The pressure to build scale rises with new competitors—Android Pay, Samsung Pay and CurrentC—joining Apple Pay in the emerging m-payments fray. Will consumers climb aboard? How they’re using m-payments so far, may tell the tale.
U.S. shoppers flocked to physical and online stores during the Thanksgiving weekend, with more than 151 million Americans shopping in-store and/or online, based on data from the National Retail Federation. The shopping frenzy is expected to continue, with Cyber Monday deals projected to drive 121 million U.S. consumers to shop online. Average spending per shopper was $299.60, and gift cards were especially popular, comprising a whopping 76.6 percent ($229.56) of that average total.
As consumers take to their computers and mobile devices in the hopes of getting great deals today and throughout the holidays, shoppers could fall prey to identity thieves and other scams. To thwart such crimes online and in stores, Visa has kicked off an educational campaign for issuers, merchants and consumers about the network’s security efforts.
Instant payments are a step closer to becoming a reality in Europe, now that the European Payments Council (EPC) has submitted and received approval on its proposal for the design of a pan-European instant credit transfer framework.
Despite predictions over the last few years that banks were just a heartbeat away from adopting cloud technology, only 1% of banks are actually running core processing in the cloud today, according to a new report by Temenos.
Blackhawk Network continues to expand its gifting offerings and global reach with the purchase of DIDIX Gifting & Promotions, a Netherlands-based provider of leisure-themed prepaid gift and promotional cards.
It may be Black Friday this week, but it’s also the deadline to comment on potentially harmful payroll card regulations pending in the state of New York.
Following a federal court’s ruling earlier this year that American Express violated anti-trust laws by prohibiting merchants from encouraging customers to use alternate payment methods, San Francisco’s City Attorney has filed a lawsuit against the payments network, seeking billions in penalties and damages as part of a statewide consumer action.
Ballard Spahr has hired James Kim, a consumer financial services litigator and regulatory attorney.
Creditcall Ltd, an omni-channel payment gateway and EMV migration specialist, has appointed David Butler vice president of operations.
Emergent Payments, a global payments company, announced the hiring of Rossini Zumwalt to strengthen the company in fraud prevention, and compliance and risk management of digital payments in emerging markets.
Keisha Whitehall Wolfe has joined the consumer financial services group as counsel from the office of the commissioner of financial regulation (OCFR) within Maryland’s department of labor, licensing and regulation.
Saxo Payments, a global transaction services provider, appointed Paul Townsend as non-executive director.
Gene Fredriksen, PSCU’s chief information security officer (CISO), was named CISO of the Year by the Tampa Bay Technology Forum (TBTF) at its 12th Annual Industry Achievement Awards Gala.
The Western Union Co., a global payment services provider, has appointed of Elizabeth G. Chambers to the newly created role of chief strategy and product officer.
Apple Pay’s long-awaited arrival in China could be just months away, with the mobile payments service slated to launch in the country by early February 2016, according to a report. Meanwhile, Germany’s Wirecard has launched a new Android-based NFC mobile wallet in four European countries.
French officials are calling for tighter regulation of prepaid products in the European Union, claiming that prepaid cards were in preparation for the terrorist attacks in Paris earlier this month. The proposal to tighten prepaid regulation is part of a broader initiative to combat terrorist financing.
A new study from the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia finds, not surprisingly, that consumers affected by a data breach are much more likely to opt for fraud protection, while those consumers who are unaffected or only hear news about breaches are less likely to use fraud prevention services.
Bitcoin may be a step closer to going mainstream now that Coinbase is partnering with Shift Payments to launch a Visa-branded bitcoin debit card that lets users spend the funds in their bitcoin wallets anywhere Visa is accepted.
The payments world is contracting a bit more as U.S. ATM manufacturer Diebold is getting significantly larger, announcing its plan to acquire German-based Wincor Nixdorf for approximately $1.8 billion, or €1.7 billion, creating the largest global ATM supplier.
Five months after Apple Pay’s arrival in the U.K., the contactless payments service is working with London’s transit authority and MasterCard to drive Apple Pay usage for mass transit by offering free rides on Mondays, starting today and running through Dec. 14. Meanwhile, Visa Europe is doing its part to promote Apple Pay in the U.K. with a two-month advertising campaign touting its integration with the payments service.
The CFPB announced in a Nov. 20 blog post that it has updated its regulatory agenda, including the schedule for its final rule on prepaid accounts, which now is expected to be released in March 2016. Several lawmakers have expressed concern over the CFPB’s broad proposed rulemaking on prepaid, noting that consumers, including those that rely on overdraft and government benefits, may be harmed if the rules go too far.
After much prognostication regarding when Square would finally announce its IPO, the m-payments service provider began trading this morning on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol SQ.
It may be Black Friday next week, but it’s also the deadline to comment on potentially harmful payroll card regulations pending in the state of New York.
London-based Prepaid Financial Services (PFS), an e-money issuer that specializes in acquiring, prepaid and alternative banking solutions, has sold 5 percent of the company to a strategic investor after being valued in excess of £50 million (US$76.5 million).
Funding continues to roll in for fintech startups, with a pair of firms landing investments totaling more than $21 million this week.
The convergence of social media and money transfer has taken another step forward, with China’s biggest mobile messaging app partnering with Western Union to enable users to make cross-border P2P transfers.
It should be no surprise to anyone that gift cards are forecasted to be uber popular again this holiday season. However, it will be crucial for those in the prepaid industry to be mindful of plugged-in shopper preferences to capture holiday spend.
Knowing your customer is taking on new meaning for retailers, If you want to thrive, you must give your customers a personalized shopping experience with a simple integrated payments process.
In 5 years plastic cards will be dead! A bold prediction for sure and likely one you’ve heard in any of a dozen payment mixers you’ve attended over the last year. But for our restaurant brands, we see a more nuanced picture that requires us to execute a simple, perhaps obvious, formula.
The five most important takeaways from Money20/20 that will shape payments for the foreseeable future.
Craig James explains how passporting with an e-money license allows U.S. prepaid companies to conduct business in EU countries.
Retailers argue the semantics between calling a price difference a “surcharge” or a “discount.”
Apple Pay’s availability continues to slowly cover the globe with the latest addition—Canada. American Express today announced the availability of Apple Pay for cardholders with cards issued by Amex Bank of Canada.
Users of Vodafone’s mobile wallet soon will be able to add their MasterCard-branded payments cards to the wallet app and subsequently make contactless payments via NFC, the European telecom provider announced. Vodafone Wallet added support for Visa-branded payment cards earlier this year and compatibility with Visa- and MasterCard-branded payment cards could help Vodafone Wallet compete against Apple Pay, which launched in the U.K. in July.
Worker payout solutions provider Hyperwallet has launched a new loyalty program that enables its clients, particularly in the direct selling industry, to provide rewards for independent workers who opt to receive their earnings on a prepaid card.
The European Union Council has approved the revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2).
Earlier this year, we recognized the Top 10 Payments Lawyers as voted for by Paybefore.com visitors. In our first profile, we feature Amy Ross Lauck, partner, in the payment systems and consumer financial services practice at Lindquist & Vennum LLP, who discusses the challenges of the CARD Act, prospects for the CFPB’s prepaid rulemaking and innovations yet to come.
The FDIC last week issued a revised financial institution letter soliciting public opinion on a proposed update to its series of FAQs related to identifying, accepting and reporting brokered deposits. The revised guidance, which has a 45-day comment period that ends Dec. 28, has far-reaching implications for the prepaid industry.
MasterCard has named the startups comprising the next class of its Start Path fintech accelerator. The four startups, which were selected from more than 200 applicants, will receive mentoring from MasterCard experts, access to the company’s commercial partners and the opportunity to integrate with MasterCard solutions for six months.
