Citibank Hong Kong and 3 Hong Kong, the mobile operation of Hutchison Telecommunications Hong Kong Holdings Ltd., have launched 3 Citi Wallet for mobile subscribers of 3 Hong Kong and Citibank Visa cardholders.
Google’s latest Android mobile operating system includes a new feature that could enable Google Wallet to cut out telecom providers as middlemen for NFC applications.
To prepare for the overhaul to settlement in Europe, financial institutions need to face up to T2S and work closely with their settlement service providers to ensure that they maximise the business benefits. It’s time to seize the opportunities presented by the T2S initiative.
Starbucks, arguably the largest mobile payments operator in the world with its wildly popular closed-loop mobile app, grabbed attention late Wednesday with news that Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz has resigned from Square Inc.’s board after 15 months.
Growth of the open- and closed-loop prepaid card markets will be slower than previous years as the industry weathers a stubbornly sluggish economy and regulatory uncertainty, according to Mercator Advisory Group. Total loads on open-loop cards, which include GPR, payroll, open-loop gift and unemployment benefits, will drop from a previously forecasted 21 percent compound annual […]
Mobile POS payment startup LoopPay Inc. is getting out of the gate fast, inking a deal to distribute its dongle-based mobile wallet to college students through marketing and payments provider Campus Nation Network (CNN).
More than 12.5 million Americans already are taking advantage of mobile bill payments, but the untapped potential of the market could be worth $2.1 trillion, according to a new report from Javelin Strategy & Research. That’s the total amount Javelin estimates Americans spend annually on seven essential bill types: open-loop credit cards, store-branded credit cards, […]
Clear and effective legislation could result in a beneficial change for business. An unclear and ineffective one would result in another obstacle to a “further integrated and efficient European payments market,” which the commission has set as the first objective the Payments Package should achieve.
The value of international money transfers made via mobile phones will exceed $10bn for the first time this year, according to Juniper Research. However, the cost and complexity of regulating cash transfer has led many service providers to focus exclusively on airtime top ups, the research firm reported.
Japanese mobile telecom provider NTT Docomo is partnering with MasterCard to enable users of Docomo’s iD mobile wallet to make contactless purchases at 1.2 million MasterCard PayPass acceptance locations worldwide.
First Data Corp., an Atlanta-based payments processor, has acquired Perka, provider of a mobile marketing and consumer loyalty platform enabling small to midsize merchants to better engage with customers through location-based smartphone apps. Perka will continue to operate autonomously as an entrepreneurial company led by its current management and product development team, according to an […]
U.S. Bank next month will roll out Mobile Photo Balance Transfer, a feature from Mitek Systems enabling customers to apply for a credit card balance transfer by snapping a photo of a credit card bill with a smartphone and sending it to the bank. Standard credit card approval processes apply. The new service rounds out […]
Workers are highly motivated by rewards and inventive programs provided by their employers, with nearly three-quarters of employees saying they would put in extra effort to earn rewards, according to a new study from U.K. payment provider Ixaris. The company’s 2013 Study of Rewards and Incentives polled 4,800 workers in the U.S., U.S., Canada, France […]
Cloud computing company SAP has signed a deal with Citibank for a major new cloud platform that promises to simplify corporate to bank connectivity for some of the world’s largest banks, Banking Technology has learned.
PayPal on Oct. 25 announced a new partnership with Kenya’s Equity Bank to link local merchants with the global online marketplace. Kenya’s e-commerce operators for the first time will be able to hold proceeds from online sales in a local bank account where they may receive payments in 26 different currencies, which are automatically converted […]
Two House Democrats have proposed measures to crack down on money laundering by deterring the use of shell corporations and giving regulators the authority to hold bank executives accountable for misconduct taking place on their watch. The first bill, proposed by Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), would strengthen the government’s ability to charge individuals with violations […]
A coffee shop in Vancouver, British Columbia, will be home this week to what some are hailing as the world’s first Bitcoin ATM, which can exchange cash for the controversial digital currency.
A law prohibiting surcharges on certain types of payments should apply to mobile carriers, an adviser to the EU’s Court of Justice told the Austrian Supreme Court, which is currently deliberating an appeal by T-Mobile after the carrier’s surcharges were ruled illegal by lower Austrian courts. The case stems from a lawsuit filed by a […]
Clear2Pay, the Brussels-based payments systems company, says that selling the company “is not part” of its current plans.
Cooperative Bank of Kenya has implemented Misys BankFusion, a core banking platform which the bank says has helped it increase its transaction processing by double and end of day processing by 40%.
Firms like JP Morgan and HSBC have taken major measures to improve internal controls so that they can comply with new and changing regulations. It won’t end there.
A pair of payments industry heavy-hitters is banding together, with prepaid provider Blackhawk Network announcing that its electronic gift cards will be accessible within the PayPal mobile app. Meanwhile, the partnership gives PayPal yet another foothold in the physical payments space, bringing PayPal’s reloadable GPR prepaid card to Blackhawk’s extensive retail distribution network. “Our collaboration […]
The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s Payment Cards Center this week unveiled a white paper analyzing the effects of sweepstakes-based financial literacy programs New York-based PayPerks developed to help educate unbanked and underbanked consumers using prepaid government benefits cards. The 26-page paper, “Driving Positive Behavior Change Through Education and Motivation: Summary of a PayPerks Workshop,” […]
Oct. 24, 2013 Mobile deposit capture took a big step toward mainstream adoption in the prepaid industry with the announcement this week that Ingo Money Inc.’s mobile deposit capture pilot with Visa, which began last year, is officially out of beta. Ingo Money’s service enables consumers to deposit checks into their Visa Prepaid card accounts by […]
With new regulations on remittance transfers set to take effect next week, the CFPB laid out its standards for examining companies covered by the rules. In Jan. 2012, the CFPB issued its final rule outlining remittance regulations as set by the Dodd-Frank Act. The rule was revised in May 2013 after complaints from industry participants […]
The European Central Bank (ECB) is calling the next three months critical for stakeholders still needing to migrate to the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) for electronic payments transactions. The deadline for migration to SEPA credit transfer (SCT) and SEPA direct debit (SDD) schemes is Feb. 1, 2014. “Everybody has to be ready . . […]
Traders, research teams and corporate broking teams all need to communicate, but as regulation imposes ever-stricter ‘Chinese walls’ within banks and brokers that is getting more difficult. Investing in internal communication tools can make a big difference, according to Simon Bailey, director and head of IT and operations at British investment banking and stockbroking firm Numis Securities.
LCH.Clearnet, the clearing house subsidiary of the London Stock Exchange, has appointed Suneel Bakhshi as its new chief executive. He will take up his new role in early 2014.
Blackhawk Network late Monday announced it plans to acquire InteliSpend Prepaid Solutions, a leader in corporate incentive cards and promotions, in an all-cash deal expected to close no later than next month. Blackhawk sought InteliSpend, a 2013 Paybefore Award winner, because of the “great synergies” that exist between Blackhawk’s own retail gift card partners and […]
Financial services technology provider Fiserv has launched a new platform that enables small- and medium-size billers to send electronic bills and accept payments through multiple channels. Dubbed Biller Advantage, the platform targets companies that send between 2,000 and 500,000 bills a month, according to Brookfield, Wis.-based Fiserv. “Biller Advantage provides the functionality small- to mid-sized […]
Payments startup Clinkle Corp. already has landed some big name investors—and now the San Francisco-based company is filling out its executive team, announcing that former Netflix CFO Barry McCarthy will join Clinkle as COO. Established in 2011 by 22-year old Stanford grad Lucas Duplan, the company has been developing a payment app that reportedly will […]
FEXCO, a provider of financial transaction processing, foreign exchange and outsourcing services based in Ireland, has acquired mobile payments and loyalty startup FLASHiZ, with BNP Paribas Personal Finance taking a minority shareholder stake in the Luxembourg-based company.
An ex-Coca Cola chief executive was once quoted talking to staff about the work-life balance – juggling careers, family, health, friends and spirit. In the financial services industry today, work life itself is quite a balancing act.
The average bank now typically views web portals such as Google as the biggest threat to its business, according to a new report by French retail banking association Efma and business IT firm Infosys. Yet banks also report rising levels of innovation within their firms.
Telefónica Digital has hired Pilar Aurrecoechea as digital financial services director, reporting to Vivek Dev, CEO of digital services.
Austria-based paysafecard.com Wertkarten AG, provider of digital prepaid online payment solutions, has appointed Michael Pirker to the newly created position head of business development, and Michaela Unger has been appointed public relations and communication manager.
Cybersecurity and cyber espionage have been in the headlines the past few years as leaked stories relating to government-sponsored activities have appeared and sabre rattling between aggrieved nations has moved to the public domain. At the same time an increased volume of distributed denial of service attacks (DDoS) on banks and other institutions carried out […]
MasterCard’s MasterPass digital wallet service will become available to thousands of e-commerce merchants across 17 countries in Europe and Asia beginning next month, through a partnership with Paris-based payments provider Worldline.
The global push toward NFC-based transit payments continues—this time in Rio de Janeiro, the site of a new pilot program enabling transit riders to tap mobile smartphones to pay on trains, buses and ferries.
U.K.-based e-loan provider Wonga Group has struck a deal to acquire German online payments provider BillPay. The deal, financial terms of which were not disclosed, will create what Wonga called “one of Europe’s leading digital finance and payment systems businesses.” In addition to its home country of Germany, BillPay also operates its PayPal-like service in […]
