Sept. 23, 2013 Occupy Wall Street’s second anniversary last week did not draw large crowds, but organizers are pushing forward with plans to launch a reloadable prepaid card backed by a nonprofit cooperative, a spokesperson tells Paybefore. The Occupy Card, envisioned as an FDIC-insured Visa prepaid card, is designed so that anyone—including millions excluded by banks—may qualify […]
Google Wallet has cracked the iPhone barrier, proving, some would say, there’s no reason to wait for NFC to advance mobile payments.
Younger consumers likely will lead the charge toward mobile payments ubiquity over the coming years, but they have certain expectations that must be met by providers who seek to harness that demand, according to a new report from payments processor Vantiv Inc.
Sept. 19, 2013 The State Bank of India has selected international payments solutions provider Yalamanchili to provide the processing platform for the bank’s new State Bank Xpress Money Card, which enables cardholders to receive instant money transfers from the United Arab Emirates. The prepaid Visa card is co-branded by the State Bank of India and […]
Sept. 19, 2013 The Bitcoin Foundation is pushing for permission to allow bitcoins as a source of federal political contributions. The trade group this week made its pitch to the U.S. Federal Election Commission in a letter announcing its support for the concept, which the Conservative Action Fund PAC (CAF) proposed earlier this month. The […]
Sibos delegates have sent a blunt message to the world’s financial regulators that new regulations are neither well planned nor well implemented. Eighty per cent of delegates expressed their negative views regarding regulation in yesterday’s regulation plenary session.
Houston-based provider launches bill pay/mobile app combo as ‘ideal hook’ to establish customer relationship that expands to other financial services, including prepaid.
Barclays is making a determined effort to capitalise on the two-year lead it has built up with its Pingit mobile payments application with two new applications intended to allow retailers to integrate mobile payments into their services.
The partnerships banks are forming with financial technology suppliers today look very different than routine client-vendor relationships of past decades, and one of the most interesting aspects of the trend is how both sides are transforming each other.
Sept. 17, 2013 The prepaid industry has a big opportunity in reaching the financially excluded and underserved across Europe, but it also has a lot of work to do to bridge the consumer education gap, according to new research from MasterCard Worldwide. The payment network today unveiled the “Road to Inclusion,” a report that shows while […]
Visa’s Japanese subsidiary Visa Worldwide (Japan) Co. is joining with mobile telecom provider NTT Docomo Inc. to launch what the companies are calling Japan’s first mobile-based virtual prepaid card for online shopping.
Sept. 17, 2013 Bank of America Merrill Lynch is aiming to improve the speed and efficiency with which banks and corporations can make high-dollar payments to Asia. The company’s new Accelerated Payments to Asia solution uses smart routing technology to mitigate the difficulties typically faced by corporations making U.S. dollar payments to Asia due to […]
Sept. 17, 2013 MasterCard is expanding the reach of its rePower prepaid card reload network to more European nations and adding partners as part of its push to make loading cash onto prepaid cards easier for consumers across Europe, according to Matt Lanford, MasterCard Europe’s head of prepaid. At the 2013 MasterCard Europe Prepaid Conference […]
Vantiv Inc., a Cincinnati-based payment processor, announced that Chief Financial Officer Mark Heimbouch received the Cincinnati Business Couriers’ 2013 CFO of the Year recognition in the public company category.
Think Finance, a Fort Worth, Texas-based developer of financial products for underbanked consumers, has named Craig A. Nies chief analytics officer.
SecureBuy, a Ridgeland, Miss.-based provider of fraud technology and commerce solutions and wholly owned subsidiary of SignatureLink Inc., announced that Christine Lee has joined its board of advisors.
Payza, an online payment platform, has promoted Ali Nizameddine to executive vice president.
Monitise plc has appointed Peter Ayliffe non-executive chairman.
Mercury Payment Systems, a Durango, Colo.-based payment processor, recently was recognized at the Retail Solutions Provider Association’s RetailNOW 2013 convention and expo with the RSPA 2013 Gold Medallion Award for vendor excellence and Best Electronic Payments/Financing Processor, while founders Jeff and Marc Katz were inducted into the RSPA Hall of Fame.
Heartland Payment Systems, a Princeton, N.J.-based merchant processor, has been named one of the top technology innovators in the U.S.
Global Payout Inc., a San Diego-based provider of electronic payment and prepaid card solutions, recently announced that its board of directors has appointed Bill Rochfort president of the company.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau recently announced that Steve Antonakes has been named deputy director of the agency.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch has named Percy Batliwalla global head of sales for large corporates and financial institutions, global transaction services.
Swift’s “True North” is the fact that it is a cooperative, and it will focus on this as it moves towards developing collaborative industry utilities to address complicated issues in areas such as KYC.
The UK’s second largest building society is being moved to a modern delivery platform managed by HP, with the establishment of a Shared Services Alliance with HP Enterprise Services UK to offer the platform to a wider range of UK financial services institutions.
Sept. 16, 2013 The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is the latest to weigh in on payroll cards by issuing a bulletin to companies reminding them that employers cannot require their employees to receive wages on a payroll card. “Employees must have options when it comes to how they receive their wages,” CFPB Director Richard […]
Capital One Financial Corp. this week ends its trial run with the Isis Mobile Wallet, raising questions about what combination of payment cards Isis will have when the wallet officially launches later this year.
Sept. 16, 2013 i2c Inc. today announced the completion of a direct integration of its platform with MasterCard’s domestic switch in Mexico, where the cloud-based payments processor sees significant growth opportunities. Redwood City, Calif.-based i2c completed all requirements for certification with MasterCard’s Mexico Domestic Switch service, which i2c says will help accelerate implementations of prepaid, credit […]
Sept. 16, 2013 Western Union has made a pair of major inroads into the Chinese banking channel. Through a deal struck last week with Shanghai-based payment card network UnionPay, the money transfer giant now can reach 95 percent of all personal bank accounts in China. The pact enables Western Union customers in 23 countries to […]
Users of Barclays Pingit U.K. mobile money transfer app have two new ways to make online purchases, with a pair of features being launched this week.
Global non-cash payments volumes continue to rise unabated, according to World Payments Report 2013 (WPR 2013), which was launched today. Non-cash transactions grew by 8.8 per cent during 2011 (the latest year for which full data is available) and are predicted to top 333 billion for 2012.
Prepaid accounted for the strongest growth rate in gross dollar volume (GDV) for all payment card types during the first half of this year for MasterCard Worldwide, as prepaid card use cases expanded worldwide, the network told investors yesterday.
Sept. 12, 2013 Richard Cordray, director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), presented the agency’s semi-annual report to the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services during an often contentious hearing this morning. Literally seconds after welcoming Cordray to this morning’s hearing, Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) assailed the agency for the relatively unchecked power […]
Sept. 12, 2013 The Federal Reserve is seeking payments industry input on a set of new policy proposals to modernize and improve the nation’s payments system in the wake of rapid changes in technology and consumer expectations. Earlier this week, the agency released its Payment System Improvement – Public Consultation Paper, the purpose of which […]
Sprint’s Boost Mobile Wallet users now have a way to turn checks into instant funds with a new service dubbed Quick Check, which uses remote deposit capture to deposit checks into customers’ wallet accounts.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch has made Percy Batliwalla global head of sales for large corporates and financial institutions in global transaction services. Batliwalla will remain in Singapore and report to Paul Simpson, head of BAML global transaction services. Percy was most recently head of Asia Pacific GTS sales where he was responsible for sales […]
PayPal could give mobile commerce a big boost with the introduction of PayPal Beacon, a service it’s piloting this fall that will enable customers who opt in to pay “hands-free” with their PayPal mobile apps at participating merchants.
Two major mass transit contactless payment initiatives are speeding forward this week, with the debut of Chicago’s Ventra system and the announcement of a smartphone-based payment feature for Hong Kong’s transit network.
Sept. 10, 2013 The money keeps pouring in as two mobile payments players, Check and Paydiant, are the latest to report recent infusions of capital. Wellesley, Mass.-based Paydiant announced today that it has closed a $15 million round of funding from North Bridge Venture Partners, General Catalyst Partners and Stage 1 Ventures, among others. The new […]
Japanese banking group Sumitomo Mistui will launch a new NFC payment service that will be available through all three of the country’s mobile network operators and more than 30 NFC-enabled smartphone models.
