International (excluding the USA) Purchase Dollar Volume (PDV) for Visa (VS) and MasterCard (MC) debit cards rose 15.9% year-on-year (Y/Y) in the first quarter (Q1/14). MC’s growth in Q1/14 international debit cards PDV growth outpaced VS by 460 basis points (bps), according to CardData. During Q1/14 VS and MC produced $226 billion in international debit…
Average credit card APRs are up .1% from earlier in month to 15.1% after averaging a meager .04% change over the past year. The figure is also up substantially on the year ago figure of 14.9. This follows a relatively lengthy period of APR stagnation since the holiday months. Typically, card rates drop off throughout…
Yaap Shopping, the Spanish mobile commerce service launched by the alliance of CaixaBank, Santander and Telefónica is being powered by Monitise. The alliance, initiated in Spain, has a mission is to create new and open digital services with a global outlook. Yaap Shopping is a virtual mobile commerce service in which thousands of retailers in Spain can generate revenue through digital interaction with consumers.
TSYS announced Philip W. Tomlinson decided to retire as CEO. In his place, M. Troy Woods has been elected by the TSYS board of directors as president, CEO, effective July 31, 2014. Tomlinson will continue to serve as executive chairman of the board of TSYS until the 2015 Annual Shareholders’ Meeting. Woods started his career at Columbus Bank and Trust Company in 1970, working part time in the bankcard department and eventually becoming a vice president. He left the company in 1977 to become senior vice president of consumer lending for AmSouth Bank in Birmingham, Ala. Woods rejoined TSYS in 1987 and directed the company’s international expansion, strategic planning, major client negotiations and the company’s launch of TS2. Most recently, he guided the company’s diversification strategy into faster growing areas of payments as TSYS moved beyond its roots as a third-party processor for bank issuers and merchant acquirers.
SIMalliance has highlighted that future growth of the NFC ecosystem and NFC-based applications, resulting from host card emulation (HCE), is likely to expedite SIM-based NFC payment deployments and create opportunities for mobile network operators (MNOs) to ‘address the security and authentication gaps in HCE*’.SIMalliance published a paper in April 2014, titled ‘Secure Element Deployment & Host Card Emulation’. It explores both the advantages and the limitations of HCE, providing insights and assessments on a broad range of related topics, including the investment risks for early adopters, the security fallibilities of Android 4.4, the scale of the HCE-NFC certification challenge and the prohibitive barriers to HCE acceptance in global transport and ticketing systems.
National Futures Association (NFA) announced that its Board approved a ban on the use of credit cards to fund retail forex and futures accounts. Although NFA’s proposed rule prohibits the use of credit cards to fund both futures and retail forex accounts, NFA determined through its study that futures commission merchants currently don’t permit this practice. This prohibition is a direct result of an extensive study by NFA of forex dealer members’ business practices. NFA looked at more than 15,000 retail forex accounts and noted that an overwhelming amount of these accounts were funded by small retail customers using a credit card or borrowed funds, and a majority of these accounts were unprofitable.
Spindle has signed a strategic agreement with RisePay payment gateway systems for small businesses, service providers and mobile vendors. RisePay will integrate Spindle’s payment aggregation technology into its proprietary gateway platform, which will help differentiate its gateway services, and allow the company to quickly underwrite merchant applications and expand its penetration in the SMB market. RisePay offers a reliable, scalable payment gateway service that processes card payments for “micro” businesses. Its platform enables merchants to utilize smartphones as portable card-readers, giving them additional leverage to compete with larger retailers.
USA Technologies, Inc. today announced commercial availability of ePort Online, another new capability added to USAT’s comprehensive ePort Connect® service. ePort Online was designed to alleviate some of the time and effort USAT customers spend processing and following up on payment for invoiced services such as delivery services, equipment sales, catering services and more. USA Technologies is a leader of wireless, cashless payment and M2M telemetry solutions for small-ticket, self-serve retailing industries. ePort Connect® is the company’s flagship service platform, a PCI-compliant, end-to-end suite of cashless payment and telemetry services specially tailored to fit the needs of small ticket, self-service retailing industries.
Payveris online and mobile digital payments companyand Geezeo, a company that helps hundreds of banks and credit unions better engage customers through digital channels, have announced a collaborative partnership to offer innovative financial tools and services that enable customers and members to more easily manage their finances.Payveris and Geezeo will leverage each other’s expertise to create integrated offerings that empower financial institutions to better compete in the marketplace.Payveris’ cloud-based digital payments platform allows for more secure, faster and less expensive payment transactions with less risk of errors. This platform approach provides financial institutions with a more integrated payment offering.
NCR and its relationship with Easynet is transforming Europe’s Campofrio Food Group by signing a three-year global contract. NCR and Easynet partnership is a highly successful with a global footprint of 13,000 service professionals in more than 180 countries around the world, NCR is well positioned to partner with Easynet virtually anywhere their customers wish. NCR Corporation enables more than 485 million transactions daily across retail, financial, travel, hospitality, telecom and technology, and small business.
Allied Wallet and its CEO Andy Khawaja were recently featured in the high-end publication BRIC Magazine. Khawaja was featured under the “Success” section, highlighting his inspiring story. This section typically covers success stories, featuring celebrities, entrepreneurs, and prominent individuals who are making an impact globally. The conversation transitions into the future of e-commerce, emerging trends, and stays centered on Chinese e-commerce and why it should not be overlooked. Khawaja details the future of e-commerce in BRIC and is not afraid to paint the picture for its readership because he and Allied Wallet have already put together the framework to service the future of online payments.
Bancomer Transfer Services signed an agreement with Wal-Mart de Mexico y Centroamerica that will enable BTS customers to collect remittances directly at the stores of one of Mexico’s largest retailers. Tje BTS’s money transfer system will now be available through Wal-Mart’s 1,100 stores in the country. Remittances constitute a major bond between Mexico and the U.S.: In April 2014, remittances to Mexico grew 2.1 percent year-over-year, according to Mexico’s Central Bank. Wal-Mart de Mexico y Centroamerica, a subsidiary of Wal-Mart Stores Inc., said that the deal makes the retailer even more of a convenient destination for its customers.