New product strategy director at Dovetail
Payment systems specialist Dovetail has hired Rossana Salaris as director of product strategy.
PayTech
Fed Issues FAQ’s on Durbin, Network Routing Rules May Increase Costs for Prepaid Issuers (March 14, 2013)
March 14, 2013 The Federal Reserve Board this week provided last-minute clarification on debit card routing rules under the Durbin Amendment and on the General Use Prepaid Exemption that experts say could give prepaid issuers heartburn, just about two weeks before the regulation’s April 1 effective date. Under a “Frequently Asked Questions” heading, the Fed […]
PayPal Buys Mobile App Firm, Adds iPad Merchant App (March 14, 2013)
March 14, 2013 PayPal Inc. is preparing to rev up its digital wallet with the acquisition of Duff Research, a Sunnyvale, Calif.-based mobile app development shop, the company announced this week on its blog. PayPal since last year has been putting a heavy emphasis on mobile in all of its new product developments, wrote James […]
i2c Seeks to Improve Methods of Gathering Consumer Feedback (March 14, 2013)
March 14, 2013 i2c Inc. has enhanced its process for obtaining feedback from prepaid card customers by enabling issuers and program managers that use the Redwood City, Calif.-based payments processor’s IVR system or customer service agents to gather customer feedback through mobile text surveys and automated collection of customer voice messages. Low response rates to […]
Western Union to Facilitate Government Disbursements in Haiti (March 14, 2013)
March 14, 2013 Continuing its recent global payments push, money transfer giant Western Union has announced a new program in Haiti aimed at enhancing government aid disbursements to citizens. The service initially will enable aid recipients, such as parents of young children, university students and senior citizens, to receive government payments at more than 600 […]
Polish Bank Debuts Mobile Payments Service (March 14, 2013)
March 14, 2013 PKO Bank Polski has launched a new mobile payment service for use at POS, online, ATMs and for P2P money transfer. The system, known as IKO, is available as a free app for Android and iOS-based smartphones and will soon expand to BlackBerry, Symbian, Java and Windows Phone, according to the Polish […]
Connecting to Consumers: Keys from Payments Innovators (March 2013)
March 2013 By Kate Fitzgerald, Emerging Payments Editor In the mobile landscape, the race to build close ties to consumers is intensifying as a broad range of players vie to become essential to individuals’ shopping, purchasing and daily financial management habits. Though still early in the game, at the Prepaid Expo USA in Orlando, Fla., […]
Paybefore Honors Innovation in Orlando (March 2013)
March 2013 Expanding the Boundaries of PrepaidLeft to right: Lisa Breitengross and Kevin Boglarsky, Discover On March 4, Paybefore celebrated 72 programs in 23 categories, naming for the first time Best-in-Category honorees at the 7th Annual Paybefore Awards Ceremony, which capped off the first day of Prepaid Expo USA in Orlando, Fla. This year—for […]
Viewpoint: Navigating Important Drivers of Prepaid Innovation. First Stop: EMV (March 2013)
March 2013 By Lori Breitzke, E&S Consulting LLC Imagine that tech innovation is like a superhighway. There always are some drivers zipping ahead of the rest at speeds that make the others uncomfortable, while others move at a less frenetic pace. Innovation in prepaid, on the other hand, straddles two different lanes, sometimes remaining ahead of […]
Mobile bill payments to grow rapidly and migrate to tablets
Almost 200 million mobile users will be making bill payments via their mobile by 2017, according to research. According to Juniper Research, there is a growing user acceptance of ‘push’ mobile banking and a sharp rise in tablet adoption that will drive users of transactional tablet banking services. The report also finds that, adoption of […]
Boosting Gift Card Sales in the U.S. and Abroad (March 2013)
March 2013 By Bill Grabarek and Loraine DeBonis Though much of the payments buzz at last week’s Prepaid Expo USA in Orlando, Fla., revolved around mobile and GPR products, closed-loop cards—whether it’s B2B or consumer gift cards—shouldn’t be ignored, according to several panelists who shared methods of maximizing sales, as well as challenges and […]
People on the Move: Ray Iglesias, Ubiquity Global Services (March 2013)
March 2013 Ubiquity Global Services recently announced that Ray Iglesias has joined the New York City-based business process outsourcing organization as CEO. Iglesias has a recognized track record in growing a number of successful companies. Most recently he helped manage the integration of payments technology company TxVia into Google. Prior to Google, Iglesias served as […]
People on the Move: Kevin Spector and Christian Krejcik, payvia Inc. (March 2013)
March 2013 payvia Inc., a Los Angeles-based mobile payments provider, has appointed Kevin Spector senior vice president, global payments, and Christian Krejcik director of strategic sales. Spector previously served as CEO of Mobile First, an international mobile payments network acquired by payvia, and he has more than 18 years of digital media, finance and international […]
Blog: NFC Still Top Dog at GSMA Mobile World Congress (March 2013)
March 2013 By Sirpa Nordlund, Mobey Forum So, where were you in the last week of February? If, like me, you work in the mobile industry, there’s a fair chance you visited Barcelona for the GSMA Mobile World Congress. Over three days, 72,000 visitors from more than 200 countries and all corners of the mobile […]
People on the Move: Sam Altman, Green Dot Corp. (March 2013)
March 2013 Prepaid issuer and program manager Green Dot Corp. recently announced the appointment of Sam Altman, Green Dot executive vice president of mobile products and strategy, to its board of directors. Green Dot’s board of directors is now comprised of eight members, and Altman will serve as a Class I director. He also is […]
U.S. Bank Exec Urges Banks to Make ‘Lots of Small Bets’ in M-Payments (March 12, 2013)
March 12, 2013 Banks looking to devise mobile payments strategies must go against cautious traditions and begin experimenting with a variety of mobile wallet and mobile payment approaches at once without worrying about success or failure, a panel of experts advised a standing-room-only crowd on Mon., March 11 in a session about the future of […]
Discover Partners with Nigerian Processor for Cross-Border Acceptance (March 12, 2013)
March 12, 2013 Discover Financial Services has agreed to a deal with Interswitch Limited, the largest integrated payments processor in Nigeria, to enable acceptance of Discover and Diners Club International cards at Interswitch-enabled ATMs and POS terminals throughout that country. The partnership will expand payment opportunities for Nigerians as well, giving holders of Nigeria’s Verve […]
PayPal Unveils New Developer Tools to ‘Streamline’ Mobile Payments (March 12, 2013)
March 12, 2013 PayPal has announced the release of new development tools that will enable third-party developers to streamline in-app payments, the company says. The new features include a mobile software development kit (SDK), JavaScript PayPal buttons that can be simply integrated into Websites, and new APIs for payments processing and settlement. In 2009, PayPal […]
First Data: Taxes, Weather Slow Consumer Spending in February (March 12, 2013)
March 12, 2013 Higher payroll taxes, federal tax refund delays, high gasoline prices and inclement weather that spanned much of the United States dampened consumer spending last month, according to the latest SpendTrend data released by First Data Corp., an Atlanta-based payments processor. Dollar volume growth slowed to 4.6 percent year-over-year compared to January’s growth […]
Sunrise Consolidates Separate Operations under New Banner (March 12, 2013)
March 12, 2013 Sunrise Community Banks is bringing its three separate local bank operations together under a single bank charter and will rebrand the enterprise as Sunrise Banks, effective April 1, 2013, the company announced this week. Under the new name, Franklin Bank, Park Midway Bank and prepaid issuer University Bank will merge into a […]
Austrian Gasoline Retailer Replaces Paper Vouchers with Gift Cards (March 12, 2013)
March 12, 2013 Ingenico, a Paris-based POS terminal maker, today announced that subsidiary easycash Loyalty Solutions has developed a gift card for gas station company JET Tankstellen Austria GmbH, enabling the Phillips 66 subsidiary to replace paper vouchers. Customers can use the card to pay for gas purchases at the more than 140 JET gas […]
Corporate clients concerned about stability of banking partners
The good news is that 63% of corporate executives are “highly satisfied” with the service they get from their core banking partners; the bad news is less than half of them are confident that their banks are stable and operating securely within their risk parameters. This is making them increasingly interested in the stability of […]
Fed Says No Plans to Alter Debit Interchange Limits (March 11, 2013)
March 11, 2013 The Federal Reserve Board last week said it has no plans to change its regulations on debit card interchange fee limits, despite outcry from retail and consumer groups that claim the limits are currently too high. The Fed issued its second biennial report on the debit card market—as required by Dodd-Frank—which surveyed card […]
U.S. Banks Taking ‘Cautious’ Approach to Timing Broad EMV Issuance (March 11, 2013)
March 11, 2013 Many U.S. banks are taking a cautious approach in making any plans to broadly issue EMV cards to consumers prior to October 2015, when the card networks’ liability-shift deadlines take effect, as they weigh the cost of the migration against the risks of doing nothing, several banking executives said today during a […]
FTC Takes Aim at Text Spammers, Issues Mobile Payment Report (March 11, 2013)
March 11, 2013 The Federal Trade Commission is setting its sights on the mobile sector. Late last week, the agency filed a series of lawsuits against accused senders of mobile marketing spam and released a report on mobile payments expressing concern over privacy, security and billing issues. The FTC filed eight complaints in courts around […]
Senate Committee Holds Hearing on BSA/AML Enforcement (March 11, 2013)
March 11, 2013 Government agencies must use their full enforcement authority to penalize institutions that run afoul of Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) requirements, especially with the advent of mobile payments, which present “huge potential” for fraud, said Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) during his summation of a hearing last week on BSA compliance. Warner added that […]
Banking on digital solutions to build trust and innovation
Rising to the challenge of reconnecting with customers, rebuilding trust and renewing the banking experience, banks are starting to explore digital technologies and solutions.
Firms face multimillion bill to address gaps in industry plans for T2S
There are “major discrepancies” in firms’ readiness for the implementation of Target2-Securities that leave “significant gaps” in the industry’s plans, according to new research carried out by Celent and Swift.
Expo Keynote: Johnson Says Prepaid Gives Assist to Underbanked (March 7, 2013)
March 7, 2013 Earvin “Magic” Johnson is no stranger to winning—whether on the basketball court or in the board room. During his Hall-of-Fame career with the Los Angeles Lakers, the NBA legend racked up five championships and three league MVP awards, but his accomplishments as a businessman might be just as impressive. His Magic Johnson […]
GPR: ‘Just Scratching the Surface’ (March 7, 2013)
March 7, 2013 During a Tuesday session entitled GPR: A Destination or Journey?, panelists at Prepaid Expo USA in Orlando, Fla., discussed whether GPR cards should be a stepping stone to a bank account and other products or if they are sufficient financial tools in their own right. The consensus seemed to be that moving everyone […]
Taking Gift Cards to North and South America (March 7, 2013)
March 7, 2013 On the final day of Prepaid Expo USA in Orlando, Fla., this week, First Data’s Michael Hursta, vice president, prepaid category manager, discussed consumer research that reveals some challenges and opportunities with taking closed-loop gift cards into international markets. In Latin America, First Data looked at five countries—Mexico, Brazil, Guatemala, Chile and […]
CFSI Nonprofit Exec: Prepaid Could be ‘Anchor’ for Broad Financial Services for Changing Society (March 7, 2013)
March 7, 2013 “Banklike” card products, such as American Express Co.’s Bluebird, Chase Liquid and Green Dot’s GoBank, that target underserved customers who are disproportionately “young and mobile” are just the tip of the iceberg of innovative new products emerging to serve a changing society, according to Rachel Schneider, senior vice president for insight and analytics for […]
Visa Europe ups Stake in Monitise, Inks Deal to Increase Banks’ Mobile Money Tools (March 6, 2013)
March 6, 2013 Visa Europe is deepening its relationship with Monitise plc with a new deal to expand mobile payments and mobile commerce services to 3,000 European banks across 36 countries and a commitment to increase Visa Europe’s existing stake in London-based banking and mobile payments provider Monitise, the companies announced today. Visa Europe will […]
Card Design, Customer Experience Key to Reducing GPR Churn (March 6, 2013)
March 6, 2013 As GPR card providers seek to develop long-term cardholder relationships, a panel of industry experts at the Prepaid Expo USA in Orlando, Fla., discussed strategies of dealing with one of the prepaid industry’s biggest hurdles—reducing customer churn. The lifespan of a typical GPR card is a short one; cards distributed online average […]
Ex-Southwest Airlines Exec Sees Industry Parallels in Prepaid Card Competition, Consolidation (March 6, 2013)
March 6, 2013 The prepaid card industry may appear to have little in common with the airline industry, but prepaid card marketers could learn a few lessons from Southwest Airlines about surviving turbulent times and transforming commodity-like financial services products into unique and successful brands, Southwest’s former top executive told attendees during a keynote session […]
Experts Offer Sales-Boosting Tips for Gift Card Retailers (March 6, 2013)
March 6, 2013 Visibility, replenishment and store associate awareness are three keys to energizing a retailer’s gift card category, according to Colleen Dorwart, senior manager of gift card services at Cabela’s Inc. Dorwart, who was part of a panel discussion this week at Prepaid Expo USA in Orlando, Fla., also stressed frequent conference calls between […]
Paybefore Honors Innovation in Orlando (March 4, 2013)
March 4, 2013 Paybefore celebrated 72 programs in 23 categories, naming for the first time Best-in-Category honorees at the 7th Annual Paybefore Awards Ceremony, which capped off the first day of Prepaid Expo USA in Orlando, Fla. This year—for the very first time—there was a sixth judge, consisting of the votes of visitors to Paybefore.com, […]
Prepaid Card Exec Panel: Downward Pricing Pressure Demands ‘Holistic’ Strategy (March 5, 2013)
March 5, 2013 As competitive pressure drives prepaid card pricing and fees steadily downward, prepaid marketers must become savvier about managing portfolios on a holistic basis rather than as low-cost standalone products, a panel of industry executives suggested during a panel discussion on the future of prepaid cards on March 4 at the Prepaid Expo […]
Discover Exec: Prepaid Card Industry at ‘Pivotal’ Point, Reaching Diverse Audiences (March 5, 2013)
March 5, 2013 The prepaid card industry as it matures is reaching a broader range of consumers at all age and income levels, and competition is forcing prepaid products to become more innovative, said Beth Horowitz, Discover senior vice president, on March 4 at Prepaid Expo USA in Orlando, Fla. Mainstream consumer groups steadily adopting […]
CPI Card Group Expands Secure Packaging Capabilities in U.K. (March 5, 2013)
March, 5, 2013 CPI Card Group, a Littleton, Colo.-based card producer, has expanded capabilities at its Petersfield facility in the U.K. to support demand for secure prepaid card packaging, the company announced yesterday. The new capabilities, which include gift card packaging for distribution within an open- or closed-loop environment, add to the existing products and […]
