July 2, 2013 Patent-holding company Alexsam Inc. has been dealt another court defeat in its series of lawsuits against a group of retailers the company claimed infringed on its prepaid gift card patents. Last Friday, a federal jury in Marshall, Texas, ruled that Gap Inc. did not infringe on the technology covered by the patents—which […]
July 1, 2013 “We’re only at the beginning of a technology-driven revolution in financial services,” Melissa Koide, deputy assistant secretary, office consumer policy, U.S. Treasury Department, said last week during the NBPCA’s second annual Power of Prepaid conference in Washington, D.C. Koide noted that the prepaid platform has brought powerful and positive innovations to financial […]
July 1, 2013 Payments processor TSYS has completed its $1.4 billion acquisition of GPR and payroll card provider NetSpend Corp., the company said today. First announced in February, the deal was billed as a “transformational event” for TSYS, and gives the Columbus, Ga.-based firm a major foothold in the program management arena, bringing more than […]
July 1, 2013 Motorists in Germany soon will be able to use Visa payWave technology to make contactless payments when filling up their tanks at Shell petrol stations. Beginning in spring 2014, Shell stations in the country will accept payments via contactless Visa card or NFC-enabled smartphone. Full rollout to all 2,200 German Shell locations […]
July 1, 2013 Square Inc. is shutting down its digital gift card operation after little more than six months, due to operational difficulties, according to Reuters. Square announced its gift card program in December 2012, touting it as a way for small businesses that lacked a gift card program to instantly enable users to send […]
Mobile wallets get a considerable amount of media attention, but will any of them really drive users to leave the plastic card era behind? I recently did a comparison test of Square Wallet, Lemon and Starbucks’ own mobile app. While all the payment types I used worked surprisingly well, none of them was an experience that elevated shopping into the futuristic world these apps conjure up among payments enthusiasts.
June 27, 2013 During the kickoff to the NPBCA’s Power of Prepaid conference in Washington, D.C., this morning U.S. Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-Mich.) urged the industry to reach out to lawmakers and regulators on the Hill and in their home states, and to share stories about real consumers’ success with prepaid cards. Coming to Washington […]
June 27, 2013 The latest entry in a spate of new prepaid travel cards comes from Canada, where MasterCard Canada and its subsidiary Access Prepaid Worldwide this week launched the new Cash Passport Prepaid MasterCard Currency Card. Targeting Canadian travelers seeking a secure alternative to traveler’s checks or cash, the EMV-enabled Cash Passport card enables […]
June 27, 2013 Ontario’s Ministry of the Attorney General is accepting comments through July 19 on the possible inclusion of prepaid products into the province’s pending escheat law, and one trade group is hoping to organize a unified payments industry response. Earlier this week, Payments eXchange Canada released a notice calling for prepaid stakeholders to […]
June 27, 2013 As more U.S. card issuers solidify their plans to migrate to the EMV chip-card standard by October 2015, the estimated cost of the effort is settling in at $10 billion to $11 billion, according to a new report from Aite Group. Most U.S. issuers will launch with chip cards requiring only a […]
June 27, 2013 Lloyds Bank is entering the mobile POS market via a new deal with Monitise plc under which the U.K. bank will sell Monitise’s card acceptance technology to small businesses and micro-merchants. The companies will begin offering “a suite of mobile payments products” beginning this fall, with Monitise’s technology also serving as the […]
June 27, 2013 Christmas is coming early for children in the U.K., who have the chance to see their own gift card design in stores this holiday season. The UK Gift Card and Voucher Association (UKGCVA), the trade body representing the U.K.’s £4.7 billion voucher, gift card and stored value solutions industry, has launched a […]
June 26, 2013 MasterCard Worldwide, looking to extend its MasterPass e-commerce checkout service to merchants on a mass basis, today announced a partnership with online retail services provider Web.com Group Inc., making MasterPass immediately available to tens of thousands of small-business merchants. Web.com, which has about 3 million small-business customers, now bundles MasterPass e-commerce checkout […]
June 26, 2013 Square Inc. hopes to give a boost to micro-merchants that have traditionally sold items face to face as they move into e-commerce through its new Square Market, which the San Francisco company unveiled this week. Targeting local merchants selling items online for the first time, Square Market provides an easy path for […]
June 26, 2013 Using prepaid cards for benefit payments to individuals can help reduce costs for government agencies as well as recipients, according to a new report by the Association of Government Accountants (AGA). The study was conducted by the AGA’s Corporate Partners Advisory Group (CPAG) research project, sponsored by Visa. The report was based […]
June 26, 2013 Self-policing, self-reporting, remediation and cooperation are four factors which the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) will take into account when deciding whether some form of mitigation credit is warranted in an enforcement investigation, according to a new bulletin issued by the agency. However, those seeking such credit need to go well above […]
RBS has hired Carole Berndt as global head of transaction services. Berndt has been EMEA head of transaction banking at Bank of America Merrill Lynch for the past three years. She will be based in London and report to John Owen, chief executive, International Banking, at RBS, who said: “I am delighted to welcome Carole […]
June 25, 2013 Green Dot Corp. is taking the “name your price” feature to financial services as it rolls out its GoBank mobile banking solution nationwide today. Since its January unveiling, GoBank has been in beta testing with a group of invited consumers. Now anyone can sign up for the service at GoBank.com or by […]
Will Egypt be next to ignite an m-payments program for millions of unbanked consumers, similar to M-Pesa’s success in Kenya?
June 25, 2013 Barclays is taking contactless payment in a new direction with a service enabling users to make payments directly from their bank accounts by tapping their phones on QR codes on billboards, magazine ads and other printed items, potentially including routine bill payments. Harnessing the Barclays Pingit mobile payments app, the new Buyit […]
The U.S. Supreme Court this morning decided to hear the case of National Labor Relations Board v. Noel Canning. Hanging in the balance is the legal validity not only of appointments made by President Barack Obama to fill NLRB vacancies, but the appointment of Richard Cordray to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). A ruling […]
Click here for larger PDF version. June 24, 2013 More Europeans are pulling out cards instead of cash while on holiday, according to new research from MasterCard. The online survey of 3,310 consumers in eight countries—Spain, Italy, Germany, Sweden, U.K., France, Poland and Ukraine—found that consumers prefer having their debit or credit cards on hand […]
Speakers at the Digital Services Conference hosted by Informa in London on Tuesday expressed frustration at the lack of progress made by mobile wallets in the UK and called for more innovative solutions to bypass the impasse.
Although the network EMV liability shift is about two years out, card manufacturers already are consulting with their U.S. issuing clients to help them make decisions now about how they will approach the transition to EMV. First and foremost is the decision on when to begin, then which cards in their portfolio should have priority. […]
Most innovative network branded, closed-loop or RAN prepaid or emerging payments program. Best in Category: Bratislava City Card First-to-market integrated prepaid solution loaded with municipal and commercial advantages for residents that includes open- and closed-loop applications. First Data Slovakia’s capital of Bratislava pulled off a great technological leap forward with the introduction of a […]
The organization that stood out from the crowd in 2012 to make a positive, game-changing difference in the prepaid and/or emerging payments environment in the U.K. and Europe.
By Bill Grabarek, Senior Editor Reading between the lines of announcements from Apple Inc. to anticipate the technology titan’s next moves not only keeps analysts busy and consumers guessing, it has spawned entire Websites devoted to scrutinizing everything the company says and does. This isn’t to imply Apple doesn’t excel at effective self-promotion, but the company […]
The in-market mobile wallet or mobile application that (1) provides end users with value-added features and/or enhances payment capabilities, user decision-making or loyalty, and (2) provides retailers with a strong value proposition. Best in Category: O2 Wallet Open to customers of any bank or MNO who want to shop, send money, compare prices and receive […]
Plastyc Inc., a New York City-based prepaid debit card provider, recently announced it is doing business as Banking Up. The name change was in conjunction with the launch of Banking Up, a personal finance platform enabling banks and businesses to provide customers with an alternative to traditional checking accounts. Plastyc, which announced last year that […]
The prepaid or emerging payments program or product that delivers the best consumer value proposition for the combination of features, functionality, service and price. Best-in-Category: paysafecard paysafecard, an e-voucher with 16-digit PIN, is sold in 450,000 retail locations, bringing e-commerce to cash customers in 29 European countries at no cost to the customer. paysafecard group […]
