SpendSmart Shutters Prepaid Business, Shifts Focus to Mobile Loyalty Marketing (Dec. 4, 2014)
SpendSmart Networks is pulling the plug on its prepaid card business, citing poor performance amid increasing regulatory pressure and associated costs.
PayTech
Litigation News: Pulse Network Alleges Antitrust Violations; Target Breach Suit Continues (Dec. 4, 2014)
PULSE Network LLC, a Discover Financial Services company, filed a lawsuit against Visa Inc. late last month alleging antitrust law violations it says undercut PIN debit competition. Meanwhile, Target’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit related to its 2013 data breach was denied.
UnionPay Signs Payments Deals with Apple, China Telecom (Dec. 2, 2014)
China UnionPay continues to take steps to make it easier for its customers to make payments on their mobile devices.
Monitise Bolsters Platform with £49 Million Investment, Expanded Partnerships (Dec. 2, 2014)
U.K.-based mobile money provider Monitise plc is getting a major capital infusion, landing a £49.2 million (US$77 million) investment from the trio of MasterCard, Santander Group and Telefónica.
Viewpoint: The EU Payments Package Puzzle
Debate on the EU Payments Package, composed of the revised Payment Services Directive and the Regulation on Interchange Fees, recommenced in Brussels on Nov. 19. Although the two pieces of legislation are part of one “package,” they’re at different stages in the legislative process, and depending on how they progress, the transition into law could be smooth for the industry—or not.
Swift shows real-time payments plans with Australia contract win
The hotly-contested contract to provide a real-time payments system in Australia has been won by Swift, which has announced plans to develop real-time retail domestic payment solutions and compete to deploy them internationally.
Tablets and phones becoming the norm for e-retail
While online retailers roll their Black Friday bargains over to Cyber Monday, research shows that an increasing amount of online sales are being made via smartphones and tablets, and this trend is continuing – but this does not mean smaller crowds, as consumers are also switching to ‘click & collect’ services.
Skrill Acquires Ukash, Adds Reach to paysafecard (Dec. 1, 2014)
Skrill Group, a global provider of online payment technologies to merchants and consumers, has added significant reach to its online payment voucher provider paysafecard with the acquisition of Ukash.
NRF: Holiday Weekend Shopping Drops 5.2 Percent from 2013 (Dec. 1, 2014)
Holiday shopping over the Thanksgiving weekend was slightly lower than the previous year, according to a survey by the National Retail Federation.
UGO Wallet Available to Customers of Canada’s Largest Telecoms (Dec. 1, 2014)
UGO Wallet, an NFC mobile wallet developed by UGO Mobile Solutions and Canadian banks President’s Choice Financial and TD Bank Group, launched last week and is available to customers of Canada’s three largest wireless carriers.
‘Contactless’ Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year Finalist (Dec. 1, 2014)
Is it a surprise to anyone in the payments industry that the word “contactless” was a finalist this year as Oxford Dictionaries’ Word of the Year?
Monitise deepens ties with partners to raise £49 million
Monitise plans to raise £49.2 million through extensions of its relationships with Santander, Telefónica and MasterCard. The money raised will be used to ‘support the development and accelerated roll-out of its global platform capabilities’.
European Payments Council unveils SEPA rulebooks for 2015
The European Payments Council has set out new requirements under the Single Euro Payment Area Credit Transfer and Direct Debit schemes, including changes to the time cycle, business to business rulebooks and the process for SDD collection, following SEPA implementation in August.
What the U.K.’s New Payments Regulator Wants (Nov. 25, 2014)
Payments industry participants are getting a taste of what compliance might be like under its new regulator the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR).
Free Webinar on the CFPB’s NPRM by K&L Gates and Paybefore (Nov. 25, 2014)
The payments industry is only starting to digest the potential consequences of the CFPB’s sweeping proposed rule on prepaid accounts.
Cardpool, LevelUp Turn Gift Cards into Loyalty Credits (Nov. 25, 2014)
Gift card exchange Cardpool is partnering with LevelUp to make the most coveted gift—the gift card—more valuable by enabling LevelUp users to exchange unused and partially used gift cards for LevelUp credits at more than 14,000 participating merchants.
M-Payments Roundup: PayPal, Apple Pay, Square (Nov. 25, 2014)
The recent launch of the Apple Pay wallet app on the latest iterations of iPhone handsets has created a flurry of activity among m-payments providers trying to attract as many consumers as they can to their solutions.
People on the Move: David Wolfe, CARD.com
CARD.com, a mobile-focused financial product provider, has hired David Wolfe as senior vice president of technology.
Company on the Move: Arroweye Solutions, American Banker Fintech Recognition
Card marketing and production service provider Arroweye Solutions has been selected by American Banker as one of the Top 100 worldwide technology providers to the financial services industry.
Company on the Move: Discover, Consumer Reports Naughty and Nice List
Consumer Reports recently published a Naughty and Nice List based on company practices and policies. Discover made the Nice list by becoming the first major credit-card issuer to provide free FICO scores from TransUnion on monthly statements of qualifying cardholders.
People on the Move: Kevin Schultz, Fiserv Inc.
Fiserv Inc., a Brookfield, Wis.-based financial services technology provider, has named Kevin Schultz group president.
People on the Move: Robert P. Zinn, K&L Gates
Robert P. Zinn, partner and a firm-wide leader of K&L Gates’ global corporate and transactional practice, has been named one of Global M&A Network’s Top 50 North American M&A Lawyers, part of the Top 50 Americas Dealmakers List.
People on the Move: Mark Landry, Yvonne Stelpflug, Ryan Talley and Julie Willse, The Members Group
The Members Group, a Des Moines, Iowa-based payments processor, has added four client business executives, Mark Landry, Yvonne Stelpflug, Ryan Talley and Julie Willse, to its client development team.
People on the Move: Berny Sagmeister, paysafecard
Online payment voucher provider and member of the international Skrill Group paysafecard has appointed Berny Sagmeister vice president of new business.
People on the Move: John Walsh, SightSpan Inc.
Mooresville, N.C.-based SightSpan Inc., which advises organizations on risk-management and AML programs, announced that the company and CEO John Walsh were honored recently with a citation from the government of North Carolina.
People on the Move: Hervé Pierre, SIMalliance Board of Directors
SIMalliance, a London-based nonprofit trade association supporting the creation, deployment and management of secure mobile services and applications, has elected Hervé Pierre to serve a one-year term as the organization’s chairman of the board.
People on the Move: Kevin Watson, Marco Ferrari and Mark Hastings, VendorSafe
The board of directors of VendorSafe, a provider of cloud-managed IT security services, has named Kevin Watson CEO.
Company on the Move: YapStone, Deloitte Technology Recognition
YapStone, a global provider of Web and mobile payment solutions, has been named to the Deloitte 2014 Technology Fast 500, an annual ranking of the 500 fastest-growing North American companies in the technology, media, telecommunications, life sciences and clean technology sectors.
KC Fed Study Suggests Responsible Use of Overdraft Feature (Nov. 24, 2014)
In a new study, the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City is providing some much-needed data to the long-standing debate over whether prepaid cards should be permitted to offer an overdraft feature.
Oink Teen Wallet adds Discover Companion Card (Nov. 24, 2014)
Virtual Piggy Inc. has unveiled a new prepaid card targeted for use by teens, who can use the card to shop at brick-and-mortar stores within limits set and managed by their parents.
Visa Offering Fee-Free Tokenization Through 2015 (Nov. 24, 2014)
Payment card issuers looking to use Visa Inc.’s tokenization service will be able to do so with no fee until at least the end of 2015—and maybe further, according to the payment network’s CEO.
CFPB Expands Employees, Budget in FY 2014, Actions Result in $4 Billion in Penalties, Compensation (Nov. 24, 2014)
The CFPB expanded its budget, number of employees and its complaint volume in fiscal year 2014, according to its annual report.
More Must Reading from the CFPB (Nov. 20, 2014)
Lost among last week’s excitement of the issuance of the long-awaited NPRM on prepaid was another CFPB publication that’s a must read—“Study of Prepaid Account Agreements.”
Viewpoint: CFPB Issues Prepaid Account Study
Simultaneously with the release of its 870-page prepaid account proposal last week, the CFPB issued a “Study of Prepaid Account Agreements.”
Industry Leaders Outline Fraud-Fighting Techniques to U.S. Senate (Nov. 20, 2014)
Prepaid industry leaders, which included representatives from InComm, Blackhawk Network and Green Dot, met with members of the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging during a hearing yesterday to outline how they’re working to prevent fraudsters from using prepaid debit cards to swindle consumers, particularly phone scams perpetrated against the elderly.
Apple Pay Faces Same Hurdles as other Mobile Wallets (Nov. 20, 2014)
Apple Pay has generated significant buzz since it launched on Oct. 21—and more than 1 million credit cards were registered in the payment app within 72 hours—but Leon Majors, president of the payments practice at Phoenix Marketing International, presented research in Chicago last week at BAI Retail Delivery 2014 that suggests Apple may have some of the same difficulties that have plagued other mobile wallets, including low acceptance.
ALINE Card by ADP Offers Tip-Settlement Feature (Nov. 20, 2014)
With active payroll cards and load amounts on the rise in the U.S., Paybefore-award winning ALINE Card by ADP has added a feature that could prove popular with service industries where employees receive tips as part of their pay.
Softcard Enlists ‘Tappy’ to Teach the Masses about NFC (Nov. 18, 2014)
A bug-eyed puppet in the shape of a POS device might be just what Softcard needs to get consumers thinking about tapping their phones more often to pay at the POS.
Visa Partners with Wirecard AG, Aussie Telecom (Nov. 18, 2014)
Visa Inc. and Wirecard AG announced a partnership the companies say affirms their commitments to growing the prepaid market in Asia-Pacific and Latin America, among other regions.
P2P Rush Continues as Snapchat Debuts Transfer Feature (Nov. 18, 2014)
Popular social messaging service Snapchat is the latest tech provider to throw its hat into the P2P money transfer ring.
