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

FIS Fosters US EMV Adoption with Visa Agreement

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FIS and its NYCE® Payments Network announced a licensing agreement to make the Visa® EMV® debit solution available to all NYCE participants. This agreement furthers the U.S. payments industry goal of EMV adoption and is NYCE’s first formal EMV license, which can be used by NYCE Network participants with respect to Visa card products. Fundamental to the agreement is the support of key NYCE participant business flexibilities, including portability between debit networks for issuers, routing choice for merchants at the point of sale and issuers at NYCE ATMs. At the same time, it ensures that NYCE will have access to Visa EMV technology in perpetuity to support NYCE clients and NYCE will be able to support transactions using all authentication types.

BPC to Unveil SmartVista for Retailers at TRANSACT 14

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BPC Banking Technologies payment solutions for the global financial industry announced the launch of SmartVista for Retailers. SmartVista for Retailers is designed to help businesses of all sizes streamline payment operations while supporting the widest range of payment methods and channels. The solution provides all the capabilities needed to support today’s fast moving, competitive retail environments in an integrated, flexible and secure package. Retailers face considerable challenges in their mission to deliver what consumers want at a price they are willing to pay, backed by the convenience and service they demand. SmartVista for Retailers helps capture market opportunities by rapidly meeting the unique needs of changing markets. The solution supports single- and multi-site retailers, as well as mono-retailers and retailers with multiple departments. A full range of payment options are supported, including EMV (Europay Visa Mastercard) chip and magstripe, contactless and mobile, credit and debit cards, prepaid and virtual cards, gift cards and vouchers, ensuring retailers can offer consumers the widest range of payment acceptance. Designed to operate in a dynamic environment, SmartVista for Retailers is multi-channel, multi-currency, multi-lingual, multi-institution and multi-acquirer.

City of Atlanta Grants Acculynk Special Procurement Designation for Patented Payment Solution

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Acculynk payment processor announced the City of Atlanta, Department of Watershed Management’s award of a Special Procurement Designation to Acculynk. Following the Special Procurement Designation, Acculynk will offer Department of Watershed Management customers its unique PIN debit solution for processing secure online debit payments. The Company expects to deliver its proprietary solution to customers within the next few weeks. The offering is expected to open up a new payment channel to Department of Watershed Management customers, especially for those customers who utilize debit cards as a primary means for transacting. Acculynk’s PaySecure® patented online PIN pad solution permits PIN enabled debit card users to enter their PIN for e- and m-commerce, ensuring a second layer of authentication and a more secure transaction.

GlobalCollect Announces Elevate Data Services

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GlobalCollect announced Elevate Data Services, a comprehensive Business Intelligence solution designed specifically for online payments and chargebacks. Elevate was conceived in response to the unique need for insights expressed by GlobalCollect’s clients, and developed in close cooperation with GlobalCollect’s Customer Advisory Board (GCAB), which includes many leading international eCommerce companies.

World First and OANDA Expand International Payments Service

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Following the announcement of their partnership in the UK earlier this year, World First, a leading international payments provider, and OANDA Corporation, the first online provider of comprehensive currency exchange information and global provider of innovative foreign exchange trading services, are pleased to announce the expansion of their international payments service to the U.S., Canada, Australia and France. With World First’s flexible online payments platform OANDA clients can now make high-speed international money transfers around the clock. The World First-OANDA payments service allows private individuals to make transfers for things like repatriating income, paying for international school fees, making property investments, sending money to family overseas, or for a variety of other reasons.

SIX takes full control of Cetrel

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SIX has increased its stake in the Luxembourg financial services provider CETREL S.A. from 50% to 100% as of 31 March 2014. SIX has underlined the real significance of strategic cooperation and in taking over the company, will expand its leading international offering in the area of card-based payment transactions. SIX is aiming to strengthen its position in the acquiring business and expand the international issuing-processing offering of SIX in Europe. Maintaining central services to strengthen the competitive position of the Luxembourg financial center will continue to be one of the core activities for the company.

Novum Bank Deploys Carta Payment Processing

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Carta Worldwide announced Novum Bank is now live on Carta’s processing platform. Carta is providing Novum with a fully configurable and customizable platform that delivers unparalleled efficiency, stability and security. Novum Bank has switched its entire prepaid card portfolio over to Carta’s next-gen global transaction processor. Traditionally the process of migrating an entire card portfolio to a new processor would require significant time and cost. However with Carta’s technology, Novum completed the processor transition seamlessly within a week with no service disruption for cardholders, who are able to retain existing plastics. Carta’s platform has been engineered to leverage its clients’ existing infrastructure and evolve to meet the complexities of modern payment applications.

2Checkout announces Inline Checkout

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2Checkout announced Inline Checkout, a hosted payments processing platform that empowers online merchants with a seamless, streamlined checkout experience. This sleek addition integrates directly with any e-commerce website, creating an uninterrupted checkout that maintains the look and feel of the host’s design. The solution offers complete control to the seller while offering PCI compliance and state-of-the-art fraud protection. Adaptable and secure, Inline Checkout is the hosted platform that provides online sellers with the most flexibility and support in one package.

Reload @ the Register by Green Dot

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Green Dot Corporation today announced a new reload technology and consumer process designed to improve the retail cash reloading experience for its millions of Green Dot Reload Network users. Reload @ the Register™ is powered by Green Dot’s highly scalable and market-proven “SwIT” (Swipe Interface Technology) functionality. This real-time technology is designed to make reloading cash onto a prepaid card faster, more convenient, more efficient and more intuitive for the customer than using a paper reload “chit,” which is a method commonly used today by Green Dot and other competing reload network providers. Green Dot’s SwIT technology hit a major milestone in 2012 when it joined Walmart Rapid Reload™ and will now roll out to most of Green Dot’s other retail partners by the end of 2014.

U.S. Bank E-Payment Service Kiosk

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Companies, utilities, government entities and nonprofits that accept electronic payments from their customers can now collect those funds on-site with new E-Payment Service Kiosks from U.S. Bank Global Treasury Management. Similar to an ATM, U.S. Bank’s E-Payment Service Kiosks are customizable, free-standing units available to businesses, nonprofits, utilities and other billers that want to give their own customers the option to conveniently and securely pay bills on the spot.