Coming straight after yesterday’s (15 November) action, here’s our latest blockchain and Bitcoin round-up. Features Mastercard in a patent place, ING Bank opening up, and another warning from the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority. Let’s start with yet another patent. Mastercard has jumped on the blockchain payments bandwagon by filing “Method and System for Instantaneous Payment […]
A trio of financial organisations have launched the AYA Universal Corporate MPU-JCB co-branded card in Myanmar – the nation’s first corporate credit card targeted for business payment use. Ayeyarwady Bank (AYA Bank), Myanmar Payment Union (MPU) and JCB International (JCBI), the international operations subsidiary of JCB, have teamed up for the new card which has […]
We got a trilogy folks. Following the payments round-ups on 8 November and 7 November, here’s more paytech action. Features PayPal, NCR, Samsung, Scotiabank, Mastercard and Eftpos. It’s been offering cross-border payments in India for a decade, but PayPal has now launched domestic operations in the country as it looks to take on Paytm and […]
Just yesterday (7 November) was a payments round-up, but here’s more action from the lively paytech place. Features Apple, Coinsilium Group, UMT United Mobility Technology, Visa and even the Olympic Winter Games. Apple, which is rarely out of the news, has set up Apple Pay Cash for person-to-person (P2P) payments in Messages. This feature is […]
Libya-based Bank of Commerce and Development (BCD) has signed for Finastra’s front-end software to launch a new online and mobile banking platform.
Access to Information (a2i, an innovation lab supported by the Bangladeshi government), Bank Asia and Mastercard have signed a tripartite memorandum of understanding (MoU) to facilitate financial inclusion in Bangladesh by making digital payment services accessible countrywide through the Union Digital Centres (UDCs).
Visa has unveiled its European debut of Visa Direct, its real-time payments platform that allows for person-to-person (P2P), business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) payments.
Myanmar-based Yoma Bank has implemented a new treasury and capital management (TCM) system, Fusioncapital Opics, supplied by Finastra (formerly Misys).
Consumer analytics company SelfScore has rebranded as Deserve.
Argentina-based fintech start-up Ualá has launched a mobile banking service app to champion financial inclusion in the country.
Mastercard announced it has tested and validated its blockchain and will be opening access to it via a set of three APIs published on the Mastercard Developers website. The APIs include the blockchain core API, the smart contracts API, and the fast pay network API.
Ohio-based Sutton Bank says it has “married old-fashioned wisdom with cutting-edge fintech” for US businesses and their employees. The resulting product is particularly relevant in today’s “gig economy”.
Whether it’s prepaid card time or financial crime, the world of blockchain and Bitcoin is a lively one. This latest round-up features BitFlyer, Visa, Accuity, R3 and SIA. Tokyo-based Bitcoin exchange BitFlyer has unveiled a Visa prepaid card that can be charged with Bitcoin in yen and used throughout Japan. It can be charged via […]
Obsidian, a Colorado-based organisation that encourages consumers to shop local in their home community, has selected Arroweye Solutions for its Local First Card programme.
Mastercard has partnered with the Andhra Pradesh government in India to bring its digital payments into the Fintech Valley Vizag’s smart city plan. Under the agreement, Mastercard will help Andhra Pradesh in its ambitions to be a cashless society and develop the city concept. Mastercard president and CEO Ajay Banga says it can do this […]
In trying to balance its budget, the Illinois legislature has taken aim at the wallets of the poor. Two changes by the state government will make it harder for low-income people to manage their financial lives by reducing the usefulness of prepaid cards and increasing the expense of cashing a check.
Warsaw-based Bank Millennium has launched “Europe’s first issuer wallet” using Visa tokenisation – so its customers can use the mobile app to create a virtual equivalent of their card. The bank says virtualising the card and using the service is free of charge, and cardholders can pay with their phone via HCE (host card emulation). […]
Spafinder, a marketing, gifting, incentives and rewards brand owned by Blackhawk Network, has unveiled new gift card technology, expanded distribution and additional partner services to make giving the gift of spa and beauty experiences easier for consumers and businesses.
Norway-based banking tech vendor Evry will provide Finland’s Aktia Bank with the “entire value chain for card payments”, including virtual debit and credit cards for the bank’s digital proposition, Aktia Wallet.
Pay Award-winning payments technology company Wirecard is expanding its mobile payment app boon with new features to make it an “all-embracing app in everyday life.”
On the heels of Equifax’s massive data breach that compromised 143 million identities, Mastercard today (Oct. 2) announced the launch of Early Detection System, which alerts banks to high-risk cards and accounts that are exposed in security incidents or data breaches.
Millennial-focused brokerage firm Stockpile has pulled in $30 million this week in a Series B funding round led by Fidelity.
Visa employees have a saying that “cash is our biggest competitor.” Mightier threats, however, are looming.
Hawk Incentives, a Blackhawk Network business that provides rewards and incentive solutions, has unveiled a new open-loop Mastercard prepaid card that can be added to major mobile wallets.
BBVA has launched Urban Discovery, an interactive tool open to everyone that analyses the cities of Madrid, Barcelona and Mexico City through the prism of their commercial activity. The bank says the analysis led to the creation of new maps that redraw urban borders and identify the most touristic and residential areas or those where […]
Sri Lanka’s Seylan Bank is modernising its trade finance technology with Finastra’s Fusionbanking Trade Innovation system. On the way out is the legacy China Systems’ Eximbills system, Banking Technology understands.
Mastercard and Swarovski have teamed up to launch a virtual reality (VR) shopping app for the Atelier Swarovski home décor line. The app immerses consumers in a home where they can browse and purchase the pieces with Masterpass.
It’s a good thing Solana (“Sol”) Cozzo is high energy. When she’s not literally running or chasing after 3-year-old twins, she’s running Mastercard’s North American prepaid and inclusive growth business. It’s hard work when you consider that “the cardable opportunity is about seven times the current market,” she says.
Allied Wallet, a Los Angeles-based provider of online payment processing, is partnering with UnionPay International to issue a UnionPay-branded prepaid card, the “first ever’ partnership of its kind in Europe.
Ukraine-based Sky Bank (formerly Region-Bank) is replacing its legacy systems with Finastra’s Fusiobanking Essence platform.
EML Payments Limited announced that its wholly owned subsidiary EML Payments Europe Limited has entered into a multiyear agreement with Fortuna Entertainment Group to provide branded reloadable cards for customers to access their winnings or remit funds back into their gaming accounts.
EXCLUSIVE: Finastra, which emerged earlier this year from the combination of two banking tech vendors, D+H Corporation and Misys, has made a number of job cuts across its operations.
There’s a new fintech challenger in town. Toronto-based STACK announced its partnership with Mastercard two weeks ahead of the beta launch of its mobile financial services app and companion prepaid card.
EXCLUSIVE: Banking tech vendor Technisys has landed two new deals for its flagship core banking system, Cyberbank Core, and digital channels software, Cyberbank Omnichannel.
After his first few months at the helm of the Network Branded Prepaid Card Association, Brian Tate talks about prepaid’s role alongside fintech in the next generation of payments innovation.
National Bank of Kenya says it has upgraded to “the fifth and latest version” of its core banking platform, Fusionbanking Essense, supplied by Finastra (formerly Misys).
The landscape of cross-currency (FX) payments is taking on a whole new look – creating challenges for corporate financial managers and the need for new banking solutions.
Several payments companies have announced efforts to help the victims of Hurricane Harvey in Texas and Louisiana, including monetary donations, interchange fee waivers and m-POS equipment.
Banking platform SolarisBank has chosen Italy-based SIA to support the launch of new contactless debit cards and to contribute to the development of electronic payment solutions in Germany. SIA’s technology platform will manage the processing of transactions made using payment cards issued by the bank for its clients. The infrastructure, supporting the launch of new […]
As some celebrate 10 years of contactless payments, Bastian Knoppers discusses why cards (not mobile wallets) are still king outside the U.S. and what it will take for the U.S. to catch up to the rest of the world on tap-and-go payments.
