ITT Pushes Back on CFPB Claims and Why You Should Care
Although this lawsuit involves lending practices, the industry would be wise to pay close attention because of its UDAAP implications, which are applicable to all entities the CFPB regulates.
Payments
Amazon Partnership with Twitter Is Next Step in Streamlined Shopping (May 6, 2014)
Amazon blazed a fresh trail into social media this week with the debut of its new Twitter shopping feature enabling users to add items to their Amazon shopping carts directly from Twitter feeds.
Canadian Prepaid Card Regs Go into Effect (May 6, 2014)
Rules issued last December by Canada’s Department of Finance affecting open- and closed-loop prepaid cards went into effect May 1.
Startup Taps Gift Cards for Fee-Free Remittances (May 6, 2014)
San Diego-headquartered Quippi is taking the fees out of remittances by offering gift cards that can be purchased online or in-store in the U.S. and redeemed by recipients in Mexico.
British Firm Exports Big Data Solutions to Fight Fraud, Improve Customer Service (May 6, 2014)
Nobody questions whether big data has a role to play in the payments industry, but many providers are grappling with how to capture and analyze the right data to improve their businesses.
Corporates taking too much payment risk warns SunGard
Four out of five organisations are leaving themselves open to payment fraud because of a lack of standardised payment workflows, according to a study by financial technology vendor SunGard.
Blackhawk Opens Digital Gift Platform to suretap Users (May 5, 2014)
Digital gift cards are getting a boost in Canada as Blackhawk Network and Rogers Communications have opened Blackhawk’s digital gift card platform to users of the Rogers suretap mobile wallet app.
U.K. Banks Debut P2P Payments Service (May 5, 2014)
A group of the biggest financial institutions in the U.K. have banded together to launch a new P2P mobile payments system that by year-end will be accessible to 9 out of 10 bank account holders in the U.K.
GPR at Retail: Details Count
Neither the costs of shepherding a card into stores nor increased competition has deterred new entrants from launching GPR prepaid cards. Providers are coming into the market with astute hooks that play to their strengths to attract and retain cardholders.
Blog: Apple Is ‘Serious’ about Moving into Payments
Apple entering the payments space has been a tantalizing prospect for many for a while now. It’s certainly something that would easily upset the status quo of the payments market, and I don’t believe Apple is aiming for the low-hanging fruit.
Blog: Retain Customers by Measuring the Right Data
Management of metrics—such as average handle time, first call resolution, etc.—certainly results in cost saving. But exclusive focus on these metrics results in a huge missed opportunity to improve customer loyalty, increase sales and build brand identity.
Viewpoint: EC Payments Package Update
What we know and what we can do before the final Plenary European Parliament vote on the Payments Package.
With Square Knocking, Australian Bank Enters m-POS Market (Apr. 30, 2014)
Australia’s Commonwealth Bank could be looking to get out ahead of Square’s eventual arrival Down Under.
Edenred Digs into Paperless Meal Voucher Opportunity in France (Apr. 30, 2014)
A decree by the French government approving electronic corporate meal vouchers could open up a major opportunity for corporate prepaid card providers that can help employers move from paper to plastic.
European Central Bank: It’s Time to Focus on Payment Cards (April 30, 2014)
The European Central Bank isn’t waiting for the Aug. 1 SEPA compliance deadline for direct debits and credit transfers to turn its attention to card transactions.
Mobile payment security will depend on using the ‘smart’ in smartphone
Confusion and concern over security is cited over and over again as the biggest barrier to widespread consumer uptake of mobile payments. And no wonder – confidence in the protection of sensitive cardholder data lies at the heart of trust in this technology. An EMV card as a physical asset is cryptographically secure. How can we emulate this security with something that is virtual?
Delaware Joins Escheat Suit against Retailers (April 29, 2014)
The State of Delaware has thrown its weight behind a civil lawsuit claiming nearly two dozen well-known retailers avoided escheating unused gift card balances to the state by forming special entity corporations based outside the state.
SIMalliance: HCE No ‘Silver Bullet’ for Mobile Wallets (April 29, 2014)
Several major payments players recently have thrown their weight behind host card emulation (HCE), the technology many believe could be the key to finally bringing NFC-based mobile payments into the mainstream.
PicomoPay, MoneyGram Hoping to Capitalize on Facebook’s Popularity (April 29, 2014)
Just weeks after a report surfaced that Facebook was seeking an e-money license in Europe to boost its international remittance business, PicomoPay, a social networking payments platform, announced a deal with MoneyGram to enable U.S. Facebook users to send money transfers to more than 336,000 MoneyGram agent locations in more than 200 countries.
Fed Study: Prepaid is Fastest-Growing Noncash Payment Type (April 28, 2014)
Prepaid cards continue to be the fastest-growing form of electronic payment, with the number of prepaid payments in the U.S. increasing 15.8 percent annually between 2009 and 2012, according to a new report by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s EconSouth.
U.S. Bank Boosts P2P to Real-Time Speed (April 28, 2014)
U.S. Bank is going real-time with its P2P offerings and adding a few key new features in a field where the P2P ambitions of companies like Square, Google and Amazon are generating considerable interest.
Company on the Move: CardFlight, Technology Innovation Award
CardFlight, a New York-based firm that enables developers to integrate in-person card payments into their own apps, has received the 2014 Technology Innovation Award from the Electronic Transactions Association.
The Future of Payments: towards a vision for 2020
While the payments landscape has evolved rapidly over the past decade, due to a flurry of innovation and regulation, expansive growth in electronic payments and the inclusion of new market entrants, industry research indicates that the next decade will be a period of even faster changes.
A Square Deal? (April 24, 2014)
First the Wall Street Journal reported in November that Square Inc. was considering an IPO. Then acquisition rumors swirled after the newspaper reported this week that Square had been in M&A talks with companies including Google, Apple and PayPal.
Survey: Shoppers Unaware, Uncomfortable with Certain Mobile Technology (April 24, 2014)
Consumers may be embracing mobile apps, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re comfortable with or even aware of what their apps can do, a new study suggests.
LevelUp Trims Transaction Fees to Woo More Merchants (April 24, 2014)
LevelUp is tinkering again with the transaction fees it charges merchants for participating in its mobile wallet, cutting the cost from 2 percent to 1.95 percent as the SCVNGR-owned company seeks an appropriate balance for its bottom line.
India’s Central Bank Pushes for Enhanced Security (April 24, 2014)
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has released a final committee report on enhancing security in the country’s electronic payments sector with the use of Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) technology.
Mobile payments push past 20% of transactions says PSP
Payment services provider Adyen has reported that one in five payments made on its network are now being made using a mobile device – a finding that reflects the rise of mobile payments worldwide, according to the firm.
Google Wallet’s HCE Push Making NFC Believers (April 23, 2014)
While Google Wallet forges partnerships with merchants that don’t rely on NFC, one of contactless payments’ most high-profile skeptics may be coming around to seeing some real potential in the technology.
One4all Opens Up to SMEs in Northern Ireland (April 23, 2014)
Gift Voucher Shop is opening its One4all multistore gift card program to independent retailers in Northern Ireland.
PIF Calls for Provision Clarifying AML Processes for E-Money Products (April 23, 2014)
London-based Prepaid International Forum this week published a position paper outlining its concerns about certain provisions in the European Commission’s draft 4th Anti-Money Laundering Directive.
Campus Cards Go Mobile with Heartland’s OneCard Mobile App (April 23, 2014)
As campus identification cards doubling as reloadable prepaid cards become more prevalent on college campuses, they’re also becoming more integrated into student life via smartphone.
Paybefore Announces Winners for European Awards (April 22, 2014)
The roars from the kings of the payments jungle have been heard. Today Paybefore reveals the winners in 2014 Paybefore Awards Europe.
Reloadit Adds Digital Storage, Multi-Card Loads, Bill Pay (April 22, 2014)
Blackhawk Network is expanding the utility of its reload network beyond single card reloads.
WU, NetSpend to Team on New Prepaid Card (April 22, 2014)
The GPR card space is about to get more crowded as two prepaid veterans join forces.
Serve Adds Walmart to Free Cash-Reload Network, Kicks Off TV Campaign (April 21, 2014)
American Express today announced it’s adding Walmart as a distribution and reload partner for its Serve digital prepaid account, and this week will kick off its first TV commercials for the product.
Shazam Inks Debit EMV Deal with Visa, Furthering Industry Alignment (April 17, 2014)
Shazam Network and Visa Inc. have reached an agreement for routing EMV debit transactions using Visa’s common debit application identifier (AID) for Visa- and Shazam-branded transactions, the Des Moines, Iowa-based debit network announced April 16.
Walmart Touts New Money Transfer Service as Simple, Inexpensive (April 17, 2014)
Walmart moved further into financial services with its announcement today of its Walmart-2-Walmart Money Transfer Service, which enables customers to transfer money from one store to another at more than 4,000 U.S. Walmart locations.
Is Identification the Killer App for Mobile Wallets? (April 17, 2014)
The thus-far sluggish rate of mobile wallet adoption in the U.S. has been attributed to a range of factors, from security concerns, to lack of widespread merchant acceptance to the familiarity and convenience of traditional plastic payment cards. But according to a new report from TSYS, what might be holding mobile wallets back has less to do with the mobile and more to do with the wallet.
ICMA Recognizes Leaders in Card Manufacturing (April 17, 2014)
The International Card Manufacturers Association (ICMA) celebrated leaders in the card manufacturing industry last week, presenting its Élan Awards for Excellence at the annual Card Manufacturing and Personalization EXPO in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
