PayTech


Wells Fargo invests in Alpha Payments Cloud

Alpha Payments Cloud, a provider of the AlphaHub Payments-as-a-Service platform, has received investment from Wells Fargo. Through its Startup Accelerator programme, for the next six months Wells Fargo will collaborate with Alpha Payments Cloud on its global payments network technologies for merchants. The company says its valuation now stands at $100 million. Wells Fargo’s Startup […]

Viewpoint: How Apple Pay Could Impact the Future of Retail

While industry observers think Apple Pay adoption hasn’t yet hit a critical mass, the mass it has hit (with 1 million more users added each week) makes it a substantial alternative to the use of contactless payment cards. But more importantly, it’s what’s still to come from Apple that retailers (and others vying for mobile wallet share) can’t afford to ignore.

Viewpoint: How IoT Connects Financial Services to Everyday Life

Tapping into the IoT trend requires financial services providers to consider the use case for each device and make sure the information and capabilities are relevant. Irrelevant information will at best be ignored and at worst lead consumers to disengage.

Viewpoint: Don’t Fear the Breacher

What it comes down to is that there’s no reason for merchants or financial institutions to live in constant fear of data breaches when there are solutions that will identify and prevent fraud attempts while also protecting the customer experience.

N.Y. DOL Revises Payroll Card Proposed Rule; Fee Restrictions Remain

For more than a year, payroll card providers have had to deal with the specter of a final rule on payroll card regulations from the New York Department of Labor. The wait is now over, sort of. Rather than issue a final rule, the N.Y. DOL today issued a second revision to its proposal, but the industry is still concerned about its implications.

DiPocket, GPS Launch Financial App in Poland

DiPocket, a U.K.-based fintech company heads east to Poland with the launch of its DiP mobile financial app, which the company says will provide an alternative to expensive traditional bank accounts or complement consumers’ current banking services.

Samsung Pay Launches in Australia, Promising Gifts

Samsung Pay has launched in Australia, enabling mobile payments for consumers, but the hardware maker wants its mobile wallet to encompass much more, including gift cards, loyalty and transit.

Visa Trumpets Success of Gas Station Anti-Fraud Technology

Gasoline sellers that use a Visa fraud-reduction tool have experienced significant declines in chargebacks and other fraud metrics, the payments network said today. On average, gas stations that use the service experienced a 54 percent decline in counterfeit fraud rates and a 51 percent decline in lost and stolen fraud chargeback rates.

Apple Pay to Take on E-Commerce Giants

Apple is about to make it easier for its users to shop online, and the move will put Apple Pay in direct competition with PayPal, Amazon and the networks’ online payments services for the loyalties of online shoppers.

Supercard Here to Save U.K. Travelers from Fees; Amex not Included

It’s a bird. It’s a plane. No, it’s Supercard, a MasterCard prepaid card and accompanying mobile app catering to U.K. consumers traveling abroad. Supercard, developed by Wirecard AG and Travelex, enables travelers to earn rewards on the cards they want—except for American Express cards—without paying the typical international transaction fees.

House Amendment Could Stymie CFPB Payday Rulemaking

The U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations recently approved its Fiscal Year 2017 Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Bill, and its passage (30-17) most definitely represents a thorn in the side of the CFPB because it delays the bureau’s regulations for payday loans.

Report: Digital the New Front in Fraud Fight

With fraudsters setting their sights on digital channels, financial services providers have to walk a fine line to balance security with consumer demand for a fast, frictionless payment experience. A new report canvassed fraud management executives across multiple industries—including mainstream and alternative financial services—to gain insight into the latest techniques and strategies to meet evolving fraud challenges.

Travelex partners with Wirecard to launch new card and mobile product, Supercard

Travelex has launched Supercard, a MasterCard and mobile app combo for UK travellers to avoid debit/credit card roaming fees and charges when spending abroad. Supercard will be chip and PIN protected. The security aspect will be taken care of by a payments firm Wirecard. Following a successful pilot, Supercard is now offered to the UK […]

Neema and MasterCard team up for debit card for migrant workers in Asia

Fintech start-up Neema has issued the MasterCard debit card for migrant workers from the Philippines, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka – which promises to drastically reduce the cost migrant workers pay to send money home. Neema says there are no transfer or foreign currency exchange fees. “One of the biggest expenses for migrant workers is […]

CFPB Spends Big to Reach Consumers Online

The CFPB wants to make more consumers aware of its watchdog mission and is spending big to ensure that: $15.3 million so far in fiscal 2016, making the federal agency among the biggest government advertisers, according to reports and an online database.

N.Y. DOL Payroll Rule Expected this Week

It’s been more than a year since the New York Department of Labor first proposed payroll card regulations, but the agency is expected to follow up with a new payroll card rulemaking in the New York State Register this week. What’s uncertain is whether the regulations will be final or if the state will be following up its controversial proposal with a revised proposed rulemaking for which it will accept additional comments.

VocaLink, Zapp Bring Faster Payments to Retailers

Though the focus for most faster payments initiatives primarily has been on P2P and B2B real-time payments, the technology has yet to really be implemented for POS and e-commerce transactions. London-based international payment provider VocaLink and its Zapp technology subsidiary are looking to change that.

Visa Europe unveils augmented reality payment tech

Visa Europe and its innovation hub, Visa Europe Collab, have teamed up with visual discovery and augmented reality app Blippar to bring augmented reality to payments. The new e-commerce solution, unveiled at a recent fashion show in London, enables designer garments to be instantly purchased straight off the backs of models. The pilot fashion brand […]

Top fintech stories this week – 10 June 2016

Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place! Goldman Sachs to underpin new digital bank with Infosys tech It’ll be the e-Finacle digital banking platform, Banking Technology understands. Infographics: The Euro 2016 guide to e-commerce In the spirit of that football tournament that starts today, we’ve got an e-commerce […]

Infographics: Flavors of Fast – the world of immediate payments

FIS has published its third annual report, Flavors of Fast, which shows via infographics the growth in the number of real-time payment initatives and usage volumes. Warren Gardiner, VP strategy enterprise payments, FIS, says: “Context is everything: speed without context is just faster; creating context without open data mining is merely an improvement. Speed, context […]

Has Death Knell Sounded for MCX’s CurrentC?

MCX, led by a consortium of large retailers such as Walmart, Target and Best Buy, has announced it’s ending the beta test of its mobile payments service CurrentC, and accounts will be deactivated June 28.

Dodd-Frank Faces New Challenge from House Republicans

A less powerful CFPB and looser caps on card interchange fees: Those are among the potential features of a bill that Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) plans to introduce later this month that would overturn major provisions of the Dodd-Frank act.

People on the Move: Rich Baich, FSSCC

The Financial Services Sector Coordinating Council (FSSCC) has announced the election of Rich Baich, chief information security officer of Wells Fargo and Co., as its new chairman.

People on the Move: Tristan Blampied, Pelican

Tristan Blampied has joined Pelican, where he will serve as senior product manager for the firm’s suite of transaction banking, regulatory compliance and corporate payments solutions.

People on the Move: Leonore Van Waaij, Backbase

Omnichannel digital banking technology provider Backbase has hired Leonore Van Waaij to be the company’s new chief financial officer, heading all of the firm’s financial, legal and compliance operations.

Cybercriminals Take Bite out of O’Charley’s

National restaurant chain O’Charley’s announced it suffered a security breach that may have exposed diners’ payment card information during a three-week period starting in mid-March.

ACI Worldwide teams with Raphaels Bank for Faster Payments Scheme access

ACI Worldwide is partnering with UK-based Raphaels Bank, opening up access to the Faster Payments Scheme in the UK for financial institutions (FIs), including challenger banks and payment service providers (PSPs). ACI says its relationship with the bank means FIs and PSPs can use ACI as a “technical aggregator” providing real-time access to Faster Payments […]

Olympic Athletes Hope for Medal, Guaranteed Visa Payments Ring

Not all Olympic athletes will be coming home from the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games with medals around their necks, but they’ll be coming home with rings on their fingers. The first contactless payments ring linked to a Visa-branded GPR account will be given to approximately 45 athletes that are part of Team Visa.

Report: Prepaid Fraud Remains Low; Other Fraud Worries Increase

Prepaid cards accounted for approximately $500 million fraud losses in the past year, translating into 4 percent of U.S. card fraud, an amount that equals $4.70 in fraud loss per card, according to a study released today by LexisNexis Risk Solutions.