Geopolitical shifts and increasing protectionism among nations will mean that the universal banking model is no longer sustainable – and there is little that anyone can do, according to Bill Michael, EMA head of financial services at KPMG. “The future shape of banking is beyond the control of boards, individual regulators or countries alone,” Michael […]
China’s giant retail payments operator Alibaba Group this week announced plans to expand its Alipay online payment service to Taiwan and simultaneously unveiled key upgrades to Alipay’s digital wallet, significantly increasing customers’ options for online and offline purchases.
Commuters in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area starting this week have a new way to pay for fares on buses, trains and streetcars serviced by the Utah Transit Authority. The UTA, in partnership with Atlanta-based InComm, have launched the FAREPAY card, a contactless, closed-loop card that can be loaded with funds from $5 to […]
U.S.-based digital currency exchange Kraken is set to be released into Europe. San Francisco’s Payward—the company behind Kraken, which exited beta last month—has inked a deal with Fidor Bank, a German financial services provider that combines traditional banking with Internet-based payments. Under terms of the deal, Kraken will become Fidor’s “exclusive digital currency trading platform” […]
Western Union is set to launch a new reloadable prepaid card in Italy in partnership with Lottomatica, a gaming technology solutions company that provides payment, reload and e-money services. The deal brings Western Union’s Paybefore Award-winning MyWU Prepaid Card to Italy, where it is targeted to serve more than 4 million migrant workers who can […]
Square Inc. is wading into the crowded U.S. P2P field this week with Square Cash, taking a somewhat unique debit card-based approach versus competitors by enabling Visa and MasterCard debit cardholders to send funds to each other free of charge via email.
Prepaid Financial Services (PFS), a London-based provider of global prepaid solutions, announced that its cardholders throughout Europe now can load their prepaid cards using the Ukash e-money service. Ukash codes can be purchased with cash from thousands of retail outlets, and the 19-digit code can be used to transfer funds by logging into the cardholder’s […]
With the Isis digital wallet set to launch nationwide later this year, the companies behind the wallet are hoping a special launch promotion will sweeten the proposition for consumer adoption.
Joint Electronic Teller Services Limited (JETCO), along with its 30 member banks, announced plans to build a mobile payment platform that uses NFC technology.
A system disruption last weekend enabled public assistance recipients in 17 states to make purchases using Electronic Benefits Transfer cards with no spending limits. Xerox, one of three companies that operate the payment system for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), said a routine test of a backup generator on Saturday caused the company’s EBT […]
In the latest setback to the Bitcoin craze, Dwolla announced it will phase out all Bitcoin-related operations by the end of this month, citing “uncertainty and confusion” around the virtual currency. Bitcoin accounted for only 0.1 percent of its merchants, according to Dwolla, which specializes in P2P transactions. The move comes on the heels of […]
Oct. 15, 2013 Several companies in the prepaid and emerging payments industry recently have received investor funding, including CardFlight, Carta Solutions Holding Corp., Gyft Inc., Leaf and Tabbedout. CardFlight, a New York-based firm that enables developers to integrate in-person card payments into their own apps, has raised $1.6 million in seed-round funding, led by New […]
While digital payments have become commonplace for paying bills and making purchases, person-to-person payments still have much unlocked potential for electronic payment providers, according to a new report from financial services technology provider Fiserv. In its 2013 “How Americans Pay Each Other” survey, the Brookfield, Wisc.-based company polled 2,533 Americans on how they made payments. […]
Proposed new regulations from Kenya’s central bank could force leading telecom provider Safaricom to open its M-Pesa electronic money transfer service to other providers, possibly bringing an end to the company’s dominance of the Kenyan e-money market.
Citi has expanded its electronic bank account management service to 55 countries, in a move that the bank says will help corporate treasurers to better manage risk. The bank also expanded its cross-border WorldLink payment service into new emerging markets.
Google Wallet’s latest makeover—a revised mobile app pushing merchant offers through more channels that’s available now for the first time to Apple Inc.’s iPhone users—means millions more consumers may give it a try.
This week in Las Vegas more than 4,500 attendees gathered for the second annual Money2020 conference. Companies across the payments value chain took the opportunity to showcase their latest partnerships, technology or programs with a deluge of announcements charting the future of money.
PayPal added another key piece to its POS strategy this week with the introduction of Payment Code, a QR code-based approach enabling consumers to pay by scanning the PayPal mobile app at checkout.
Turkey’s large unbanked population, relatively industry-friendly regulatory environment and growing popularity of payment cards, including prepaid and contactless, has made it an attractive and expanding market.
Prepaid processor i2c Inc. has been chosen to provide processing services for The Approved Card from Suze Orman MasterCard. Redwood City, Calif.-based i2c will bolster the card with new features, including an integrated communications engine that responds in real-time to cardholders’ behavior with personalized messages to help them better manage their finances. “Of the platforms […]
Online retail titan Amazon is making a major foray into electronic payments, unveiling a new service that enables e-commerce merchants to let customers pay with the cards saved in their Amazon accounts. Dubbed Login and Pay with Amazon, the feature gives participating retailers access to Amazon’s 215 million active account holders, who can make purchases […]
The U.K. government has decided to create a new regulatory body for retail payment systems that will be charged with ensuring a level playing field in the noncash payments market by promoting modernization, innovation and meeting the needs of consumers—all of which might otherwise be stifled by a lack of competition, according to Her Majesty’s […]
Don Kingsborough, vice president of retail and prepaid products at PayPal, had a clear message for Money2020 delegates in Las Vegas yesterday: “The future is actually now.”
Amex, home of that object of envy, the Black Card, is expanding in an unexpected direction – to provide services to the unbanked and underbanked.
The overwhelming majority of US consumers would not use a mobile wallet, according to a survey carried out by consultancy Consult Hyperion during September.
Operator group Telefónica has appointed a financial services veteran to lead up its Digital Financial Services unit. Pilar Aurrecoechea has been in the financial services sector for 25 years and will join the operator group’s innovation arm, Telefónica Digital, reporting into Vivek Dev, CEO of Digital Services. Aurrecoechea joins Telefónica from MasterCard where she was general manager for Spain and Portugal.
The US leads the world in card fraud, at least in part because it has lagged in the adoption of the EMV (Europay, MasterCard and Visa) Chip & PIN standard, and continues to use signatures for verification. One result, said Carolyn Balfany, group head for US product delivery at MasterCard Worldwide, during Money2020 in Las […]
A group of like-minded companies came together this summer to address the recent melee in payroll cards. The work is far from over, but their activity points to the power of pooling resources and relationships for real progress and impact.
Bitcoin is here to stay and will continue to grow, according to experts speaking on separate panels at Money2020 in Las Vegas.
Innovative and mobile-centric financial services are taking center stage this week at Money2020, which has drawn more than 4,500 attendees to Las Vegas.
American Express today announced a relaunch of its Serve prepaid account, packing the card with a raft of new features and benefits, including free cash-reload services at CVS and 7-Eleven stores nationwide, plus online bill payment and money management tools, for $1 a month.
Some of the heaviest hitters in e-commerce, banking and tech have joined together to enhance customers’ experience with card-linked offers. The newly formed CardLinx Association counts among its ranks a number of big names, including Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Discover, Facebook, First Data Corp., LivingSocial, MasterCard and Microsoft Corp. Announced this week at the […]
Economies around the world are making the move away from cash, and the shift largely is being driven by new technologies, government initiative and consumer preference, according to a new report by MasterCard Advisors. Among the countries the report describes as the most “cashless” are: Belgium, where 93 percent of total consumer spending in 2011 […]
MasterCard and Visa separately have launched prepaid cards this week in Myanmar and Ghana, respectively. CB Bank is rolling out a prepaid travel card for citizens of the Southeast Asian country called the CB Bank EASI Travel Prepaid MasterCard card. The financial institution says the reloadable prepaid card is the first of its kind in […]
Financial information services company Markit is aiming to create the largest financial markets messaging community and remove barriers to cross-market communication through its open messaging initiative and supporting technology, Markit Collaboration Services.
The explosion of innovation in financial service products is driving a growing reliance on third parties to help process and distribute products that, in turn, is making third-party oversight a key priority integrated with daily operations, according to top prepaid card industry experts at preliminary sessions during Money2020 in Las Vegas on Oct. 6. Because […]
GPR and payroll cards—two of the fastest-growing segments in prepaid—continue to expand as a new GPR program and a new payroll card partnership were unveiled today. In separate announcements, InComm and tax preparer Jackson Hewitt said they’re working together on a new GPR program, while The Bancorp Inc. said it will issue payroll cards to TFG Card Solutions’ […]
When Isis, backed by AT&T Mobility, T-Mobile and Verizon, was announced nearly three years ago, Sprint was notably missing from the group of top U.S. telcos involved in the mobile wallet project.
As the federal government shutdown drags on, the payments industry could begin to feel some impacts of the inaction, according to industry observers. And while those effects currently are relatively limited, the coming Congressional battle over the debt ceiling could have serious implications—especially for recipients of Social Security benefits via the Treasury Department’s Direct Express […]
Contact Solutions LLC today announced a new mobile platform to help cardholders access customer service when they want it and easily switch between self-service and a live agent.
