For the 609.8 million credit cards held by U.S. consumers, they keep paying down their credit card debt. Down to a nationwide total outstanding revolving credit of $790.1 billion in August, this figure dropped 3.4% from the year ago period. These figures are down from the July figure of $792.3 billion and the year ago…
First Data electronic commerce and payment processing “SpendTrend” for September 2011 showed a dollar volume growth of 9.5%, compared to 9.0% in August. Meanwhile, transaction growth was flat at 7.1% in September compared to 7.2% in August and general merchandise stores continued to perform well with dollar volume growth of 9.5% in September. Average ticket…
U.S. Bank launched its U.S. Bank Card iPhone app for select retail partners, offering buying power with the opportunity to apply for and receive on-the-spot credit to make immediate in-store purchases. The app is being piloted with REI (Recreational Equipment, Inc.), a leading retailer of quality outdoor gear and apparel, and will be introduced to other retail partners later this year. The new iPhone app expands U.S. Bank’s leadership in the mobile banking space. The U.S. Bank Card app allows consumers to easily apply for a U.S. Bank co-branded credit card. The virtual credit card contains account information that the cardholder can provide to the sales specialist so purchases can be made immediately.
Citigroup expanded its Global Transaction Services business with its Commercial Card business into Bulgaria, Egypt, Pakistan, Kenya, and Nigeria. Citi is also launching an International Payment Card Service in Saudi Arabia and simultaneously expanding its Prepaid card services business into Egypt, Pakistan and Bahrain. Citi Commercial Cards are now available in 101 countries, including 64 where a local currency program is available, while Citi Prepaid solutions are now offered in 27 countries. Citi Commercial Cards issues in 101 countries with an unrivalled local currency footprint in over 64 markets.
Wells Fargo & Company has expanded its “ExpressSend” remittance network through an agreement with UniTeller Financial Services. WIth this, Wells Fargo will extend its consumer remittance payout network distribution to 9 additional financial institutions and alternative financial services companies in Guatemala, Colombia, Ecuador, Honduras, Peru, Philippines and Vietnam. Wells Fargo now has one of the largest number of payout locations for a U.S. bank-managed remittance service, creating added convenience for its customers and their family and friends.
Bluepoint Solutions remote deposit capture, item processing and enterprise content management solutions for financial institutions launched its fraud detection suite. Available in real-time and batch modules, designed to detect and flag potentially fraudulent check deposits, the real-time module is integrated with Bluepoint’s Check 21 teller capture application, ImagePoint Teller, and alerts tellers at the point-of-presentment to any suspicious check deposit. The batch module is integrated with Bluepoint’s branch capture application, ImagePoint Branch, to generate reports throughout the day flagging items being returned prior to an item being returned in the incoming cash letter.
Hybrid Payments is announcing their official launch into the credit card processing industry. Hybrid Payments is structured to compete with any other credit card processor on the market ensuring that ISO’s and Merchants will always contain the lowest rate with no annual fees or contracts. It provides technology and software solutions that are highly customizable towards each ISO and merchant’s needs, guaranteeing $500 if they cannot beat a competitor’s rate.
Citigroup launched its “CitiDirect BE Mobile.” The mobile browser-based application allows clients to receive notifications and authorize payments using their mobile phones. With this, “CitiDirect BE Mobile” has been made available to over 50,000 clients and 300,000 users worldwide, bringing core transaction functionality, available with Citi’s online banking platform, CitiDirect® Online Banking, directly to clients’ mobile phones. Clients can receive SMS alerts that complement email and fax notifications; and authorize payments pending approval in every payment type supported by the online banking platform. Leveraging the proven security of CitiDirect, CitiDirect BE Mobile offers an alternative access channel to the traditional PC. This ultimately allows businesses to transact business on the move.
London-based Serverside claimed patent infringement of DimpleDough’s recently-issued U.S. patents for customizing credit and debit cards with an image supplied by a user over the Internet. DimpleDough cloud computing card management platform connects merchants and their customers through card delivery applications and ascertained its solutions do not infringe on Serverside. Moreover, the Company fully intends to support and grow its customers and its technology despite the possible litigation.
Mobeam announced its light based communications (LBC) technology is now available to mobile handset manufacturers for easy integration on new smartphone devices. Its patented LBC technology removes the technical barrier that limits smartphone applications for mobile coupons, gift cards and tickets. By leveraging the light emitting sources that smartphones already use for other purposes – message waiting and battery charging indicators, proximity sensors, camera flashes, among others – mobeam technology can beam a barcode that works virtually anywhere. It converts barcodes, just like the ones used on every item sold in retail stores as well as the more than 300 billion coupons distributed every year, into a beam of light that can be read by every one of the estimated 165 million red laser barcode scanners already found at point of sale in stores all around the world.
Trend Micro Incorporated and HyTrust announced a partnership to help organizations streamline security and compliance reporting for virtualized and cloud computing environments. The companies will provide integrated reporting tools that reduce audit response times, and increase auditor confidence. Trend Micro “Deep Security” solution provides advanced security and protection for servers deployed across physical, virtual or cloud infrastructures. Its modules include Firewall/Deep Packet Inspection, Intrusion Detection and Prevention, File Integrity Monitoring, Agentless Anti-malware and Advanced Monitoring, as well as configurable log inspection capabilities.
Fiserv financial services technology solutions has been positioned by Gartner in the Leaders Quadrant of the 2011 “Magic Quadrant for International Retail Core Banking” based on evaluation of its Signature bank platform. The Gartner Magic Quadrant is an annual analysis of international core banking system vendors and their technologies. The report evaluates market understanding and responsiveness; industry and geographic strategy; business model; innovation; product, sales and service; overall viability; customer experience and track record.