PayTech


People on the Move: Nick Holland, Javelin Strategy & Research (May 2013)

Javelin Strategy & Research has hired Nick Holland as senior analyst of payments. He has spent the last decade focusing on the intersection of payments, mobile, retail and security, according to the company. His prior work includes Mercator Advisory Group, Pyramid Research, Aite Group and, most recently, Yankee Group’s Mobile Money Strategies practice. Holland has […]

People on the Move: Nick Holland, Javelin Strategy & Research (May 2013)

May 2013 Javelin Strategy & Research has hired Nick Holland as senior analyst of payments. He has spent the last decade focusing on the intersection of payments, mobile, retail and security, according to the company. His prior work includes Mercator Advisory Group, Pyramid Research, Aite Group and, most recently, Yankee Group’s Mobile Money Strategies practice. […]

People on the Move: Steve Elefant, GoPago Inc. (May 2013)

GoPago Inc., a San Francisco-based provider of emerging mobile payments technology, has hired Steve Elefant as chief strategy officer, and he will be in charge of strategy and ISO partnerships. Elefant has more than 25 years of experience in overall company strategy, products, end-to-end encryption, mobile, business development, and mergers and acquisitions. Most recently, he […]

People on the Move: Mike Delagrange, Galitt (May 2013)

Galitt, a French payments and electronic transactions consultancy, has appointed Mike Delagrange senior vice president and general manager of Galitt’s U.S. operations. He will be responsible for positioning Galitt’s success in selling EMV, NFC and TSM consulting services throughout Europe to major companies in the U.S. Delagrange has more than 20 years of conventional and […]

Discover’s Joe Hurley Talks PayPal, UnionPay and More (May 2013)

Joseph Hurley has been with Discover since 1985 when the then-small company with the big idea—cash-back rewards—got started. He has held positions in marketing, product management, government relations, and network products and services. From 2008-2010, Hurley was deputy president of Diners Club International, and from 2003-2008 he served as head of global client relations and vice president […]

Company on the Move: Accel, Fiserv Inc. (May 2013)

Fiserv Inc., a Brookfield, Wis.-based provider of financial services technology, has announced that its debit payments network, formerly known as ACCEL/Exchange, has a new name: Accel. The name reflects the network’s ability to accelerate funds transfers across retail, biller and social P2P payments, and positions the network within the Fiserv portfolio of payments capabilities to […]

People on the Move: Edward P. Gilligan, American Express (May 2013)

American Express Co. has promoted Edward P. Gilligan to president. Gilligan has served as vice chairman of American Express since 2007, when he was named head of a B2B group responsible for the company’s global relationships with merchants, corporations and bank partners. He joined the company in 1980, and he was named business unit president […]

People on the Move: Steve Paradine, Allied Payment Network (May 2013)

Allied Payment Network, a Fort Wayne, Ind.-based provider of online bill payment services to the financial industry, has announced that Steve Paradine, a financial industry sales veteran with more than 25 years of experience, has joined the company as its senior vice president of sales. His previous experience includes Fidelity National Information Services (FIS), where […]

Diplomacy needed to secure London’s future as a financial centre

A difficult future for the banking industry, but a potentially great one for London as a financial centre, was predicted by Sir John Gieve, chairman of VocaLink and former deputy governor of the Bank of England, speaking at the opening of Swift’s Business Forum in London today. But the industry must be careful and diplomatic if it wants to have any real say in how the future is shaped.

Ukash Inks Funds-Transfer Deal with MoneyGram (April 30, 2013)

London-based prepaid voucher specialist Ukash is extending the reach of its services further with a new deal announced this week with MoneyGram. The alliance will enable Ukash customers to send funds from the Ukash Website to recipients at any MoneyGram outlet worldwide. The service will launch in the U.K. later this year, with plans to […]

Tango Card, ZooZ, GoCardless Raise Investment Capital (April 30, 2013)

Several payment startups have reported funding rounds in recent days, among them are, Tango Card, ZooZ and GoCardless. Tango Card, a Seattle-based provider of a multipurpose gift card that can be used to buy closed-loop gift cards from national retailers, donate to charity or cash out remaining balances, this week announced a $4.1 million series […]

Mobile Commerce Surges in Netherlands (April 30, 2013)

Mobile commerce in the Netherlands reached EUR560 million (US$748 million) in 2012, or 6 percent of all online spending volume during the year, according to a report from industry group Thuiswinkel. The number of Dutch consumers who made a purchase via mobile device during the second half of 2012 was 1.7 million, up a whopping […]

Survey: More Perks, Relief from Security Fears Key to Boosting Mobile Payments (April 30, 2013)

Giving consumers preferential customer service treatment and instant discounts for paying with their smartphones could help boost mobile payment usage, a new Accenture survey suggests. In a broad survey of 4,000 U.S. and Canadian consumers conducted online last year, half of respondents already using their smartphones for payments said they would be more likely to […]

Swift sees expanding role as facilitator for industry collaboration

As delegates gather for the third Business Forum organised by Swift in London this week, issues on the global impact of regulation and the banking industry’s response to it are more pressing than ever Perhaps equally pertinent to the conference – the largest event Swift organises aside from the annual Sibos conference and exhibition, with […]

Dermot Turing, Clifford Chance, at International Payments 2013

Dermot Turing, partner at Clifford Chance, told the IPS conference that regulators are hampering innovation by making it hard for the industry to collaborate though application of competition law. He advocates that banks – particularly from the transaction and payments world – should be educating the regulators in order to get better regulations.

Javelin: Mobile POS Could Lead to $1.1 Trillion in New Card Payments (April 29, 2013)

The rising prevalence of mobile POS systems could result in up to $1.1 trillion in additional card payments per year and increase payment card acceptance by as many as 20 million merchants, according to a new report by Javelin Strategy & Research. Mobile POS systems like Square, PayPal Here, SpotPay and iZettle, which have become popular […]

Bill to ‘Level’ Playing Field for Online, In-Store Retailers Gains Support in U.S. Senate (April 29, 2013)

Brick-and-mortar retailers are cheering the U.S. Senate’s support of proposed legislation that would prevent some online and catalog merchants from selling goods without collecting sales tax, which traditional retailers say would level the playing field as in-store, online and mobile sales channels converge. The U.S. Senate on May 6 will vote on the Marketplace Fairness […]

TSYS Tools Enable International Shoppers to Compare Prices in Different Currencies (April 29, 2013)

Cross-border shopping could become more convenient with a pair of new services from TSYS that display transactions in multiple currencies, along with the daily exchange rate, so consumers can decide which currency they prefer to pay with before making in-store or online purchases. Through a partnership with Planet Payment Inc., an international multicurrency payment processor, […]

Coinstar Rebrands as Outerwall (April 29, 2013)

In a move meant to embody the evolution of the company, automated retail provider Coinstar Inc. has announced plans to change its name to Outerwall Inc. The name change, which will be subject to shareholder vote in late June, reflects Coinstar’s growth “from a single coin-counting kiosk business into multiple automated retail businesses,” the Bellevue, […]

Blog: Digital/Mobile Payments and the Power of Social Media (April 2013)

By Hunny Huria, Visa At times I’m amazed how social media has changed our lives and continues to have potential to impact it more. There are innumerable people who start the day by checking their Facebook accounts. As of December 2012, Facebook had more than half a billion daily active users, and 9 million apps […]

Early Mobile ‘Wallet Wars’ Lessons Learned

Mobile wallets are still in the formative stage of their development but a few lessons already are emerging, according to certain payment industry players sharing their experiences this week at CARTES America in Las Vegas. Inventing new ways to pay using a smartphone is not enough to justify the effort to develop mobile wallets because […]

Belgian banks complete migration to SEPA CSM

The Belgian automated interbank retail payment system has been completely migrated to a new Clearing and Settlement Mechanism developed and operated by French payment processing specialist STET

CFPB, FDIC Weigh in on Payday, Deposit Advance Loans (April 25, 2013)

Payday and deposit advance loans were in the news today, with a new report from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and a Notice of Proposed Guidance from the FDIC each indicating that regulators soon could tighten rules governing short-term credit products. Payday and deposit advance loans can lead to a repeating cycle of indebtedness […]

MasterCard Exec: MasterPass Aims to Help Merchants ‘Differentiate’ in Converging Marketplace (April 25, 2013)

The U.S. rollout this spring of MasterCard’s MasterPass may be quieter than some other product launches because it doesn’t directly target consumers, Ed Olebe, group head, wallet services, emerging payments, MasterCard, said this week at CARTES America in Las Vegas. MasterPass, unveiled earlier this year as the successor to last year’s PayPass Wallet Services and […]

paysafecard Deal with Vindicia Strengthens U.S. Presence (April 25, 2013)

Online merchants using Vindicia’s CashBox SaaS platform are now able to accept paysafecard for digital goods and services, according to paysafecard, a European-based prepaid electronic payment solution provider, with offices in in Vienna, London and New York. “Vindicia is the ideal partner . . . to help us strengthen our footprint in the U.S.,” said […]

Isis Vending Program Going Nationwide (April 25, 2013)

The companies behind the Isis mobile wallet have teamed up with cashless acceptance technology provider USA Technologies (USAT) to launch a mobile payment and loyalty program for vending machines across the U.S. The partnership is an extension of USAT’s involvement in Isis’s test run in Salt Lake City and Austin, Texas, where Isis users can […]

Euronet Subsidiary Launches End-to-End Prepaid Solution in Europe (April 24, 2013)

A subsidiary of Leawood, Kan.-based processor Euronet Worldwide has launched a prepaid card issuing, processing and BIN sponsorship solution in Europe. Euronet 360 Finance Ltd. now is offering electronic money and payment services under the oversight of the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). By passporting its e-money license across the Single Euro Payments Area (excluding […]

Boomerang Debuts Online Gifting Service for E-Publishers (April 24, 2013)

Chicago-based social gifting service Boomerang has rolled out a new rewards service aimed at helping online publishers better engage and monetize their users by offering free gift card rewards to online merchants. Boomerang Rewards, an extension of the company’s recently unveiled brand platform, enables online publishers to give customers promotional gift cards to more than […]

BNP looks to standard Swift messages for improved collateral protection

BNP Paribas Securities Services and Swift are collaborating to enhance the bank’s collateral protection solutions for corporate, buy-side and sell-side clients. The bank has set up “Margin Project”, planning to integrate Swift’s standardised tri-party collateral messages to ensure full compliance with the upcoming regulatory requirements on OTC transaction, mitigation of counterparty risk, asset safety and […]

Amex to Issue EMV Corporate Cards in First Half of 2013 (April 23, 2013)

With the switch from magnetic stripe to EMV-equipped payment cards in the U.S. on the horizon, American Express said it will begin issuing corporate cards with chip-and-signature EMV technology within the first half of this year. The new cards will offer enhanced security by using advanced encryption technology that makes it more difficult for unauthorized […]

Fan-Centric Programs Announced on Both Sides of the Pond (April 23, 2013)

StoreFinancial Services has announced a marketing program designed to strengthen the bond between professional sports teams and their fans, as well as ties between team sponsors and their customers. With the Fan Experience Card program, which features a restricted authorization network (RAN) prepaid card that can be redeemed at any merchant inside or outside the […]

SBI Launches Visa-Branded Prepaid Card for Workers, Students (April 23, 2013)

State Bank of India (SBI) has launched a new prepaid card targeted for use by students and blue collar workers, the bank said. The Visa-branded State Bank Smart Payout Card is available at all SBI branches and can be used for POS and online purchases, as well as ATM cash withdrawals. Cards can be loaded […]