Of the total $2.6 trillion in outstanding US consumer debt-up a jaw-dropping 13.2% since February- total outstanding revolving credit skyrocketed 11.2% in May since the year ago figure. This is up from the April figure of $862.2 billion and compares to the year ago figure of $793.1 billion. With outstanding debt having dropped 9.6% from…
MasterCard joined with Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) and Major League Baseball (MLB) to kick off the ‘Dine and Be Generous’ campaign designed to involve baseball fans and all consumers in the fight against cancer. From July 10 through September 28, 2012, when cardholders spend $10 or more for a meal on their MasterCard card, MasterCard will donate up to $4 million to Stand Up To Cancer. The program formally launches with a ceremonial first “swipe” by SU2C ambassador and 2012 MLB All-Star pitcher R.A. Dickey that will air during the MLB All-Star Game broadcast on FOX. The campaign builds on a successful first year in 2011 that raised more than $4 million for cancer research based on the use of MasterCard cards for purchases ranging from take-out to fine dining. MasterCard is providing enhanced ways for consumers to take get involved, allowing them register at www.facebook.com/mastercard to take action in a number of ways and involve their own social networks in supporting the cause. They can subsequently win weekly prizes of five $50 MasterCard prepaid cards and grand prize trip for two to a 2012 World Series game.
Fiserv appointed Dennis F. Lynch to its Board of Directors, a major contributor to the U.S. payments industry for over 30 years. Responsible for driving the adoption of card and payment solutions that have enhanced how consumers conduct financial transactions, Lynch is currently the Chairman of the Board at Cardtronics ATMs. He is also a Director, and former Chairman, of the Secure Remote Payments Council, a cross-industry organization dedicated to accelerating the growth, development, and market adoption of more secure ecommerce and mobile payments. Lynch was also previously the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of RightPath Payments from 2005 to 2008 and the President and Chief Executive Officer of NYCE Corporation from 1996 to 2004.
First Data Corporation electronic commerce and payment processing has extended its processing services agreement with Getin Noble Bank until 2018. First Data currently issues cards on behalf of Getin Noble Bank in Poland and provides card management as well as authorisation and transaction settlement services. The new agreement additionally extends the scope of services provided by First Data to include Proactive Risk Manager, a fraud discovery and notification system which has been designed to meet banks’ growing demand for anti-fraud solutions to provide enhanced security to cardholders.
Brightwell Payments prepaid card solutions for corporations and consumers acquired Directo paycard programs. The acquisition increases Brightwell’s penetration of the high growth paycard market while driving the efficiencies of increased scale. Brightwell provides program design, marketing, technology, distribution and fulfillment services for a comprehensive array of prepaid products, including general purpose reloadable, loyalty, award and promotional, and domestic and international payroll cards. Brightwell’s award-winning OceanPay® product has become the industry standard for maritime payroll.
Q2ebanking secure electronic banking solutions for banks and credit unions throughout the U.S., announced it is opening a second office to support its steady client growth with the resources and additional industry professionals needed to drive further success. Throughout the rest of 2012 Q2ebanking will hire approximately 40 new employees for the Atlanta office, focusing on new product development, implementation and delivery engineers as well as Q&A and customer support engineers.
Clean Power Finance online marketplace for residential solar financing and leading provider of solar sales software announced the appointment of Steve Olszewski to senior vice president, operations. He most recently was senior vice president at Discover Financial Services, where he led the student loans business through the integration of The Student Loan Corporation and later oversaw the largest portfolio acquisition in Discover’s history. He also managed the six-fold growth in the deposits business, which became the company’s largest funding source. Steve also led underwriting and servicing operations for GMAC’s auto insurance business and held operations strategy roles at Capital One. He holds an MBA from Northwestern’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management.
WesBanco selected Talaris Vertera teller cash recyclers to automate most of its 112 branches. Talaris cash automation solutions will enable WesBanco to solve several specific business issues including increasing physical security, reducing idle cash, improving teller staffing efficiencies all while enabling tellers to concentrate on providing a higher degree of customer service. Vertera cash recycler can accept, authenticate and store currency, providing branch staff more time to engage customers and reducing customer wait times.
Oberthur Technologies services based on smart card technologies has finalized plans to open a secure service center in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The 1,400 m² facility will enable the personalization of secure devices and documents (including magnetic stripe and EMV cards as well as SIM cards and identification credentials). The company is currently supplying contactless cards to Montreal’s transit system and SIM cards to major Canadian telecom operators. The new facility will be fully operational with payment association certifications in Q4 of this year and ready to produce VISA, MasterCard and Interac cards.
On Track Innovations wholly owned subsidiary, ASEC S.A. of Poland, received an order for 17,000 NFC and contactless payment readers for deployment in Europe that will be geared for implementation in the mass transit market, most of which will be shipped in 2013. With its SCI OEM integrated solution and the Saturn outdoor and indoor line of readers, OTI readers provide an easy, cost effective plug-and-play solution to support the migration toward contactless payment and NFC, necessary to support the increasing adoption of NFC payment technology across the world. OTI holds extensive intellectual property portfolio pertaining to NFC technology, including over 100 issued patents and pending patent applications encompassing product applications, software platforms, system and product architecture, product concepts and more in the fields of NFC, contactless payment, secure ID, petroleum and parking solutions.