Robert McKinley, Senior Analyst/Editor Robert McKinley is an analyst of the payments industry on a daily basis for 32 years covering payment cards and payment systems from both the business side and the consumer side. McKinley is the retired founder and chief executive of RAM Research, CardWeb and CardTrak. In his prior position, McKinley has participated in more than 10,000 documented news media interviews, testified as an expert witness in two separate $billion+ U.S. anti-trust trials, testified before the U.S. Congress, assisted the GAO with paymentsIMG_2006 (1).jpeg reports, chaired numerous business conferences and provided C-Suite opinion to a multitude of Fortune 500 companies. In retirement, he has continued developing and funding digital media assets as well as contributing payments related analysis/content to a broad list of online publishers, including CardFlash, CardTrak and CardData. McKinley is also a national certified mentor with the non-profit SCORE organization with a focus on assisting Fintech startups. www.robert-mckinley.com

Financial Markets Authority Licenses P2P Lending

10, Country, NEW ZEALAND, PriorityLeave a comment

The Financial Markets Authority (FMA) issued its first peer-to-peer lending service licence. Harmoney is the first provider of this new financial service, under the provisions of the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013. Licensing peer-to-peer lending services forms part of FMA’s brief to facilitate new capital-raising opportunities in New Zealand. It is also part of the Government’s business growth agenda. Peer-to-peer lending involves an intermediary, the peer-to-peer lending service, bringing borrowers and lenders together, and charging a fee for the service. Lenders and borrowers can find out more information on FMA’s website. Under the regulations, borrowers are limited to raising no more than $2 million in any 12-month period through peer-to-peer lending services. This limit applies to both business and consumer borrowers – although individual service providers may impose lower limits on the amount that may be borrowed. The regulations don’t impose any limits on the am amount lenders can lend, although some service providers may impose limits.

Visa LAC Q1

6, BRAZIL, Country, PriorityLeave a comment

Visa’s (VS) Latin America Caribbean (LAC) region Purchase Dollar Volume (PDV) rose year-on-year (Y/Y) by 14.3% on a local currency basis in the first quarter (Q1/14) to US$95 billion. The average purchase ticket in the VS LAC region declined 9.4% Y/Y. One-year ago it stood at US$44.20, compared to US$43.90 in Q4/13 and US$40.05 in Q1/14, according to CardData. VS has an estimated 440 million cards-in-force (CIF) currently in the LAC region, compared to 431 million in Q1/13.

Visa Canada Q1

6, CANADA, Country, PriorityLeave a comment

Visa’s (VS) Canadian region Purchase Dollar Volume (PDV) rose year-on-year (Y/Y) by 9.8% on a local currency basis in the first quarter (Q1/14) to US$52 billion.
The average purchase ticket in the VS Canadian region declined 9.0% Y/Y. One-year ago it stood at US$104.29, compared to US$101.80 in Q4/13 and US$94.89 in Q1/14, according to CardData. VS has an estimated 43 million cards-in-force (CIF) currently in the Canadian region, compared to 38 million in Q1/13.

Net Element Exec

7, Country, Priority, UNITED STATESLeave a comment

William Healy has been appointed to the Net Element’s Board of Directors, effective June 30, 2014, and will serve on the Board’s Audit, Compensation, Nominating and Corporate Governance Committees. Mr. Healy is an accomplished financial services industry veteran with more than 24 years of merchant financing and electronic payments industry experience. Net Element is a global technology-driven group specializing in mobile payments and value-added transactional services.

Credit Availability

7, Country, Priority, UNITED STATESLeave a comment

Credit card credit availability levels off and is heading south. A new study found that credit lines are contracting at their slowest rate in a year, with average credit lines for sub-prime and prime accounts (down 1.2% and 1.4% respectively) continuing to contract at a faster rate than super-prime accounts (down just 0.3%). The report also found that the credit card market is shifting toward rewards cards.

Ingenico & GlobalCollect Discussing Merger

10, Country, NETHERLANDS, PriorityLeave a comment

Ingenico entered exclusive negotiations regarding the acquisition of 100% of the share capital of GlobalCollect from its existing shareholders for an enterprise value of €820 million. GlobalCollect has developed a recognized payment expertise, notably in cross-border e-commerce, to enable most recognized brands to sell their products on line across the globe. Thanks to its secure, scalable, in-house and robust online platform supported by an experienced management team, GlobalCollect directly provides merchants with a comprehensive, cross-border one-stop-shop payment solution by acting as a hub to multiple other payment providers in 170 countries and providing an access to 150 local payment methods. During fiscal year 2013, GlobalCollect reported gross revenue of €305 million, net revenue of €111 million and adjusted EBITDA1 of €50 million.

NCR Announces Cutting Edge Manufacturing Plant

10, Country, INDIA, PriorityLeave a comment

NCR Corporation announced it will be moving to a new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility. The new facility, which is more than double the size of the company’s existing facility, is built over an 117,000 square-foot area, and is under a new single roof design structure that will allow NCR to improve operational efficiency. This facility is strategically located and is in close proximity to suppliers, customers as well as robust transportation like ports and airports that will help to improve operational efficiency and enable faster delivery of innovative products to the market. NCR will continue to manufacture financial solutions such as ATMs, while also expanding to manufacture innovative consumer transaction technologies for the retail and hospitality industries. The new facility is expected to participate in lean manufacturing practices and comply with NCR global standards related to Environmental, Health and Safety (EHS), and quality. In addition, the facility is expected to participate in IGBC (LEED) Silver certification for building sustainability and Tier 1 certification on Resilient IT Infrastructure.

Ingenico Finances Startup Competition

10, Country, Priority, SWITZERLANDLeave a comment

Ingenico is sponsoring Seedstars World, a global competition designed to recognize and support innovative startups in emerging markets. Following the opening of its regional headquarters in Casablanca in May, this sponsorship demonstrates Ingenico Group’s continuing commitment to deepen its presence in Africa.Ingenico Group sponsored Seedstars World competitions in Casablanca (Morocco), Accra (Ghana), Lagos (Nigeria) and Nairobi (Kenya) between May and July. Winners of the Ingenico-sponsored events included creators of an e-learning platform in Morocco, a bitcoins-based payment system in Ghana.

Optimal Payments Signs Up for Latest Sponsorship

10, Country, Priority, UNITED KINGDOMLeave a comment

Optimal Payments has become the official sponsor of Crystal Palace Football Club for the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons. Optimal Payments will use the platform to raise the global awareness of its award-winning NETELLER service and Net+® Card stored-value offering which will be displayed on the front of the team’s shirts from the start of the 2014/15 English Premier League season. NETELLER will be the First Premier League sponsor within the online payments space and will provide the brand the right synergy to achieve NETELLER’S marketing and commercial objectives quickly and cost effectively. Specifically, it will support customer and merchant objectives delivering rapid multi-market brand awareness, big brand credibility and driving sign up and conversion rates in NETELLER’s key growth markets – including Asia; Africa and the America’s.