Kentucky Police Bust Gift Card Fraud Scam
Police in Louisville, Ky., have arrested nine people for allegedly running a fraud ring centered around gift cards.
PayTech
Connecting the Dots between Online Offers and In-Store Purchases
Knowledge is power. And, that’s particularly true for merchants and marketers that want to track consumers from online ad campaigns to in-store purchases. Arming merchants with the right knowledge is the goal of Discover’s Merchant Data Platform.
Visa Launches Consumer Transaction Controls for Cardholders
Visa’s newest service enables prepaid and other cardholders to exercise more control over their accounts via spending controls and alerts. Issuers can choose to offer the service to customers.
MasterCard, SVB Select Four Startups for Accelerator Program
Four more startups have been selected for the Commerce.Innovated. program. The companies represent the fourth class chosen by MasterCard and Silicon Valley Bank as part of a program to help startups get their products and services off the ground.
Russian Lawmakers Want to Ban Bitcoin
Bitcoin continues to encounter hurdles as its supporters try to facilitate the digital currency’s mainstream acceptance. Though certain states and countries are welcoming bitcoin, or permitting it with certain provisos, Russia is considering a ban.
Q&A with Emily Baum, Prepaid International Forum
The Prepaid International Forum (PIF) is celebrating its 10-year anniversary in 2016. Emily Baum, a non-executive board member of the forum and business development director of PrePay Solutions, tells Paybefore more about PIF, where the 23-member group is headed and how the industry is responding to calls for increased prepaid regulation following the Paris terrorist attacks.
Green Dot Announces Tax Return Promotions Including Free Refund Advance
Green Dot and subsidiary Santa Barbara Tax Products Group have announced a pair of promotions to make this time of year less taxing on consumers while helping independent tax preparers get more customers coming through their doors. One of the promotions involves up to a $750 free advance toward consumers’ tax returns.
Visa Aims to Boost Commerce Products with Outside Developer Help
Visa wants to strengthen its commerce offerings by opening up its technology treasure chest to software developers bent on improving consumer experiences. The payment network has launched Visa Developer, an “open platform that gives application developers access to Visa’s payments technology, products and services.”
Investment Roundup: Fit Pay, Digital Asset Holdings, Blockstream
The money keeps rolling in for fintech. Fit Pay, a wearable payment technology startup, raises $3.1 million in seed capital, while distributed ledger technology companies collectively have raised $103 million.
Hackers Target Gyft, Neiman Marcus Customer Data
Cybercriminals continue to target payments providers and retailers, with Gyft and Neiman Marcus among the latest firms to announce separate data breaches. The attacks highlight two major data security issues facing financial providers and retailers: third-party security and the migration of fraud to online accounts as a result of enhanced POS security brought about by the arrival of EMV.
T2S takes one step forward amidst backwards steps
The European Central Bank has selected connectivity provider SIA, in partnership with telco Colt, for its connection to TARGET2-Securities (T2S), the delayed centralised European platform for the settlement of domestic and cross-border securities transactions. The European Central Bank is expected to migrate to SIA and Colt’s value-added network infrastructure in June 2016. The two companies will also provide the ECB with a message processing […]
Visa Developer opens up payments technology
Visa Developer, will offer software application developers will open access to Visa’a payments technology, products and services. The new Visa Developer platform is designed to help financial institutions, merchants, and technology companies meet the demands of consumers and merchants, who increasingly rely on connected devices to shop, pay and get paid. At launch, the new […]
Cashless payments plateau is stats mirage: Deutsche Bank
European Central Bank (ECB) figures appear to show that cashless payments transaction volumes in 2014 remained flat at 68 billion payments. However, Deutsche Bank analyst Heike Mai, who specialises in payments and shadow banking, has published a report that corrects this conclusion. Entitled ‘Payments in the euro area: Are they stagnating? – No!’ the report […]
Visa Encourages NFC and In-Seat Mobile Ordering at Super Bowl 50
At Super Bowl 50 on Sunday, Visa will promote contactless payments at concession stands and in-seat mobile ordering for fans who don’t want to miss any action. Ingenico also announces a big terminal deal for the game.
Western Union Gains Access to More than 660 Million Consumers in Viber Deal (Feb. 4, 2016)
Western Union continues to extend its digital reach with access to approximately 664 million users of mobile messaging app Viber, which enables its customers to send free text messages, photos, videos and make free calls with its push-to-talk capability, among other features.
Pin4 Cardless ATM System Plans Big Expansion (Feb. 4, 2016)
Pin4, a cardless ATM withdrawal system, could expand to some 70,000 U.S. cash machines by the third quarter of 2016, up from approximately 15,000 in the first quarter of 2016, says CEO Richard Witkowski.
Innovators’ Spotlight: Poynt
Electronic payment options for consumers are proliferating, and shoppers expect merchants to accept the full gamut of form factors. But for retailers—especially small and midsize enterprises (SMEs)—it can be tough to keep up. That’s where Poynt comes in.
CFPB Takes Aim at Lack of Checking Account Options for Consumers
The CFPB announced today a three-prong approach to ensure consumers are receiving a fair shake regarding checking account access. But what may surprise many in the prepaid industry is that the agency also is providing information to consumers about the prepaid option.
EU Commission, U.S. Reach New Privacy-Shield Agreement (Feb. 2, 2016)
Shortly after the original deadline to reach an agreement expired on Sunday, the EU Commission and the U.S. have agreed to a new Safe Harbor deal. The new framework will protect the fundamental rights of Europeans when their data are transferred to the U.S. and ensure legal certainty for businesses, according to an EU Commission announcement.
Visa Launches Visa Commerce Network for Consumer Rewards (Feb. 2, 2016)
In a new twist on card-linked offers, Visa launches Visa Commerce Network, which it says will make it easier for merchants to engage Visa cardholders with reward and loyalty offers. Uber and Dunkin’ Donuts are among the first companies using the tool.
EU Eyes New Virtual Currency, Prepaid Regs, Transaction Monitoring (Feb. 2, 2016)
European Union leaders are calling for tighter regulation of prepaid cards and virtual currencies to restrict terrorist financing and anonymous payments. The European Commission—the executive arm of the EU—also said it will consider launching an intra-EU version of a transaction monitoring agreement that has since 2010 helped detect the movement of funds by terrorists between the U.S. and EU.
Man Pleads Guilty to Laundering $250 Million in Digital Currency (Jan. 2, 2016)
Arthur Budovsky pleaded guilty in January after it was determined his company, Liberty Reserve, served as a global hub for laundering more than $250 million of ill-gotten funds from cybercriminals, according to the DOJ.
Earnings Roundup: MasterCard, American Express, Bancorp, Meta, More
A snapshot of payments-related earnings reports recently announced is available to you below. Click the company name for more details: The Bancorp Inc. MasterCard American Express Co. Meta Financial Group, Inc. PayPal Holdings Inc. TSYS
P2P Lending Gains Ground in U.K. (Feb. 2, 2016)
P2P lending in the U.K. is a booming business that’s doubled in size since 2014 and approximately £2.20 billion (US$3.16 billion) lent to consumers in 2015.
CFPB: Prepaid Complaints Down in December (Feb. 1, 2016)
Prepaid cards continued to comprise just a tiny percentage of the consumer complaints received by the CFPB, according to the agency’s latest monthly complaint “snapshot” report. During the month of December 2015, the CFPB received a total of 230 prepaid-related complaints (out of 20,388 total complaints), down 11 percent from the 257 complaints it received in November.
U.S.-European Data Transfer Deal Expires (Feb. 1, 2016)
The 15-year-old Safe Harbor data transfer deal has expired, leaving U.S. and European companies at risk for transferring financial and other information across the Atlantic.
Mobile ATM Withdrawals Coming to BofA, Wells Fargo, Chase (Feb. 1, 2016)
Apple Pay is on its way to thousands of ATMs across the country, as Bank of America and Wells Fargo reportedly are working on integrating the mobile payments service into their ATMs. Meanwhile, Chase soon will roll out ATMs that offer cardless withdrawals via the bank’s mobile app.
Viewpoint: Leaders, Learners and Laggards
I talk with a lot of banking leaders who describe their approach to innovation as being a “fast follower. My typical retort is that they are half-right—most of them are definitely followers, but there usually isn’t anything fast about their approach.
Viewpoint: Mobile Wallet Myth-Busting Starts Now
For those of us in prepaid, combating misrepresentation of our products in the media is nothing new. A recent news story claiming banks are leaving customers on the hook for fraud if they use a mobile wallet shows there’s plenty of work to do for new payment methods.
Viewpoint: An Open Letter to the On-Demand Economy
Hyperwallet CEO challenges businesses in the booming on-demand economy to make getting paid as easy as ordering a ride on Uber.
TSYS Makes $2.35 Billion Merchant Service Play (Jan. 27, 2016)
TSYS continued its push to expand its role in the payments value chain with a big move in the merchant services space, reaching a definitive agreement to acquire merchant solutions provider TransFirst for $2.35 billion from current owner Vista Equity Partners.
U.S. House Republicans Accuse CFPB of Bungling Auto Loan Settlement Payments (Jan. 27, 2016)
U.S. House Republicans have accused the CFPB of bungling payouts meant to settle claims of racial discrimination in auto lending.
Company on the Move: CFPB, Advisory Board and Councils
The CFPB is accepting applications for membership in all of its advisory groups.
People on the Move: Jenn Ong and Paolo Bortolotto, MasterCard
MasterCard has appointed Jenn Ong and Paolo Bortolotto head of consumer credit, Asia-Pacific, and head of debit, Asia-Pacific, respectively.
People on the Move: Alex Johnson, Raymond Pucci and Joe Walent, Mercator Advisory Group
Mercator Advisory Group has promoted Alex Johnson to director of the credit advisory service, hired Raymond Pucci for the company’s advisory practices division as associate director of research services, and hired Joe Walent as lead analyst for Mercator’s emerging technologies advisory service.
People on the Move: Phil Davis and Brian Scott, PSCU
PSCU, a credit union service organization (CUSO), added Phil Davis and Brian Scott to its senior leadership team.
People on the Move: Andrew Cecere, U.S. Bancorp
U.S. Bancorp, parent company of U.S. Bank, announced that Andrew Cecere, currently vice chairman and chief operating officer, has been promoted to president.
Green Dot Responds as Leading Shareholder Calls for Ouster of CEO (Jan. 26, 2016)
Green Dot was quick to respond as CEO Steve Streit came under fire with the company’s largest shareholder, Harvest Capital Strategies LLC, calling for his ouster along with that of two board members.
Report: Fraudsters’ Test Runs Surged in Q4 2015
Cybercriminals could be ramping up their attacks on financial services providers, according to a new study. The fourth quarter of 2015 saw a tenfold increase in “bot attacks”—essentially test attacks meant to gauge the security of targeted systems—according to the report by ThreatMatrix, a San Jose, Calif., cybersecurity company.
Crime Doesn’t Pay: Two Credit Card-Related Fraud Cases Result in Jail Time (Jan. 26, 2016)
Two separate cases involving credit card fraud have led to a sentence of 80 months in prison for leading one of the largest credit card fraud schemes and a guilty plea to a charge of stealing credit card data.
