Cooperative Bank of Kenya has implemented Misys BankFusion, a core banking platform which the bank says has helped it increase its transaction processing by double and end of day processing by 40%.
Firms like JP Morgan and HSBC have taken major measures to improve internal controls so that they can comply with new and changing regulations. It won’t end there.
A pair of payments industry heavy-hitters is banding together, with prepaid provider Blackhawk Network announcing that its electronic gift cards will be accessible within the PayPal mobile app. Meanwhile, the partnership gives PayPal yet another foothold in the physical payments space, bringing PayPal’s reloadable GPR prepaid card to Blackhawk’s extensive retail distribution network. “Our collaboration […]
The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s Payment Cards Center this week unveiled a white paper analyzing the effects of sweepstakes-based financial literacy programs New York-based PayPerks developed to help educate unbanked and underbanked consumers using prepaid government benefits cards. The 26-page paper, “Driving Positive Behavior Change Through Education and Motivation: Summary of a PayPerks Workshop,” […]
Oct. 24, 2013 Mobile deposit capture took a big step toward mainstream adoption in the prepaid industry with the announcement this week that Ingo Money Inc.’s mobile deposit capture pilot with Visa, which began last year, is officially out of beta. Ingo Money’s service enables consumers to deposit checks into their Visa Prepaid card accounts by […]
With new regulations on remittance transfers set to take effect next week, the CFPB laid out its standards for examining companies covered by the rules. In Jan. 2012, the CFPB issued its final rule outlining remittance regulations as set by the Dodd-Frank Act. The rule was revised in May 2013 after complaints from industry participants […]
The European Central Bank (ECB) is calling the next three months critical for stakeholders still needing to migrate to the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) for electronic payments transactions. The deadline for migration to SEPA credit transfer (SCT) and SEPA direct debit (SDD) schemes is Feb. 1, 2014. “Everybody has to be ready . . […]
Traders, research teams and corporate broking teams all need to communicate, but as regulation imposes ever-stricter ‘Chinese walls’ within banks and brokers that is getting more difficult. Investing in internal communication tools can make a big difference, according to Simon Bailey, director and head of IT and operations at British investment banking and stockbroking firm Numis Securities.
LCH.Clearnet, the clearing house subsidiary of the London Stock Exchange, has appointed Suneel Bakhshi as its new chief executive. He will take up his new role in early 2014.
Blackhawk Network late Monday announced it plans to acquire InteliSpend Prepaid Solutions, a leader in corporate incentive cards and promotions, in an all-cash deal expected to close no later than next month. Blackhawk sought InteliSpend, a 2013 Paybefore Award winner, because of the “great synergies” that exist between Blackhawk’s own retail gift card partners and […]
Financial services technology provider Fiserv has launched a new platform that enables small- and medium-size billers to send electronic bills and accept payments through multiple channels. Dubbed Biller Advantage, the platform targets companies that send between 2,000 and 500,000 bills a month, according to Brookfield, Wis.-based Fiserv. “Biller Advantage provides the functionality small- to mid-sized […]
Payments startup Clinkle Corp. already has landed some big name investors—and now the San Francisco-based company is filling out its executive team, announcing that former Netflix CFO Barry McCarthy will join Clinkle as COO. Established in 2011 by 22-year old Stanford grad Lucas Duplan, the company has been developing a payment app that reportedly will […]
FEXCO, a provider of financial transaction processing, foreign exchange and outsourcing services based in Ireland, has acquired mobile payments and loyalty startup FLASHiZ, with BNP Paribas Personal Finance taking a minority shareholder stake in the Luxembourg-based company.
An ex-Coca Cola chief executive was once quoted talking to staff about the work-life balance – juggling careers, family, health, friends and spirit. In the financial services industry today, work life itself is quite a balancing act.
The average bank now typically views web portals such as Google as the biggest threat to its business, according to a new report by French retail banking association Efma and business IT firm Infosys. Yet banks also report rising levels of innovation within their firms.
Telefónica Digital has hired Pilar Aurrecoechea as digital financial services director, reporting to Vivek Dev, CEO of digital services.
Austria-based paysafecard.com Wertkarten AG, provider of digital prepaid online payment solutions, has appointed Michael Pirker to the newly created position head of business development, and Michaela Unger has been appointed public relations and communication manager.
Cybersecurity and cyber espionage have been in the headlines the past few years as leaked stories relating to government-sponsored activities have appeared and sabre rattling between aggrieved nations has moved to the public domain. At the same time an increased volume of distributed denial of service attacks (DDoS) on banks and other institutions carried out […]
MasterCard’s MasterPass digital wallet service will become available to thousands of e-commerce merchants across 17 countries in Europe and Asia beginning next month, through a partnership with Paris-based payments provider Worldline.
The global push toward NFC-based transit payments continues—this time in Rio de Janeiro, the site of a new pilot program enabling transit riders to tap mobile smartphones to pay on trains, buses and ferries.
U.K.-based e-loan provider Wonga Group has struck a deal to acquire German online payments provider BillPay. The deal, financial terms of which were not disclosed, will create what Wonga called “one of Europe’s leading digital finance and payment systems businesses.” In addition to its home country of Germany, BillPay also operates its PayPal-like service in […]
American Express cardholders traveling by taxi in New York City now are able to pay their fares using membership reward points. The technology enabling this payment method began rolling out today to the more than 7,000 VeriFone Systems in-taxi devices. When customers reach their destination and choose to pay with credit, they will be prompted […]
Payments processor and program manager TransCard will release a new prepaid travel card branded by Pan Am Brands, a division of Pan American World Airways. The card will feature the iconic name and logo of Pan Am, one of the largest international air carriers in the U.S. between 1927 and 1991. “We are excited to […]
Large retail banks sometimes find it hard to change because they have assimilated many smaller banks through acquisition, each of which is running on a payments engine that has different features and may be very old. That can make it difficult to offer new services, but there is a solution according to Paul Thomalla, head of EMEA at US-based payments and technology firm ACI Worldwide.
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 […]
Online commerce has begun to approach saturation in Western markets, while fraud, competition and a more demanding consumer base are squeezing online payments providers.
The second annual Money2020 in Las Vegas earlier this month had a vibe unlike payment conferences of the past, and not just because of the acrobats roaming around during networking sessions.
Please let me use your camera. Do you mind if I browse through your contacts so I know all your family and friends, and can call or text each at my discretion? To the uninitiated, these eerie questions read like a disturbed love note from a stalker. But these are common permissions requests for many mobile apps. Could they scare off users?
B2B Ignites Prepaid Growth; Prepaid Frenzy: Moving Beyond GPR; Who’s Afraid of Big, Bad Apple?; The Bitcoin Craze: Lovers and Haters; Companies & People: B2B’s Top Power Players; Chucking the Cash Register
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 […]
