PayTech


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.

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 […]

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 […]

Green Dot Talks Harvest, New Products

In Green Dot Corp.’s first earnings call since investor Harvest Capital Strategies called for the ouster of Green Dot CEO Steve Streit and two board members, Streit said that while neither he nor the board members will be going anywhere, the company is open to Harvest’s input on how to improve the company’s performance and its advice on adding potential new board members.

U.K. Regulator Calls for More Bank Innovation, Competition

The Payment System Regulator (PSR), a government body created to oversee the payment systems industry in the U.K., is calling for the major banks to sell a part of their stakes in U.K.-based payments provider VocaLink, which it claims will create more fertile ground for innovation and competition.

Chase Pay Brews up Starbucks Deal

In the battle for mobile wallet supremacy, JPMorgan Chase this week got venti-sized boost in the form of a partnership with Starbucks.

HSBC Germany selects Swift to connect to Target2-Securities

HSBC in Germany will use Swift’s Value Added Network (VAN) solution to connect to Target2-Securities (T2S). VAN Solution enables T2S participants to connect to the new pan-European securities settlement platform for the exchange of business information in ISO 20022. Other banks and central securities depositories (CSD) that have signed with Swift for T2S connectivity include […]

Perspectives for a Real-Time World

This webinar will look at how real-time ubiquity and reach are crucial and collaboration is the winning strategy. As real-time continues to evolve, join us to discuss how it opens up opportunities.

People on the Move: NBPCA Chair and Board Members

The Network Branded Prepaid Card Association (NBPCA) announced Robert Skiba will return to the role of chairman of the board at the NBPCA. The association named additional officers for FY 2016.

AsiaHawala powers Iraq’s “first” mobile money service with Mahindra Comviva

AsiaHawala, Iraq’s “first” mobile money service, has chosen Mahindra Comviva’s Mobiquity Money solution as it looks to expand its reach across the country. The Iraqi company offers consumers a mobile account for a range of financial transactions – such as P2P transfer, bill payments, merchant payments, salary payments and a recharge service. With Mobiquity Money […]

Net Element enters Azerbaijan’s mobile payments market

Florida-based Net Element has launched its mobile payments platform, Digital Provider, in Azerbaijan. The venture is done via the company’s Russian subsidiary, OOO Digital Provider. The company says the new integration allows content providers and aggregators access to all “major” mobile operators in the country. It has also signed a contract with a national television […]

Talbott Roche Named Blackhawk Network CEO

Last fall Talbott Roche, along with seven other female executives at Blackhawk Network, was selected as one of the Women Driving Payments Change. Now she takes the helm of Blackhawk Network, a company she helped build from the ground up.

Ingo Money Rolls out ‘Me-to-Me’ Funding Feature

Instead of focusing on P2P, Ingo Money Inc. has its sights set on enabling what Founder and CEO Drew Edwards calls “me-to-me” payments. The company, which specializes in digitizing cash and checks through its Good Funds Network, today announced the rollout of a service within its Ingo Money App that enables consumers to cash a check with their smartphones and send the funds instantly to multiple accounts, including prepaid, PayPal, bank and private-label credit card accounts.