Aug. 13, 2013 PerkStreet Financial, a Boston-based cash-back debit rewards provider, has announced it will shutter its services next month, citing a lack of financing along with regulatory restrictions that limited its ability to compete. In a notice posted on the company’s Website, PerkStreet said it will cease business operations on Sept. 26 and will […]
One recent study shows encouraging signs about prepaid adoption, while another reveals surprisingly low usage among minority populations, including Latinos, African- and Asian-Americans, suggesting that the industry has some work to do in further penetrating these demographic markets.
Aug. 13, 2013 Although Generation Y consumers, ages 18 to 34 years old, pay bills using a mobile device more than other generations, Gen Y consumers still prefer to have other bill payment options, according to a recent Western Union Co. study. More than 30 percent of Gen Y respondents reported paying a bill using […]
An international derivatives market called Global Markets Exchange Group International has been launched by co-founders Hirander Misra and Vj Angelo, in a bid to target new business opportunities created by changing financial regulation.
Aug. 12, 2013 American Express Co.’s prepaid brand Serve will get a slot in the Isis mobile wallet when the mobile commerce venture rolls out nationally later this year, which could boost Serve’s awareness among its intended audience of underbanked consumers. Today JPMorgan Chase & Co. also said it plans to expand its relationship with […]
Aug. 12, 2013 Shoppers in the London borough of Richmond now can use their photos to verify their identity when making in-store purchases with PayPal’s mobile app. A new pilot in the company’s U.K. home base enables a user to find nearby shops and restaurants that accept PayPal, then check in by clicking on the […]
Aug. 12, 2013 Google is discontinuing NFC redemption for gift and loyalty cards stored in Google Wallet. Late last week, the company sent an email to users who had added gift or loyalty cards to their Wallet app, saying NFC redemption of such cards will end on Aug. 21. Cardholders have until that date to […]
Aug. 12, 2013 A long Fourth of July weekend and warm, dry weather throughout much of the U.S., among other factors, contributed to strong consumer spending last month, according to the latest SpendTrend data released by First Data Corp., an Atlanta-based payments processor. Dollar volume growth in July increased 7.7 percent year over year, compared […]
Why are banks and insurers struggling to operate as true customer-centric organisations when they know great customer service is a crucial differentiator? The answer lies in the enterprise operating model, which can create a structural barrier to achieving customer-centricity, writes Sean Tomlinson. head of consulting, private sector, Steria (right). The problem with the enterprise operating […]
Banks need to embrace video banking if they are going to compete effectively and retain customers, according to a new report released by analyst firm Celent.
Aug. 8, 2013 Visa Inc. this week announced the deployment in Botswana of Visa Mobile Prepaid, its product designed to convert closed-loop mobile payment ventures in emerging nations to open-loop capabilities. Through Visa’s partnership with mobile network operator Orange, Botswana’s Orange Money subscribers now may withdraw funds at ATMs and make POS or online purchases, […]
Aug. 8, 2013 Houston-based ATM operator Cardtronics Inc. is expanding its presence in the U.K. and entering the German market with the $153 million purchase of British ATM operator Cardpoint Ltd. In the U.K., Cardpoint operates more than 7,100 ATM locations under the name Cashzone, while the company’s German ATM network numbers 800 machines. Combined […]
Aug. 8, 2013 A federal judge ruled that Bitcoin, a decentralized virtual currency, is a form of money. U.S. Magistrate Judge Amos L. Mazzant’s decision this week is part of a charge levied by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission against Trendon Shavers for allegedly defrauding investors of approximately $150,000 worth of bitcoins in a […]
Aug. 8, 2013 Payments processor PreCash has unveiled a new virtual payments platform the Houston company says will help fix the “broken” consumer online and mobile bill payment experience. Dubbed PreCash PayConnect, the new platform is built on PreCash’s cloud-based processing system and offers mobile and online payment for more than 10,000 service providers, including […]
Aug. 6, 2013 Online payments titan PayPal continues its march into the brick-and-mortar world, striking a deal that will enable its 55 million U.S. account holders to withdraw funds at MoneyGram locations across the country. Later this month, customers in Dallas, New York and San Francisco also will be able to load money into their […]
Aug. 6, 2013 Although many senior citizens use prepaid cards, such as those issued for Social Security benefits delivery or the AARP Card, there’s a new card on the market that’s using fraud mitigation tools to help protect seniors from financial scams. i2c Inc., a Silicon Valley-based provider of cloud payment processing, today announced that […]
Aug. 6, 2013 Norwegian telecom provider Telenor and DNB, the country’s largest bank, are teaming up to launch an NFC-based mobile wallet. Dubbed Valyou, the wallet is managed through a smartphone app that enables users to make purchases up to NOK200 (US$33.76) via contactless tap; for higher amounts, users must enter a PIN. After a […]
Aug. 6, 2013 A growing number of small and midsize businesses (SMBs) are using m-payments and social networks to improve efficiencies and increase customer traffic. Forty percent of businesses surveyed accept POS payments using a mobile card reader attached to a smartphone or tablet, and 16 percent of respondents plan to add this capability within […]
Aug. 5, 2013 A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of portions of the Dodd-Frank Act, including the formation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the appointment of its director, Richard Cordray. U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle last week determined that the claims in State National Bank of Big […]
Aug. 5, 2013 Online cash payment provider Ukash has struck a deal that will expand its retail network across Italy. The London-based company’s new partnership with prepaid distributor and producer Epipoli gives Ukash entry to the 145 locations of grocery retailer Esselunga in which Epipoli is already present, along with the firm’s other retail partners. […]
Aug. 5, 2013 Telecom and payment services provider IDT Corp. has added a new international money transfer service to its Boss Revolution payment platform. The remittance service currently is live for recipients in Mexico, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama. IDT Payment Services—the IDT Corp. subsidiary that runs Boss Revolution—said within […]
Aug. 5, 2013 On the heels of Thailand’s central bank banning the use of Bitcoin, virtual currency companies, including virtual currency exchanges, have spelled out plans to establish a self-regulating industry group called the Digital Asset Transfer Authority. “Our companies are pioneering new services with potential to reduce the friction and cost of payments substantially […]
The US Securities & Exchange Commission is often accused of using skateboards to chase Ferraris in its attempts to keep up with trading houses, but less than a year after announcing that it intended to create a new market surveillance system – and six months after going live with it – its cloud-based approach is […]
New research shows that large businesses are continuing to identify risk management and corporate governance as pressing financial priorities. To achieve true visibility into these areas, corporate treasurers need detailed insight and accurate forecasting capabilities.
A new service that claims to be able to dramatically cut post-trade costs for brokers and asset managers has been launched in the UK, using FIX messaging.
Aug. 1, 2013 Isis may be the first whole-ecosystem mobile payments system to go national when it expands to all regions later this year, and begins its toughest challenge yet: building scale. The NFC-based mobile wallet venture, led by AT&T Mobility, T-Mobile U.S. and Verizon Wireless, on July 30 announced plans to roll out across […]
Aug. 1, 2013 MasterCard is bringing its MasterPass digital wallet to the U.K., with several major retailers onboard as launch partners. The cloud-based service, available since earlier this year in the U.S., Canada and Australia, enables consumers to store payment and loyalty card information, along with shipping and billing address details, and make purchases online […]
Aug. 1, 2013 PULSE, a Houston-based debit/ATM network and Discover Financial Services company, announced today it’s using Paydiant’s mobile payment platform, enabling PULSE financial institution and merchant partners to “quickly deploy” contactless mobile payment and cash-access capabilities for their customers. Paydiant is a Wellesley, Mass.-based provider of a cloud-based, white-label mobile payment and offer-redemption platform for retailers, banks […]
Aug. 1, 2013 Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) now is providing mobile financial services to unbanked and underbanked consumers in Samoa, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea, using Mobiliti Reach from Fiserv, a Brookfield, Wis.-based provider of financial services technology. Under ANZ’s goMoney brand, Mobiliti Reach enables consumers to send money to […]
Aug. 1, 2013 With prepaid payroll cards the subject of negative press and increasing regulatory scrutiny over the past several weeks, groups representing low-income consumers and payroll administrators have expressed support for the products, noting that payroll cards can offer unbanked workers an economical, safe and convenient way to receive their wages. In a release […]
Authentication, risk management, transaction integrity and cardholder verification, are the four features that define the EMV standard, specified by EMVCo, the organisation that manages the EMV standards and associated compliance processes. These are designed to protect merchants, acquirers and cardholders from fraudulent transactions. However, closing the loop on fraud altogether will be almost impossible without […]
July 31, 2013 Merchants, which have continued to oppose the Durbin interchange fee caps set by the Fed, won a huge victory in court today. U.S. District Judge Richard Leon in Washington, D.C., ruled that the Federal Reserve Board of Governors overreached in its interchange and network routing rulemaking. The decision, which, if upheld, will […]
Banks should report all cases of fraud to law enforcement agencies and punishments should be substantially increased, according to a committee of MPs.
July 30, 2013 Because of the growing popularity of prepaid cards, Consumer Reports has, for the first time, ranked more than 25 GPR prepaid cards. Consumer Reports based its list on how much the cards cost to use; convenience, which includes availability of in-network ATMs, bill-pay features and how widely the card network brand is […]
July 30, 2013 The U.S. migration to EMV chip cards reached another milestone today with the announcement by Visa Inc. and MasterCard Worldwide that the two networks will license their own EMV chip technologies to each other and other networks, to further enable efficient routing of U.S. chip debit transactions over multiple, unaffiliated networks. The […]
July 29, 2013 The long-awaited draft of the Second Payment Services Directive (2PSD) was released by the European Commission last week. The draft regulation is larger than the current regulation and includes several updates that could bring more businesses under its purview. The current PSD has 63 Recitals and 96 Articles, while 2PSD has an 11-page […]
July 30, 2013 A pair of lawmakers is calling on the Federal Reserve to take into account interchange restrictions proposed by European regulators while it formulates its next biennial assessment of interchange fees in the U.S. In a letter to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke last week, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Rep. Peter Welch […]
July 30, 2013 Thailand’s central bank has effectively banned Bitcoin in the country by declaring it illegal to buy, sell or make purchases with the virtual currency, according to a Bitcoin exchange that had been seeking guidance from the bank. In a message on the Website of Bitcoin Co. Ltd., the Bangkok-based exchange said it […]
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 […]
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 […]
