Company on the Move: Viral Technologies, Rebranding as Acclaimed Labs
Viral Technologies, a Portland, Maine-based financial technology predictive analytics provider, recently rebranded as Acclaimed Labs.
PayTech
Back to Square One: Federal Court Rejects Landmark Interchange Settlement
Last week’s federal court rejection of a 4-year-old $5.7 billion interchange fee settlement has retailers applauding, and Visa and MasterCard gearing up for what could be years of ongoing ligation and perhaps a stop at the Supreme Court.
Neopay: The Sky Likely Won’t Fall; Offers Brexit Insurance If It Does
The U.K.’s historic decision to exit the European Union (or Brexit) last month has left many businesses speculating what the ramifications will be for them, especially e-money issuers based in the U.K. that have licenses that they passport to EU countries. Neopay, a U.K.-based e-money and payment regulatory consultancy, is hoping to assuage the jitters of new and established e-money companies in Europe with Brexit Insurance.
Tech Titans Fight Back against Biometrics Suits
In a pair of legal battles that could have a ripple effect into the payments and retail sectors, Facebook and Google have invoked a recent Supreme Court decision and the U.S. Constitution to defend against claims that the companies’ facial recognition systems violate a key state biometric privacy law.
ItzCash to Join Integrated Bill Payment Platform in India
Indian payment solutions provider ItzCash Card Ltd. has received in-principle approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to participate in the country’s integrated bill payments platform, known as the Bharat Bill Payments System (BBPS).
Why payments can no longer be “an industry”
There are three options of a road ahead for the payments industry players: 1) to carry on as they are and watch their margins erode; 2) to transform into a utility; 3) to have a long hard look at their value chain. If you choose the latter – what do you see, asks Sapient Global Markets’ Leda […]
Wirecard moves into North America with Citi Prepaid Card Services acquisition
Wirecard has reached a definitive agreement to acquire Citi Prepaid Card Services – giving it an expansion into North America. The firm says Citi Prepaid card services have launched over 2,500 client programmes, associated with global companies and brands, but primarily in North America. Subject to the usual regulatory approvals, the deal is expected to […]
All that glitters isn’t just our clothes!
When I first started travelling for my job, it wasn’t too afield. I was working in Australia so it involved trips to New Zealand, Singapore and not much more. However, in only a few years, my travel grew to where it became routine to visit the US, Germany and the UK, but with the aircraft […]
Top fintech stories this week – 1 July 2016
Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place! Brexit threat to UK jobs at Visa Should I stay or should I go? Swift hackers steal $10m from Ukraine bank Massive attack. New challenger bank readies for launch in UK Atten-shun! UK military personnel, veterans and their […]
Visa Lawsuit Alleges Walmart Plan to Eliminate Signature Verification
Visa has filed a lawsuit against Walmart in a dispute over customers’ use of signatures or PINs to verify purchases with EMV-equipped debit cards at Walmart. Last month, Walmart sued Visa, claiming the payments network required the retailer to offer EMV debit users the option of signature or PIN verification in violation of the Durbin Amendment.
Blackboard Nabs Higher One Payment Platform for $260 Million
The sale will give Blackboard control of Higher One’s CASHNet platform, which provides billing and payments services to more than 700 campuses and millions of students across the U.S.
Reports: EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Heads Toward Approval
That would provide some long-awaited certainty to financial service providers and tech companies like Google and Facebook that handle consumers’ personal information.
Bottomline unveils universal aggregator for payments
Bottomline Technologies has launched its Universal Aggregator for payments and the accreditation of its “Faster Payment” processing capability. Bottomline Universal Aggregator has been designed to give banks, corporates, governments and non-financial banking institutions an “easy plug-in” to an array of payment clearing and settlement systems around the world. The “first-of-its-kind” service provides a single interface […]
Wirecard Stakes Claim in North America with Citi Prepaid Buy
Wirecard AG has been making numerous deals and acquisitions over the past several months to expand its global footprint, but today’s news that it has entered a definitive agreement to acquire Citi Prepaid Services puts it firmly on the map in North America.
Senators Want Answers on Prepaid Outages
U.S. Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) are demanding answers from Green Dot, MasterCard and Walmart about a May outage that left Green Dot-issued Walmart MoneyCard customers without access to certain prepaid services. The senators also asked MasterCard to distinguish the circumstances between the Green Dot outage and the one RushCard experienced October 2015 when it switched to MasterCard’s processing platform.
MasterCard, Microsoft Collaborate on E-Commerce Payments
The companies say they will make accepting online payments easier for the more than 20,000 business customers who use Microsoft Dynamics software in 13 markets.
Supreme Court to Hear ATM Fee Case
First filed in 2011 by a consortium of consumers, independent ATM operators and the National ATM Council, the suit alleges that payment networks’ ATM fee policies suppressed competition by barring ATM operators from offering discounts to users who transact via networks other than MasterCard or Visa.
Amazon Payments Becomes Third Digital Wallet Accepted by Feds
In fiscal year 2015, 98 percent of the $3.98 trillion remitted to the Treasury Department’s Bureau of Fiscal Services came through electronic payments.
Kroger Latest Merchant to Challenge Visa Debit Verification Rules
Grocery giant Kroger Co. has filed a lawsuit against Visa Inc. over the payment network’s rules for verifying EMV debit card transactions. First reported by the Wall Street Journal, the suit is based on similar issues as those in a legal challenge by Walmart, which sued Visa in May.
Android Pay, QuickPass Expand to New Markets
This week marks a couple of “firsts” for two mobile wallets. Android Pay has launched in its first Asian country, and UnionPay International’s QuickPass mobile wallet took its first step outside of China.
Vodafone Expands Wallets and Transfer Services with MasterCard and PayPal
Vodafone has expanded its global money wallet and money transfer services via programs involving PayPal and MasterCard.
QikServe Updates Mobile-Ordering Technology for Hotels
QikServe, which sells mobile ordering and payment services, has released QikServe5, which the company said caters to the hospitality sector. Mobile ordering, particularly order-ahead features, have been more prevalent in the QSR industry thus far.
Swift’s global payments initiative gets boost from 73 banks
Swift has revealed 73 banks worldwide have now joined its global payments initiative for cross-border payments. The latest to join are Alfa-Bank, Axis Bank, Banco de Crédito del Peru, Banco do Brasil, Bangkok Bank, Bank of Nova Scotia, Banque Européenne d’investissement, CaixaBank, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Credit Agricole, CTBC Bank, E.Sun Commercial Bank, Fifth […]
Post-Brexit: PIF Calls for U.K. Officials to Protect Businesses; Petition Calls for New Vote
Shortly after the narrowly decided vote for the U.K. to leave the EU (or Brexit) was announced, a trade association is urging the U.K. government to protect U.K.-based financial services providers and a petition calling for a second referendum has nearly 4 million signatures.
Amex to Reach Cardholders through Facebook Messenger
A new partnership with Facebook will enable American Express to interact with cardholders via Facebook Messenger. Unveiled at the Cannes-Lions International Festival of Creativity in Cannes, France, the initiative features an American Express messenger “bot” that sends cardholders real-time purchase notifications and information about card benefits and services related to those purchases.
Jacobs Named Green Dot Chairman
Green Dot Corp. has announced the appointment of William I Jacobs as chairman of the board of directors, effective June 23, 2016. Jacobs takes the helm following the company’s May decision to split the roles of chairman and CEO—both of which had been held by Steve Streit—after a lengthy proxy battle with shareholder Harvest Capital Strategies.
Canada to Germany Ripple bank transfer breakthrough for banking industry
Canada’s ATB Financial sent €666.67 to ReiseBank in Germany using Ripple technology, with the transaction completing in eight seconds. The participants say this is the world’s first bank transfer using blockchain. SAP, which provides ATB with its core banking software, and Accenture (SAP’s partner and system integrator at ATB) were also involved in the project. […]
Fiserv launches real-time alerts solution for bank customers, Notifi
Fiserv has launched Notifi, a platform for the delivery of real-time alerts for retail and SME bank customers. Home Federal Bank and C&F Bank are among the first takers. The solution consolidates information from across a financial institution’s systems – including core account processing, online banking and mobile banking, lending software, debit and credit cards […]
U.K. Votes to Exit EU; Payments Industry Faces Uncertainty
The people have decided and the U.K. is splitting from the European Union, raising serious concerns for the payments industry. Among those concerns is how passporting will work when the U.K. is no longer part of the EU since the majority of European e-money issuers have licenses in the U.K. that they passport elsewhere. Fifty-two percent of voters opted to bow out, or “Brexit,” as it’s commonly called.
Payments Industry Braces for ‘Brexit’ Results
As voters head to polling places today to decide whether the U.K. should split from the European Union, the referendum is top of mind for members of the payments industry around the world. Several issues for the industry would be in flux should the U.K. decide to bow out, or “Brexit,” as it’s commonly called.
Canadian Prepaid-Sizing Study Shows Bright Future for Open-Loop
Canada’s open-loop prepaid market saw CAD$3.1 billion (US$2.4 billion) in total card loads in 2015, according to a new market-sizing report offering insights into the country’s fast-growing prepaid industry.
Microsoft’s New Wallet Faces Stiff Competition, But a Potential Boost from LinkedIn
Microsoft’s mobile wallet launch this week seems like small ball at first glance but could pay off as more consumers turn to smartphone payments, and the software giant moves forward with a big acquisition.
Wirecard and Verifone join forces to grow payments business in Asia
The five-year agreement combines Wirecard software and Verifone devices, with Indonesia as the first target market. The strategic alliance will see the Indonesian subsidiary of Wirecard, PT Prima Vista Solusi, collaborating with the local operations of Verifone. Steve Aliferis, president of Verifone Asia Pacific, says that the company is now establishing “a local team and […]
People on the Move: Jason Bohrer, CPI Card Group
Card fulfillment and manufacturing specialist CPI Card Group has announced the appointment of Jason Bohrer as senior vice president of operations.
People on the Move: Sherlina Chew, Damien Kopp, GoSwiff International
Global financial solutions provider GoSwiff International has appointed Sherlina Chew and Damien Kopp to leadership positions.
People on the Move: Eric Choi, Cause Mobile Wallet
Cause Mobile Wallet, a mobile wallet that creates sustainable funding for charitable causes, has announced the appointment of Eric Choi as president.
People on the Move: Sachin Dhawan, Blackhawk Network
Blackhawk Network has appointed Sachin Dhawan as senior vice president, chief technology officer.
People on the Move: Stephen Diamond, Lisa Fugate, i2c Inc.
Global payments processor and commerce solutions provider i2c Inc. has made personnel additions to its global client engagement team and its product marketing and management leadership.
Company on the Move: Discover, Utah Best of State Award
For the second year in a row, Discover has been selected as a top company in Utah by the Best of State award program.
People on the Move: Butch Hildebrand, National Merchants Association
The National Merchants Association, a global merchant advocacy group and services provider, has appointed Butch Hildebrand to the role of director of sales.
