Western Union posted 2Q/12 revenue of $1.4 billion, up 4% from the year ago period, and an operating margin of 24.3%, compared to the year ago figure of 25.7%. Consumer-to-Consumer operating margins were consistent with prior year. The decrease in consolidated operating margin compared to prior year was primarily due to the acquisition of TGBP,…
Euronet Worldwide electronic payments provider posted 2Q/12 results, with total revenues of $302.4 million, up 8% from the year ago figure of $279.8 million. Net income attributable to Euronet was $5.7 million, compared to the year ago figure of $11.9 million while transactions totaled 570 million, a 13% increase from 503 million in 2Q/11. The…
A one-stop source to access reservations at top restaurants, first-class shopping experiences and sporting events tickets is now available through MasterCard Priceless Chicago. The Priceless Cities program is designed to bring consumers closer to their passions through exclusive experiences and privileged access throughout the Chicagoland area. The Priceless Cities program has also been extended to London, Toronto and Beijing to give cardholders new ways to discover some of the world’s global destinations. The priceless experiences to MasterCard cardholders include opportunities to have lunch with a current Chicago Cubs player or participate in pre-game batting practice activities; Gilt City offers for coveted Chicago culinary experiences including a prefix vault dinner for two at The Bedford and a special Omakase 10-course chef’s dinner for six with sake and wine pairings at Arami; and unique access to the annual Magnificent Mile Shopping Festival presented by MasterCard.
Visa kicked off its social marketing campaign, generating national support from countries far and wide through Facebook, Youku and Sina-Weibo in China, VKontakte in Russia, YouTube and Twitter (US). This will inspire Team Visa athletes at the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Since the campaign launched in May, fans have cheered in the form of liking the Visa Facebook page, submitting photos, videos and text cheers and performing one-click cheers through Visa’s Cheer application on Facebook, viewing and sharing video content on YouTube, as well as including the campaign’s hashtag (#VisaGoWorld) on Twitter (@TeamVisa) and cheering through partner websites. The campaign has seen 1.9 million fan “Likes” on Visa’s Facebook page; 400,000 cheers for 69 Team Visa athletes in the form of a one-click cheers and text, photo or video submissions; and 25.7 million views of Visa’s Go World commercials, behind-the-scenes athlete content and consumer-generated cheer videos.
UniRush and Green Dot low-cost banking and payment solutions forged an exclusive multi-year distribution agreement, under which Green Dot Bank will serve as the exclusive issuer of the retail version of the RushCard, with Green Dot Corporation serving as a co-manager on the portfolio with UniRush. The introduction of RushCard through the retail channel is expected to significantly expand UniRush LLC’s customer base by allowing consumers to purchase RushCard at many of their favorite retailers nationwide, while providing Green Dot with new, incremental sales through its large, nationwide retail distribution channel. Russell Simmons co-founded UniRush, LLC in 2003, and the subsequent launch of the RushCard was one of the first prepaid Visa Debit cards available to the underserved consumer.
Bank of America launched new mobile banking for Mobile Check Deposit, Person-to-Person Email and Mobile Transfers and Mobile App Alerts. This will allow customers to manage their finances through their mobile device – from depositing a check, to paying friends and family, to reviewing balances and much more. Bank of America’s Mobile Check Deposit function allows customers to deposit checks easily and securely without making a trip to the ATM or banking center. Once customers download the updated mobile application onto their tablet or smartphone, they can use the app to snap photos of the check and follow a few simple on-screen instructions to complete the deposit. Mobile Check Deposit is currently available on iPad and will be available in the coming weeks on iPhone, Google Android smartphone or tablet and Windows Phone. Person-to-Person Email and Mobile Transfers allow customers to easily conduct person-to-person transfers via online banking or a smartphone using only an e-mail address or mobile phone number.
Mocapay mobile commerce expanded its strategic partnership with Lettuce Entertain You independent restaurant groups. This will mobile deploy Lettuce Eats Frequent Diner Club. Lettuce Entertain You patrons will be provided a more convenient and engaging channel to earn points and redeem rewards for food at its over 80 restaurant locations in seven states. Lettuce Entertain You will now mobilize its 25-year-old frequent diner club that includes over 100,000 members, giving patrons easy access to their frequent dining membership and real-time updates on points and rewards. Patrons can interchangeably use their plastic loyalty card and mobile phone to collect points and redeem offers from a single account, providing more choice and flexibility. Lettuce Entertain You is able to integrate mobile into its existing POS equipment, loyalty program and application provider through Mocapay.
AJB Software Design integrated payment solutions announced a new EMV migration path for U.S. Retailers, designed to accelerate EMV implementations, while making it easy for merchants to integrate with emerging Mobile and other POS initiatives. AJB completed numerous large-scale EMV Chip and PIN integrations with merchants throughout Canada and the United Kingdom. AJB’s software enables merchants to accept EMV transactions; resulting in fewer disputed charges, lower chargeback rates and reduced levels of fraud, saving time and money for retailers. Its EMV compatible software has been PA-DSS validated with EMV transactions, simplifying the compliance effort for merchants to verify their payment processing meets the PCI & EMV security standards.
Agilysys software solutions will be used extensively throughout London and the United Kingdom, as sporting venues and hotels rely on Agilysys technology to streamline operations, improve efficiency and enhance guest service for the Olympic Games. More than a thousand point-of-sale terminals in food outlets and concessions throughout London and the surrounding area will be using Agilysys InfoGenesis™ POS software during the upcoming international athletic events. Hoteliers throughout the region will rely on Agilysys software for property management, point-of-sale, inventory and procurement and document management, allowing guests from around the world to check in and check out quickly and efficiently.
miiCard online ID announced Stephen Brannan, former Director of Group Technology at RBS, will serve as Chairman and Tim Bullock, former Managing Director of Personal and Retail Finance at Lloyds TSB Asset Finance, as Non Executive Director. Together, they will drive widespread adoption of the online identity verification service in the financial services industry and beyond. Stephen Brannan has vast experience of banking technology having formerly been Director of Group Technology at RBS and more recently Director of Separation Business Services responsible for executing the division of the RBS portion from ABN AMRO. Tim Bullock is co-founder of New Wave Ventures LLP, with over 33 years of experience in banking and finance.
More than 2.5 million South African Social Security Agency MasterCard debit cards have been issued to social grant recipients as part of the social grants disbursements tender which was awarded to Cash Paymaster Services (“CPS”) of Net1 UEPS Technologies. SASSA controls and manages the disbursements of 15 million social benefits to 9.2 million beneficiaries, who receive one or more of seven different social security grants on a monthly basis including: The State Old Age Pension, War Veteran Grant, Disability Grant, Child Support Grant, Foster Child Grant, Grant-in-aid and Care Dependency Grant. The biometric functionality of the payment cards identify social grant recipients using unique identifiers such as fingerprints and other personal information, which means that the payment cards cannot be used by any person other than the approved beneficiary to collect his/her grant.
Ingenico announced its reviewed interim financial statements for the six‐month period ended June 30, 2012. Very strong increase in H1 2012 revenue to €542.3 million, up 23% on a reported basis and 16% on a comparable basis1 Proven ability to consolidate Group margins at a high level while investing in future sources of growth Net…