the payments network’s involvement with the recently launched Apple Pay—but Discover’s participation does seem likely, based on his comments during a Q&A with investors on this week’s earnings call.
U.S. Treasury Selects Banking Up to Help Consumers Build Credit (Oct. 23, 2014)
Finding ways to use GPR prepaid card usage data as a tool to help thin- and no-file consumers build credit has been an enticing yet elusive goal for the industry for years.
MasterCard partners for fingerprint-reading contactless card launch in 2015
Following a live pilot with Norway’s Sparebanken, MasterCard has confirmed a partnership with Zwipe to launch a contactless payment card featuring an integrated fingerprint sensor.
InComm Teams Up with Retailers to Fight Fraud
InComm is helping retailers fight several prevalent forms of prepaid card fraud by explaining what to look for and how to fight it.
Viewpoint: Prepaid Program Managers Must Be Exam-Ready Bank Partners
In light of the intense regulatory focus and pressure on prepaid cards, it’s time for program managers to step up and manage their own compliance to the point of being “exam-ready.”
Groups Appeal to Pres. Obama on Data Security Responsibility
Retailers and financial institutions struggle with costs of data breaches.
MasterCard Exec: Apple Pay Launch Is ‘Catalytic’ Event (Oct. 21, 2014)
Apple Pay is a “catalytic” event likely to change the U.S. payments landscape, though it may take time to see its full effect, according to Matt Barr, MasterCard’s new U.S. head of emerging payments.
Wave Crest Launches MyFare Prepaid Card for Fleet Owners (Oct. 21, 2014)
Wave Crest Group Ltd., a Gibraltar-based multicurrency digital payments provider, has launched the MyFare debit card in the U.S., which enables fleet owners to pay their drivers instantly on a personalized prepaid card.
FSC’s Strategic Plan Reinforces Gibraltar as Location of Choice (Oct. 21, 2014)
The Gibraltar Financial Services Commission last week published its 2014-2017 Strategic Plan, which is designed to reinforce Gibraltar’s position as a destination of choice for businesses looking for European headquarters.
Money 2020 Announces Inaugural Event in Europe (Oct. 21, 2014)
Weeks away from its Money20/20 event in Las Vegas, Money2020 LLC has announced Money20/20 Europe, a conference and exhibition focusing on the opportunities and challenges specific to payments in Europe.
MasterCard, Zwipe Test Fingerprint Authentication for Contactless Payments (Oct. 20, 2014)
In a bid to make contactless payments of any size possible without a PIN, MasterCard and Zwipe, a Norwegian developer of payment cards with biometric sensors, have developed what the companies are calling the first contactless payments card featuring an integrated fingerprint sensor.
Green Dot Expands Retail Footprint with ACE Cash Express Deal (Oct. 20, 2014)
Longtime NetSpend partner ACE Cash Express has signed a distribution agreement with Green Dot Corp., making the check cashing giant and Paybefore Award-winning prepaid pioneer an authorized retailer for the Green Dot Reload Network.
TD Bank Reaches Breach Settlement with Nine States (Oct. 20, 2014)
TD Bank has reached a settlement over a 2012 data breach that compromised customers’ personal information.
Apple Pay’s Rollout a Test for Merchants Weighing NFC, Other Options
As Apple Pay goes live today, millions of merchants will be measuring consumer and marketplace reaction at the POS, as they contemplate their own mobile payments strategies, including accepting NFC-based payments.
Pres. Obama Mandates Chip-and-PIN for Gov’t Payments Cards (Oct. 17, 2014)
President Obama hours ago signed an executive order making chip-and-PIN card technology the standard for the federal government.
RBS poaches King from MasterCard for new payments role
RBS has confirmed that it has hired Marion King, formerly president of UK and Ireland at MasterCard, in the newly created role of director of payments in the New Year.
Apple CEO: Apple Pay to Launch Monday with 500-Plus Banks’ Support (Oct. 16, 2014)
Apple Inc. will officially launch its NFC-based Apple Pay service on Monday, CEO Tim Cook said today during an event to unveil new devices at the company’s Cupertino, Calif., headquarters.
PayPal’s Q3 M-Payments Volume Up 72 Percent; Square Denies Buyout Rumors (Oct. 16, 2014)
eBay Inc. subsidiary PayPal continued its growth streak during the third quarter, as the unit’s mobile payment volume surged 72 percent and 4.4 million new users came aboard during the period ended Sept. 30.
Prepaid Spending up Amid Slight September Slowdown (Oct. 14, 2014)
Prepaid was a bright spot for spending dollar volume growth in September at 5.7 percent compared with an overall drop in same-store spending growth, which came in at a 3.1 percent increase year-over-year compared to a 3.9 percent year-over-year jump in August.
Walmart to Spend up to $1.5 Billion on E-Commerce (Oct. 16, 2014)
Merchants continue reshaping their strategies to meet the demand for online shopping, and the latest to do so in a significant way is Walmart.
Pay Magazine – Fall 2014
The Future of Payments: Connecting Today to Tomorrow; HCE: Breathing Life into NFC?; 6 Visionaries Who Are Changing Payments; Rockin’ E-Money on Gibraltar; Exclusive Interviews: Frew, Hanson and Roche; Special Section: Kaboom! Where Mobile Meets Loyalty; 2014 Paybefore Awards Europe: 13 Top Winners
Innovators’ Spotlight: Cachet Financial Solutions
RDC specialist’s busy year includes an IPO and a fast-growing prepaid platform.
Meta Financial Group Enters Insurance Premium Financing with AFS Purchase (Oct. 15, 2014)
Meta Financial Group has announced the purchase of AFS/IBEX Financial Services Inc. Under terms of the deal, Meta Financial’s bank subsidiary, MetaBank, will acquire the $80 million loan portfolio, related assets and workforce of Dallas-based AFS.
Cardtronics Pilots In-Store Discounts for ATM Users (Oct. 15, 2014)
ATM operator Cardtronics has hit on a new way to keep its cash-dispensing machines relevant in the digital age: harness them for in-store marketing and promotions via customers’ smartphones.
Global P2P Push Continues with Trio of New Services (Oct. 15, 2014)
P2P money transfer continues to gain momentum with a trio of new services announced this week in three countries, all of which use a different medium to facilitate transfer.
Pressure Mounts against Operation Choke Point (Oct. 15, 2014)
DOJ’s Operation Choke Point, which encourages financial institutions to scrutinize clients that process payments for certain types of businesses, continues to draw criticism from lawmakers and industry advocates, who argue that the policy is harmful to legitimate, legal businesses.
Reports: Apple Pay to Launch this Week with Siri Voice-Command Option (Oct. 14, 2014)
Apple Pay may go live as early as Saturday, and it’s likely to include an option for users to initiate a payment via voice command with Apple’s Siri feature, according to a number of reports.
Visa Europe, edo to Launch Card-Linked Offers in Europe (Oct. 14, 2014)
Visa Europe today announced an exclusive partnership with edo Interactive to bring targeted card-linked offers to Visa debit and credit cardholders in Europe.
Wave Crest Targets European SMEs with New Prepaid Platform (Oct. 14, 2014)
With B2B prepaid programs on the rise globally as corporations look to streamline and control expenses, Wave Crest Group Ltd. is rolling out a new B2B prepaid platform for European businesses.
Latest Data Breaches Hit FIs, Retailers (Oct. 14, 2014)
Data breaches continue to hit some of the U.S.’s largest corporations, with a spate of financial institutions and retailers announcing incidents over the past two weeks.
HM Treasury Requests Comment on ‘Payment System’ Designation (Oct. 14, 2014)
Major credit and debit card providers in the U.K. are among the main “payment systems” the government is proposing to bring under the purview of the new Payment Systems Regulator (PSR), beginning next April.
CFPB Examines Screening Process for Consumer DDAs (Oct. 9, 2014)
The CFPB is gathering information about the methods banks and credit unions use to screen consumers before approving or denying them a checking account.
LSC Picks Cachet for Prepaid Mobile Support (Oct. 9, 2014)
League Service Corp. (LSC), a national credit union service organization, has tapped Cachet Financial Solutions to power its prepaid mobile application, which currently is offered by 900 credit unions.
Cardtronics Lands ATM Management for Fresh & Easy (Oct. 9, 2014)
ATM network operator Cardtronics Inc. has been named exclusive ATM services provider for natural grocery chain Fresh & Easy.
Gearing up for the future of payments
It is essential for banks to ensure they have the right strategies and technology in place now, if they are to retain their position as market-leading payment providers in the future, writes Saket Sharma,chief information officer, treasury services, BNY Mellon.
Blog: Get Ready to Be Acquired
The M&A market for payments companies is booming, as larger companies look to acquire smaller innovators. Even if no deal is on the immediate horizon, early preparation pays off when a sale transaction is at hand.
Blog: The Future Is Financial Health
If we want to consolidate the gains we’ve made and scale the innovations we’ve seeded, we need to think big. We need to redefine financial services from the pursuit of wealth to the pursuit of health.
Viewpoint: With Expanding Use Case, GPR Poised for Growth
GPR cards are quickly moving beyond their traditional role as an alternative to checking accounts for the financially underserved, to serve broader use cases for a changing demographic.
