Mastercard is set to gain control of a major chunk of the U.K. transaction processing market, entering a definitive agreement to acquire 92.4 percent of VocaLink in a deal that could total up to $1.14 billion. A bank-owned consortium, VocaLink’s technology underpins the British direct debit and credit payments system, as well as the LINK ATM network and the Faster Payments Scheme for real-time mobile and Internet payments.
Visa has been granted a patent that could help in a big way by identifying and “blacklisting” a device that’s been used to perpetrate fraud.
Canada’s first mobile wallet suretap is now one of the latest casualties in the mobile wallet wars. Citing market changes and an increasing number of mobile payment and banking options, among other factors, the Toronto-based company will shut down the mobile wallet as of Aug. 26. But it’s not alone. Semble, a New Zealand-based joint venture created by several telecoms and banks, discontinued its mobile payment service July 15.
Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy Note 7 reportedly will include an iris scanner that enables consumers to unlock their phones, one of the first major smartphones in the U.S. to include such technology. Although there was no immediate indication that Samsung plans to use iris authentication for payments, biometrics authentication is gaining momentum as providers seek to eliminate security-challenged passwords.
BMO Bank of Montreal has introduced a new service that allows customers to open an account using their smartphone, without having to go to a branch or download an app. The bank says this “first-of-its-kind account opening capability” allows customers to search, select and open a new account with BMO “in minutes”. Niti Badarinath, head […]
According to new research from Visa, consumers across Europe are interested in using biometrics when making a payment – especially when integrated with other security measures. About 73% of the 14,000 European consumers surveyed see two-factor authentication, where a biometric is used in conjunction with a payment device, as a secure way to confirm an […]
Mastercard is expanding its Masterpass digital payment service to enable users to make in-store purchases, adding a major competitor to the increasingly crowded field of mobile payment services—and one that boasts a roster of 250,000 merchant partners and a built-in base of existing users. Meanwhile, two other high-profile mobile payment apps—Starbucks and Android Pay—are expanding in Asia-Pacific.
Issuers are beginning to put the fight against fraud into cardholders’ hands with mobile app controls, such as on/off switches and geolocation. Elan Financial Services is the latest to help issuers give debit and prepaid cardholders the ability to control their cards from their smartphones.
Transport for London (TfL), the city’s transit authority, and Cubic Transportation Systems have consummated a £15 million (US$20 million) licensing deal enabling Cubic to tailor London’s contactless system technology for other world cities’ transport systems.
Samsung Electronics is bringing Samsung Pay to Puerto Rico. Samsung Pay will support eligible credit cards from Banco Popular, Puerto Rico’s largest bank, and will be available on AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint and Claro networks in Puerto Rico. The firm says Samsung Pay is the “only” mobile wallet that allows users to pay with their compatible […]
Safaricom is planning to add a companion prepaid card to its popular M-PESA mobile money transfer service in Kenya—a move that could help close the “missing link” in the e-money ecosystem, while helping Safaricom compete against a new rival in the P2P space.
Turning social media into a commerce channel is still a work in progress, but one that few are giving up on with a global user base across social media of more than 2 billion, according to Euromonitor International. The latest attempt from Facebook taps into the summer concert season with the social networking giant testing a feature enabling its U.S. users to buy tickets to concerts and other events from its desktop site and its iOS and Android apps.
Hoping to encourage fintech innovation, the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority has issued a 17-page document that offers guidelines for how financial services firm can use outsourced Web-hosted services without running afoul of regulators.
A transatlantic data-transfer deal has won approval from European Union officials, giving official life to what’s known at the Privacy Shield pact.
EMVCo, the global payment specification body, and the FIDO Alliance, an industry consortium developing open, interoperable authentication standards, are to collaborate and review how FIDO can support EMV (Europay, MasterCard and Visa) payment use cases. A “key aim” of the initiative is to investigate mobile payments using on-device authenticators, such as biometrics, as they seek […]
The U.K.’s historic decision to exit the European Union (or Brexit) last month has left many businesses speculating what the ramifications will be for them, especially e-money issuers based in the U.K. that have licenses that they passport to EU countries. Neopay, a U.K.-based e-money and payment regulatory consultancy, is hoping to assuage the jitters of new and established e-money companies in Europe with Brexit Insurance.
In a pair of legal battles that could have a ripple effect into the payments and retail sectors, Facebook and Google have invoked a recent Supreme Court decision and the U.S. Constitution to defend against claims that the companies’ facial recognition systems violate a key state biometric privacy law.
The companies say they will make accepting online payments easier for the more than 20,000 business customers who use Microsoft Dynamics software in 13 markets.
A new partnership with Facebook will enable American Express to interact with cardholders via Facebook Messenger. Unveiled at the Cannes-Lions International Festival of Creativity in Cannes, France, the initiative features an American Express messenger “bot” that sends cardholders real-time purchase notifications and information about card benefits and services related to those purchases.
Fiserv has launched Notifi, a platform for the delivery of real-time alerts for retail and SME bank customers. Home Federal Bank and C&F Bank are among the first takers. The solution consolidates information from across a financial institution’s systems – including core account processing, online banking and mobile banking, lending software, debit and credit cards […]
Microsoft’s mobile wallet launch this week seems like small ball at first glance but could pay off as more consumers turn to smartphone payments, and the software giant moves forward with a big acquisition.
Jiffy – the instant mobile payments service developed by SIA – is coming to Italian stores. The person-to-business (P2B) project is piloted in Milan and Bergamo, allowing customers to pay via app at participating retail outlets authorised by UBI Banca. SIA says that “other major Italian banks have expressed interest in offering P2B the service […]
Americans are more reliant than ever on mobile devices to manage their finances, presenting a major opportunity for providers of emerging payments services like mobile wallets and P2P, according to a new study from Bank of America. The bank’s third annual Trends in Consumer Mobility Report collected and analyzed data from more than 1,300 U.S. adults over the age of 18 who have a bank account and own a smartphone.
Chase has expanded its P2P QuickPay service, so its customers can send and receive money in real time with one another as well as customers of Bank of America and U.S. Bank. Later this month, customers with smartphones can use the Chase mobile app to enroll in QuickPay and add payment recipients from their contact lists.
Two large-scale trends are coming to a head with merchants at the crux: the digitization of payments and increasing card-not-present fraud. Merchants need the right tools, including data analytics and fraud-prevention systems, to help them meet customer demand for a frictionless experience, while keeping fraudsters at bay.
Nine fledgling fintech companies have won $250,000 each from the Center for Financial Services Innovation, or CFSI. At least week’s Emerge Conference in New Orleans, CFSI announced the FinLab winners from more than 300 applicants.
Flexibility and transparency are key to the first pan-European instant payments scheme, states Javier Santamaria, chairman of the European Payments Council (EPC). Currently, instant payments in Europe operate only within the borders of individual countries or among customers of the same payment service providers (PSPs). To move away from this fragmentation, the EPC was invited […]
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 […]
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 […]
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.
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.
Ride-hailing service Uber has expanded a pilot partnership with Green Dot to all markets in which Uber operates in the U.S.
With two thirds of people now owning a smartphone in the UK, demand is high amongst consumers to have connectivity at their fingertips. Add to this the fact that 39% of adults have at least one banking-based app, and it presents a real opportunity for banks to serve engaging content to the many consumers who are […]
We’ve been hearing a lot about the demise of MCX since it announced yet another launch delay of its CurrentC app to focus on deals with financial institutions. While this move is clearly a pivot for MCX, it’s way too early to call the organization dead. In fact, we should be calling MCX a roaring success.
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