July 2013 Contact Solutions, a Reston, Va.-based provider of cloud-based customer self-service solutions, has appointed Michael Boustridge CEO. His focus will be to continue building on the strong market momentum Contact Solutions has built over the last 11 years and accelerate the company’s growth trajectory, including evolving partner relationships, sustaining operational excellence and expanding into commercial […]
July 2013 The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) recently has added several members to senior positions within the bureau. Sartaj Alag is returning to the CFPB and will serve as chief operating officer. In his previous role at the bureau, Alag was in charge of starting up and managing the Office of Consumer Response. Previously, […]
July 2013 Bank Solutions Group LLC, an Atlanta-based management consulting firm, has hired Peter J. Quadagno as a partner in its payments practice. He has more than 30 years of payments industry experience as an executive, business owner and consultant, most of it focused on prepaid cards. He founded several firms, including Maverick Network Solutions and […]
July 2013 Ballard Spahr LLC recently announced the opening of its 14th office—this one in New York City—that will expand the firm’s capabilities in representing banks and other financial institutions in a wide range of consumer financial services regulatory matters, litigation and government investigations, according to the firm. The New York office operates under the […]
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 […]
By Bill Grabarek, Senior Editor True to the pioneering spirit of the University of Oklahoma’s moniker, the Sooners (a nickname for settlers during the land rush of the late 1800s), OU is traversing a path seemingly untrodden by other colleges and universities. OU’s Office of the Bursar recently launched the OU Gift Card, enabling friends […]
Delays to the controversial US FATCA rule have provided a valuable window of opportunity for financial institutions to prepare.
The prepaid industry must seize on the recent media frenzy as an opportunity to inform and educate the public, government officials and other policymakers.
Regulators regulate, and when they do act, it can have dramatic impact on a company’s business model.
Tori Blake and Chuck Rouse explain the new rules of breakage connected to the Financial Accounting Standards Board and the International Accounting Standards Board’s upcoming Revenue Recognition Standards.
By Patrice Peyret, Banking Up In the July 1 New York Times story “Paid via Card, Workers Feel Sting of Fees,” reporters Jessica Silver-Greenberg and Stephanie Clifford raise an important question but fail to answer it: Are a significant number of employers forcing hourly workers to use expensive payroll cards? The three key conditions here […]
the US Securities and Exchange Commission says that its cloud-based approach is paying dividends and allowing it to examine the structures of the markets it supervises at a greater level of granularity than ever before.
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 […]
Plastyc Inc., a New York City-based prepaid debit card provider, recently announced it is doing business as Banking Up. The name change was in conjunction with the launch of Banking Up, a personal finance platform enabling banks and businesses to provide customers with an alternative to traditional checking accounts. Plastyc, which announced last year that […]
Best use of a consumer-funded gift card/voucher or line of gift cards/vouchers. Best in Category: £5 for a £10 Starbucks Card eGift LivingSocial Deal Delivered nearly 65,000 Starbucks Card eGifts from Nov. 29-Dec. 1, 2012, powered by CashStar’s eGifting platform and LivingSocial’s local marketing engine. Starbucks LivingSocial CashStar CashStar, LivingSocial and coffee giant […]
By Thomas Cornelius, SVP, InComm Today’s consumers are constantly on the go—they’re busier, they multitask more and they have less time to get everything done. As a result, their shopping habits have changed. In fact, according to Forrester, more than 50 percent of in-store retail sales (approximately $1.2 trillion) are now Web-influenced. To meet the […]
Strong customer authentication and account monitoring are keys to preventing tax refund/benefits fraud on prepaid cards. By Loraine DeBonis, Editor-in-Chief As identity theft increases in the digital age, fraud perpetrated with stolen identities has risen dramatically. And, tax refunds have become a target for fraudsters. Tax-related identity theft jumped more than 650 percent between 2008 and […]
The organization that stood out from the crowd in 2012 to make a positive, game-changing difference in the prepaid/emerging payments environment in a geographic region or globally. Best in Category: Rêv Worldwide Launched low-cost mobile card reader targeting 400 million SMEs in 12 countries, along with Brazil’s first GPR card and Mexico’s first mobile banking/prepaid […]
The retailer that has used prepaid most effectively to increase sales, promote its brand and/or extend convenience to customers. Best in Category: Walmart Prepaid Card Program Jason Marshall and Sabrina Chin, Walmart Aggressively promotes broadest assortment of innovative prepaid products at everyday low prices through extensive merchandising in the most valuable space in the […]
In our final installment of winners coverage for the 2013 Paybefore Awards, you’ll find out how companies are innovating and expanding the boundaries of prepaid to solve problems, reach more consumers and change the industry for the better. Most Innovative Program Best Retail-Based Prepaid Card Program Expanding the Boundaries of Prepaid Outstanding Newcomer Breakout Company of […]
In business more than 60 years, Minneapolis firm demonstrates the wisdom of smart growth and leveraging core competency to become a leader in innovative card printing.
An Interview with John Walsh, CEO, SightSpan Serving on a corporate board is a great honor and a great responsibility, especially for those involved in financial services organizations. Gone are the days when directors were management’s rubberstamp. And particularly since the global financial crisis of 2008, significantly more is expected of non-management corporate directors. Today’s […]
Swift’s Innotribe innovation project has chosen the 15 US semi-finalists for its start-up challenge, which aims to bring together innovative ideas in financial services and turn them into functioning businesses.
CFPB Invites ‘Innovative’ Companies to Share Consumer Data, Ideas to Help Shape Policies By Kate Fitzgerald, Emerging Payments Editor The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) since its formation in 2011 has generated great interest and, at times, controversy over its mission and leadership in its role of creating and enforcing federal financial services regulations. While […]
Best prepaid or emerging payments program launched and operated by a non-U.S. company outside the U.S. Best in Category: Power to Pay Program Power to Pay NFC tags for mobile phones were developed exclusively for IIT Bombay students and faculty and can be used at select campus outlets for day-to-day purchases via the RuPay payments […]
The prepaid or emerging payments program that delivers the best consumer value proposition for the combination of features, functionality, service and price. Best-in-Category: BlackboardPay An open-loop, FDIC-insured prepaid account that can be integrated with a student ID card to facilitate disbursement of financial aid and student payroll, and providing access to 50,000-plus surcharge-free ATMs, free […]
Best use of in-store merchandising to promote the sale, use and acceptance of prepaid cards and/or emerging payments products. Best-in-Category: Green Dot Retail Marketing Comprehensive program of permanent and promotional merchandising that enabled smaller chains to participate, drove significant ROI and addressed cardholder behavior, such as usage and retention. Green Dot Corporation Left […]
By Jai Holtz, Sears Financial Services (Member of MCX) There’s no denying that years of hype around mobile payments is beginning to translate into real interest and action from retailers, but the trend has a lot less to do with the actual act of paying than is widely assumed. There are numerous benefits to being […]
Think Finance, a Fort Worth, Texas-based developer of financial products for underbanked consumers, has named Martin Wong as the company’s first chief integrity officer. He will oversee the company’s compliance with all state and federal laws and will be responsible for ensuring Think Finance offers clear, transparent and fair products in the industry. Wong joins […]
Square Inc., a San Francisco-based mobile payments company, has hired Alex Petrov as vice president of partnerships. His extensive background in retail, consumer products and payments will help drive strategic business development and customer acquisition, according to the company. He has served as vice president of consumer brands at Safeway, and as vice president of […]
