The number of U.S. credit card accounts or cards-in-force among top issuers has slowly been rising, up 3.7% since 2011. MasterCard reports the number of U.S. credit cards-in-force is up 5.0% since 2011 and 8.3% last year. MasterCard now has 337 million credit cards in the U.S. market, compared to 311 million in 2012 and 321 million in 2011.
Payroll employment was up 113,000 units in January for a subsequent little change in the unemployment rate, which still sits at an impressive 6.6%. This was led by employment in construction, manufacturing, wholesale trade, and mining fields. The number of unemployed persons sits at 10.2 million showed little change since October as the jobless rate…
MasterCard and Syniverse today joined forces to deliver a number of mobile and payment services to enhance peace of mind for mobile users when they are traveling abroad. The two companies are currently in pilot-phase for an opt-in service that will enable card transactions for users only when they have their mobile device switched on in a specific geolocation abroad. This service aims to reduce consumers’ frustrations associated with having their payment cards used without their knowledge or having their own transactions unnecessarily declined when trying to make purchases in another country. Financial institutions will also have an additional tool that will help them make more effective decisions when approving or declining a transaction on behalf of their customers.
Oberthur Technologies and Ingenico payment solutions will jointly showcase a couponing value added service on an NFC SIM card. In line with the mobile NFC Value Added Services proposal POS terminals from the GSMA, this collaboration between both companies will enable retailers to securely dematerialize coupons and loyalty on an NFC Secure Element. Different products and solutions of OT enable this solution: the dragonFly NFC SIM card which is fast, secure and convenient, an application on the SIM card where the coupons and the loyalty card are stored and a mobile application for the end-user to see what coupons are available and manage them. Thanks to these, subscribers will be able to leverage on Ingenico’s large installed base of NFC embedded terminals across all geographies, managing loyalty triggering and coupons recognition. Mobile operators can offer a new added value service on the SIM cards that will be widely accepted by merchants.The coupons are stored on mobile phones so no more problem of losing or forgetting coupons at home and can download the coupons on the go.
SMARTRAC is launching its new NTAG213 product line: BullsEye, Midas and Circus NTAG213 NFC tags come with 144 bytes user memory with password protection, are compatible with NFC Forum Type 2 Tags and ISO/IEC14443 Type A standards and offer UID mirror functionality. BullsEye tags come with etched NFC Forum N-Mark. Sharing their memory structure and feature set, SMARTRAC’s new NTAG213 products will replace the highly successful NTAG203 product range. The industry’s best-known all-purpose NFC tag, the SMARTRAC BullsEye, and its close relatives Midas and Circus are now available with the new NXP NTAG213 chip equipped with 144 bytes user memory with password protection. The new chip also features unique ID (UID) mirror functionality, which enables the IC’s serial number to be mirrored as part of its encoded URL address. SMARTRAC’s BullsEye NTAG213 all purpose NFC tag comes with an etched NFC Forum N-Mark in the tag’s center simplifies the use of the product as it can be placed directly on top of the printed materials providing easy recognition.
Mercury Payment was awarded bronze in the “Front-line Customer Service Team” category in the eighth annual Stevie® Awards for Sales & Customer Service.The awards were presented by the Stevie Awards, which organizes several of the world’s leading business awards shows, including the prestigious International Business Awards and the new Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards. The final results were announced during a gala banquet on Friday, February 21 at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. Finalists from the United States and several other nations attended. Mercury manages over a half-million merchant and partner interactions annually with a dedicated customer service staff of more than 100 people based in Colorado. More than 1,500 nominations from organizations of all sizes and in virtually every industry were evaluated in this year’s competition, an increase of 36 percent over 2013.
U.S. Bank is celebrating Military Saves Week through March 1 with the introduction of the Military Financial Education Course, a free digital program that provides active military members with critical financial wellness skills. U.S. Bank has partnered with EverFi, a leading education technology company, to produce the Military Financial Education Course. The curriculum will focus on educating active duty military members on financial steps that can be taken to help them prepare for deployment, save for their return and beyond, and plan for a successful transition back to civilian life. In addition, the course covers other critical topics such as savings and investing, identity protection, mortgages, and financing higher education.
ACI Worldwide announced Trustco Bank has selected the company to power its internet banking and payment services. Trustco is among the leading community institutions meeting this demand, delivering its thousands of customers a universal experience. In order to better service its customers, maximize efficiency and ensure a consistent user experience, Trustco selected ACI’s online banking technology, which provides the bank with flexibility, choice and speed to respond quickly to customers’ self-service needs. With ACI, the bank and customer have a single, consistent view of account information and transactions from any channel. Trustco chose to host its application in ACI’s data centers, which host banking and payment solutions for thousands of financial institutions, retailers and billers.
Allied Wallet was announced as the winner of the “Guiding Hand – International Award” at this year’s Merchant Payments Ecosystem conference in Berlin, Germany. The Merchant Payments Ecosystem Awards, or MPE Awards, began their history in 2010 as the ECAF Awards, recognizing the outstanding roles of acquirers, processors, PSP’s, and payment solution providers.The MPE Awards provide recognition and tribute to those who are instrumental and innovative in the payment industry. They bring tribute to those who are pushing the system and payment solutions beyond its current state and into the next level of success. Allied Wallet won the MPE 2014 Award for its innovative, global vision on e-commerce payments and its ability to provide a customized solution for online merchants all over the world.
PayPal and Deutsche Telekom announced a direct carrier billing relationship, which enables Deutsche Telekom users to make purchases directly to their mobile phone account. Now a part of PayPal’s carrier payment network, Deutsche Telekom and PayPal will help to extend carrier payments across Europe and will provide an opportunity for both companies to reach more consumers and digital goods merchants. In 2013, more than $9 billion of digital goods payment volume went through PayPal. As one of the world’s leading integrated telecommunications companies, Deutsche Telekom has a presence in 14 markets throughout Europe, with some 144 million mobile customers. This will make it easy for digital goods merchants who have not adopted carrier billing to offer this payment option to consumers across Western, Central and Eastern Europe. Deutsche Telekom joins more than 250 carriers as part of PayPal’s carrier payments network.