Fuchs Joins List of High-Ranking CFPB Staffers Who Flee to Private Sector
Meredith Fuchs joins at least 45 Consumer Financial Protection Bureau employees who have left the bureau for the private sector since 2011.
PayTech
Gift Card Firm SVM Expands Verticals with 1to1 Card Buy
Gift card provider SVM has bought 1to1 Card, whose prepaid program management services cover incentive, loyalty, rebate, payroll and general purpose loyalty cards.
Amex Patent Seeks to Improve Reward Redemption
American Express could be exploring a way to enable its cardholders to pay with loyalty points on e-commerce sites or mobile wallets, according to a recently released patent application.
Q&A: What’s the Big Deal about Blockchain?
Blockchain is one of the hottest trends in fintech. A payment fraud expert explains how the technology can make transactions safer and what its limits are.
Tuxedo launches world’s first “live load” payments platform
UK payments provider Tuxedo has launched a “live load” payments technology platform, which removes the need to prepay. The vendor says it is the world’s first. The platform is based upon a single, partner-issued Visa or MasterCard, which is linked to customers’ existing payment sources via Tuxedo’s own platform. The platform is PCIDSS (Payment Card […]
Finnish SME banking specialist, Holvi, acquired by BBVA
BBVA has acquired Finnish online-only payments and banking services provider Holvi, as it seeks to expand its portfolio of digital businesses. Holvi will continue to be run as a standalone business, and Spain-based BBVA says there will be a “two-way flow of knowledge, ideas and support” between both parties. Teppo Paavola, chief development officer and […]
Harvest Doubles Down on Call for Change at Green Dot
Harvest Capital Strategies has escalated its criticism of Green Dot Corp. and reiterated its call for the ouster of Green Dot CEO Steve Streit. In a letter sent to Green Dot’s board of directors last week, Harvest blasted what it called Green Dot’s failure to respond adequately a previous letter Harvest sent the company in January, in which the hedge fund manager outlined concerns with Green Dot’s performance and called for the removal of Streit and other two board members.
Fed: Small Banks Not Feeling the Hurt from Debit Interchange Limits
Despite some claims from the banking industry that small banks may be at a competitive disadvantage in a post-Durbin Amendment interchange environment, a new Philadelphia Fed report suggests that banks with less than $10 billion in assets have not suffered from the Durbin Amendment, which capped debit card interchange for larger financial institutions.
Google Tests ‘Hands-Free’ Shopping Via Digital Photos
Google’s new Hands Free shopping test enables consumers to pay with smartphones but make purchases via digital photos of their faces. It represents the newest frontier for mobile payments.
suretap Wallet Discontinues Prepaid Card, Keeps Loyalty
Canada’s first mobile wallet suretap has announced its discontinuing its prepaid MasterCard program effective at the end of April. What’s staying is the wallet’s capability of loading credit and gift cards for payment and a loyalty program, which enables consumers to integrate more than 20 loyalty programs with the wallet.
NCR brings first bill payment kiosk to Taiwan
NCR Corporation (NCR) has customised the first ever financial kiosk solution in Taiwan for E.Sun Bank. Called E.Sun iPayment Kiosk, it includes bill payment, statement printing and notes exchange. The bank also selected NCR Aptra Connections software to run on the kiosk and purchased NCR SelfServ ATMs to provide personalised ATM transactions. The E.Sun iPayment […]
Infographics: the state of fintech industry as we know it
Who, what, where, when of the fintech industry today – this excellent infographics pulls together plenty of useful data, from top specialists, unicorns and start-ups to geographies and M&As. Created by Savvy Beaver and Call Levels.
MasterCard mulls VocaLink acquisition
MasterCard could be buying the UK’s payments infrastructure, VocaLink, in a £1-billion acquisition, according to Sky News. Following the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) telling banks last month that they should sell their stake in VocaLink to “help increase innovation and competition”, MasterCard is reportedly in talk with those banks. According to David Bannister, financial services […]
Big data analytics and its many uses
There are many uses of big data analytics by financial organisations to meet evolving regulatory and compliance requirements, Swift Institute reveals in its recent paper, “The Role of Big Data in Governance: a regulatory and legal perspective of analytics in global financial services”. The paper cites two case studies as examples of how these analytical […]
Dwolla docked dollars for its data security
US payments start-up Dwolla has been fined $100,000 by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) for its data security. Data security issues included: “Use appropriate measures to identify reasonably foreseeable security risks; ensure that employees who have access to or handle consumer information received adequate training and guidance about security risks; use encryption technologies to […]
Top fintech stories this week – 4 March 2016
Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place! D+H Corporation bullish on payments software business Do you hear it? That’s the sound of optimistic noises. ICE pours cold water on Deutsche Börse and LSE merger bid ICE ICE maybe, ICE ICE maybe. Out of Africa for […]
Google pilots “Hands Free” payment app
Google has built a pilot app, allowing payments in stores “completely hands-free”. The app, wait for it, is called Hands Free. Pali Bhat, senior director, product management at Google, says in a blog post: “Imagine if you could rush through a drive-thru without reaching for your wallet, or pick up a hot dog at the […]
What Apple’s encryption fight means for payments
The gloves have come off as Apple digs in its heels against the FBI’s request to create a backdoor to the iPhone. We asked payments experts what might be at stake for mobile payments in this encryption battle.
Viewpoint: Meeting the Needs of Digitally Connected Businesses on the Go
Banks looking to serve SMBs and attract young entrepreneurs must create mobile apps that go beyond consumer-facing solutions. Those that do will be rewarded with greater loyalty and profitability.
Viewpoint: Is Direct Debit the New Alternative Payment Tool?
Find out why direct debit is a preferred payment method for nearly 40 percent of consumers worldwide and what it means for technology providers, banks and online merchants.
Payments in 2016: a pivotal year
With challenges across the board, banks will have their work cut out to keep up with the changing world of payments in 2016. It is shaping up to be a pivotal year for the payments industry as regulation, new technology, major infrastructure overhaul projects and security issues combine to reshape the landscape. According to a […]
CFPB Makes First Data Security Enforcement against Dwolla
The CFPB has hit online payments provider Dwolla with an enforcement action over what the agency describes as misleading claims the company made about customers’ data security and the risks of using Dwolla’s online system. The action is the CFPB’s first enforcement related to a data security issue, the agency said.
Wirecard on a Tear: New Prepaid Card, Two Acquisitions
Wirecard Technologies GmbH has been busy, launching a new Visa-branded prepaid/credit product in Germany today, following recent acquisitions in Romania and Brazil. Today the company released mycard2go prepaid card, which is the first Visa Simply One combined card that enables acceptance at merchants that take Visa credit and V PAY debit cards.
Square Opens up Cash Drawer
Square Inc. has added a new feature to its Square Cash P2P money transfer service that enables users to store funds within their Square Cash accounts—a move that means the service can fulfill some of the functions of a mobile wallet.
Turkish Man Pleads Guilty in $55 Million Global ATM Heist Scheme
A Turkish man pled guilty Tuesday in a federal court in Brooklyn to planning and leading cyber-attacks that swiped $55 million from ATMs around the world.
ABN Amro teams with First Data for payments
Dutch state-owned bank, ABN Amro, is partnering with US-based First Data for payments and will offer services through its joint venture European Merchant Services (EMS). EMS has been processing credit card and debit card payments for businesses for over 25 years, and ABN Amro says entrepreneurs and small business owners will be able to add […]
D+H Corporation bullish on payments software business
North American software provider, D+H Corporation, has made optimistic noises over its Global Transaction Banking Solution (GTBS) unit in its latest financial results. The vendor claims to have “won a majority of payment hub RFPs” as well as “surpassed the Fundtech [now GTBS] backlog record” in generating revenue from the existing projects. Gerrard Schmid, CEO […]
Mobile, IoT, P2P payments will rule the future
Be mobile, be fast and be ready for the demise of paper currency.
CFPB’s Latest Complaint Report Spotlights Prepaid
The CFPB’s latest consumer complaint report is out, and this month the agency took a closer look at prepaid-related complaints. Even though the agency says prepaid complaints “spiked in recent months,” such complaints continue to comprise a small fraction of the issues brought to the bureau’s attention.
Sen. Rounds Calls on CFPB for Cost-Benefit Analysis for Benefits Cards
As the CFPB prepares to release its final rule on prepaid accounts—expected this month—U.S. Senator Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) is urging the agency to conduct a cost-benefit analysis on how the rule would affect government benefits cards and potentially increase taxpayer costs.
Enterprise Bank Finds SMBs Hungry for Mobile Banking
When Enterprise Bank began offering a mobile banking app designed by Fiserv with small business clients in mind, the uptake was far beyond expectations. Catering to business clients via mobile has several benefits, such as increasing loyalty and profitability and attracting millennial entrepreneurs.
Privacy Shield Roils Critics, Muddying U.S.-EU Data Sharing Picture
The recently proposed data-transfer pact between the U.S. and European Union has come under fire from critics, including privacy activists and some EU lawmakers, who claim the deal fails to adequately protect EU citizens from surveillance by American intelligence agencies.
Fintech 2.0: creating new opportunities through strategic alliance
Banks and fintechs should collaborate rather than compete, leveraging their respective strengths to revolutionise the B2B payments space and create sustainable business models in today’s digital era. As the next stages of digital structural change continue to transform financial services, the focus of technological developments will shift. Most recent developments in business models have been […]
Apple to Testify in House Committee Hearing on Encryption
Apple will testify tomorrow before the House Judiciary Committee on encryption amid its fight with the FBI over creating software to hack an iPhone of one of the terrorists responsible for the December attacks in San Bernardino, Calif. Fellow tech companies, including Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Twitter, are expected to file amicus briefs in support of Apple’s decision not to comply with a court order demanding that Apple comply with the FBI’s request.
In Resource Shift, Venmo Closes API to New Developers
Developers seeking to incorporate Venmo’s payments tools into their apps might be out of luck, as the popular P2P service has closed access to its payments API for new developers. The company said it’s focusing its efforts and resources on launching the beta of pay with Venmo, the new in-app payment service it announced last month.
iovation Offers Password-Less Security
As e-merchants seek to reduce friction for their Web and mobile customers, authentication specialist iovation has launched a new “password-less security” service, which the company says streamlines the user experience while maintaining robust protections.
Number26 and TransferWise partner for international money transfers
German digital bank Number26 and TransferWise, a UK-based international money transfer platform, have teamed up to provide Number26 customers with direct “in-app” access to TransferWise’s service. Number26 co-founder and CEO Valentin Stalf says the company wants banking products to be “accessible to customers with one tap, creating a fintech hub inside the Number26 app”. The […]
PayPal plans Latin America growth with América Móvil alliance
PayPal is teaming up with Mexican telecommunications giant América Móvil as it looks to expand in Latin America. The alliance’s focus will be on a new mobile wallet platform, which lets users pay for items by smartphone scans. With América Móvil on board, PayPal can target 140 million users in Brazil and Mexico. Dan Schulman, […]
BBVA makes Cisco top technology partner
Spanish bank BBVA has signed a strategic alliance with Cisco, allowing it to become its “priority” technology partner. BBVA says it wants to “foster connectivity and collaboration” between clients and employees, and speed up innovation and digitisation. This is the first of a series of alliances and BBVA says it is aiming to create more […]
Top fintech stories this week – 26 February 2016
Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place! Fiserv’s CUnify core processing system bags 25 US credit unions More good news for the US software vendor. IBM delivers blockchain-as-a-service for developers Code to joy… nearly 44,000 lines made available. Potential “merger of equals” between Deutsche Börse […]
