Average credit card APRs are down .1% from the February figure to 15.01% after averaging a meager .04% change over the past year. This reignites the momentum to the ebbing 2014 APR credit card averages and is first time APRs have dropped the entire year. This also follows a relatively lengthy period of APR stagnation…
Wirecard AG has now integrated host card emulation (HCE) into its Mobile Wallet Platform to better allow telecommunications companies, financial service providers, banks and retailers deploy mpayment NFC solutions. HCE makes it possible to carry out secure, NFC-based transactions for payments and services via mobile apps, regardless of whether a physical secure element (SE) is available on the mobile phone. All data generated during a transaction is therefore no longer stored on a hardware component, but instead on a secure centralised server. NFC host card emulation technology is already standard in Android devices starting Version 4.4. Wirecard emulates a one-off token per transaction, which is used in the EMV transaction, replacing the original card data, which is saved in a PCI-compliant database in a secure server environment.
ebpSource is pleased to announce an agreement with mobile authentication specialists, Encap Security, to market its Smarter Authentication solutions globally. The agreement means ebpSource will offer Encap’s products to new and existing clients in the banking, telecoms, payment processor and service bureau sectors. Smarter Authentication™ is a new approach to online and mobile banking and payment authentication that uses software-based, banking-grade technology to deliver an exceptional customer experience without compromising security. Encap Security’s Smarter Authentication™ is a superior solution to existing hardware and software-based authentication offerings that are both costly and cumbersome for service providers. Smarter Authentication™ allows organisations to deliver innovative services that have been proven to not only reduce risk but also boost online and mobile adoption and transaction rates. Once a user’s device is paired, the user will be asked to identify themselves using a PIN. The device becomes “something you have” and the PIN is “something you know” allowing multi-factor authentication to be delivered with a one-factor user experience. For non-smart mobile devices there is also an SMS alternative. Through the partnership with ebpSource, the Encap-enabled app will be integrated server-side to enterprise systems, online services, identity management, transaction databases and payment processes.
PAY.ON omnichannel payment infrastructure systems, and Worldline, Atos subsidiary for e-payment services, announce a premium strategic partnership to enlarge Worldline’s international e-payment acceptance coverage. Worldline now strengthens its worldwide positioning to better support its customers when operating cross-border and entering new markets and countries. With Atos Worldline, PAY.ON gains another partner, delivering its clients a further connection to the French market. The integration into the PAY.ON Payment Gateway facilitates Worldline the immediate access into a high-performance payment gateway, the processing of transactions in more than 100 countries, and access to more than 350 payment providers and 150 payment brands over a single API. With this enriched geographical coverage, Worldline will be able to even better satisfy the growing needs of its customers, currently spread in 17 countries, and leverage their business globally: Worldline clients can now easily connect to a wide range of foreign acquirers and payment methods for processing of local payment transactions worldwide.
MasterCard today announced the intention to enter into a commercial agreement with Monitise plc to accelerate the development and deployment of mobile wallets and digital payment solutions by financial institutions worldwide. MasterCard also intends to make a minority investment in Monitise. The combination of MasterCard and Monitise’s complementary expertise in developing mobile platforms for commerce and banking is anticipated to result in additional innovative and secure solutions.
Boku, Inc., and sunhill technologies today announced a partnership to make direct carrier billing available worldwide for sunhill’s services. sunhill technologies provides mobile solutions to customers seeking cashless alternatives for parking. In partnership with Boku, customers looking for a simple, secure mechanism to pay for parking will enjoy a seamless mobile transaction where their parking payment is billed directly to their mobile phone bill or deducted from their prepaid phone balance.
Redi2 Technologies announced that Standard Life Wealth has deployed its Revenue Manager software. Redi2 Revenue Manager™ is a hosted fee billing and revenue management solution that provides organizations with intelligent workflow and exception management functionality, and supports a wide variety of asset aggregation methodologies. Additionally, Revenue Manager calculates for different tax rules, calculates performance fees and generates invoices. Standard Life Wealth is a wealth management service and one of many subsidiaries of Standard Life plc., a provider of long term savings and investment. In September the company acquired Newton Private Clients from Newton Management Limited, also of the UK. The combined businesses have £5.8 billion in assets under management.
Allpay invested £3m in a new facility at its head office following substantial expansion plans, which will follow the opening of two other brand new office locations. The Company processes over 50 million transactions and handles over GBP 4.5 billion each year. Allpay has already won some significant deals providing payment collection services and card services. The new state-of-the-art bureau and card production facility, due to be fully operational by June 2014 will see an influx of the latest card manufacturing machinery which, will double the current capacity of card production. allpay is also a well-established manufacturer of plastic cards accredited by MasterCard® and Visa with a growing global client base. With secure production facilities in Hereford, allpay provides a fully managed fulfilment service for credit and debit cards to prepaid, transit and ID cards.
MasterCard announced that it has appointed Anna Yip as head of Hong Kong and Macau. Yip brings years of experience in the financial services industry in Hong Kong, Greater China and Southeast Asia. She will be responsible for developing strategy for the local market and forging close business alliances with customer financial institutions, while developing and promoting MasterCard products and services in line with market demands. Yip joined MasterCard in 2013 as head of Greater China, MasterCard Advisors, the professional services arm of MasterCard which provides proprietary analysis and solutions. Based in Hong Kong, she was responsible for the operation and growth of the business in the Greater China region Yip was previously the managing director for Corporate Planning and International Strategy at United Overseas Bank in Singapore and a partner with McKinsey & Company in Greater China.
Ingenico is collaborating with Fujitsu to upgrade its UK rail ticketing systems to meet the highest information security standards and improve its contactless capabilities. Ingenico is now supplying Fujitsu with around 1,400 iPP320 contactless PINPads and its proprietary centralised payment process solution, Axis, which will provide full PCI DSS compliance for all of its manned kiosk and telesales ticketing solutions. The Fujitsu STAR ticketing system is a package of services forming a comprehensive ticket retailing solution designed for UK train operators and installed in over 600 stations in the UK. To date, nine of the train operators use STAR as their preferred ticket retailing solution. Ingenico’s Axis platform manages payment transactions from the point of sale to the transaction acquirer. It complies with security requirements and even goes beyond the scope of the regulations by providing its customers with modules intended to protect them against internal fraud, the theft of sensitive data and system breakdowns.