Verifone has expanded its taxi and car-for-hire electronic hailing (e-hail), payment and media business with the acquisition of Curb, a business that connects people in approximately 60 U.S. cities with rides from professional, insured, and fully-licensed taxi drivers. Using Curb’s e-hail app, passengers take more than 100,000 rides each month.
Mocapay has hired Chris Munz as director of business development to lead Mocapay’s strategic partnerships and growth. A digital marketing technology expert who has implemented strategies for top-tier companies across various industries for more than a decade, Chris will focus on building strategic partnerships and alliances for Mocapay. Prior to joining the Mocapay team, Chris was a director of sales communication/sales engineer at Fishbowl, Inc. in Alexandria, VA. While at Fishbowl Inc. Chris was also the director of sales and marketing at Quotient Marketing, a company that was acquired by Fishbowl in 2007.
PointsPay mwallet/mpayment solution was launched in October in conjunction with Etihad Airways, converting virtual currency such as miles and points into over 150 global currencies for use as payment at over 30 million merchants worldwide. PointsPay shows a rapid upswing of user adoption with 2.6% of the active program members registered; 148,000,000 points loaded (growing at 47% monthly); 3,400 prepaid cards issued; 24% of transactions carried out at merchants in store; and 83% of members remain with a positive points account balance after a transaction PointsPay was used at over 1,200 different merchants worldwide in 62 countries.
Nearly 48% of Egyptians said that as payment card machines are not available in most consumer outlets, this inhibits their use of electronic payment cards. Also, cash withdrawal from ATM machines remains the most common use of payment cards, in spite of the findings showing that 95% of respondents are aware their cards can be used for direct purchases. This, according to Visa, also shows 53% use debit or credit cards at least once a week. While 63% of respondents mentioned that greater availability of POS machines would make using payment cards more convenient for them, 27% suggested that branding at POS machines will make their payment card usage experience more satisfactory in addition to 24% who suggested they would be more satisfied if POS machines would function with no networking problems. Overall, 60% of mainly use credit cards while 39% use debit cards and 1% prepaid cards.
James Jackson has been appointed Mid-Atlantic Regional President for Capital One Bank to oversee strategic efforts to meet market and community needs, including philanthropy, volunteerism, and exceptional banking products and services. To continue in his role as Executive VP, Branch Distribution for 1,000 Capital One branches and the Brokerage, Trust and Asset Management businesses, James will also remain a member of the bankâs senior leadership team. He has served in a variety of executive level positions, prior to having joined Capital One Bank in 2009, after more than 25 years at Bank of America.
Integrated payment solution provider Payment Processing is the official partner sponsor of the Self Storage Association.
PPI provides self storage companies with a full range of services for
integrating electronic credit and debit card payments, including gateway
services, integration support, merchant support and services, and PA
DSS/PCI-DSS security assistance. The company’s proprietary PPI PayMover
platform can be integrated with virtually any business application and
is the leading payment processing solution used in the self storage market.
Health data provider Surescripts has tapped Harry Totonis, previously
with MasterCard, as its president and CEO. As head of Advisors Services
at MasterCard, Totonis expanded
MasterCard into decision analytics and information-based product and was
responsible for a global team that spanned business development and
sales, product innovation, technology development and customer delivery.
During his tenure, Totonis developed and executed the strategy for
Advisors Services’ and MasterCard’s information and analytics services
— a board level initiative — while expanding service offerings and
streamlining operations. This resulted in significant overall revenue
growth and substantial increases to revenue and net income per employee
for Advisors Services.
A report released today predicts a credit crunch is impending following the collapse of the sub-prime mortgage market and the possibility of more restrictive mortgage regulation. The American Financial Services Association study says a 20% reduction in sub-prime lending levels would deny 1.1 million borrowers or 2.3% of homeowners the ability to own a home. However, the data do not demonstrate that current foreclosure rates are unusually high. The AFSA study found that current rates of foreclosures, including those for sub-prime loans, fall within the range of historical fluctuations recorded since 1998. Foreclosure rates were at historical highs during 2001- 2003, and current foreclosure rates are again beginning to reach those levels, after a significant drop in 2004-2005.
Global Cash Access has recently inked more than 50 gaming establishments for its “Casino Cash Plus 3-in-1” ATM, “QuikCash” cash advance terminals and “Central Credit” check warranty services. QuikCash cash advance terminals are customer-activated, touch screen terminals that provide casino patrons with POS debit card and credit card cash advance transaction options. Available in kiosk, countertop, wall-mount, free-standing and handheld models, QuikCash terminals can be installed virtually anywhere in a gaming establishment. Central Credit check warranty service is a service through which payment on certain types of patron checks is warranted, which allows casinos to eliminate the risk of nonpayment on such checks.
The American Bankruptcy Institute has named Reginald Jackson of OH-based Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease as its President. Jackson has been an ABI member since 1992, has served on the 60-member ABI Board of Directors since 2002 and the Executive Committee since 2003. He has acted as the Executive Editor of the ABI Journal since March 2002. He is a member of the Columbus Bar Association, and served on the Board of Governors from 1998-2002 and as the chairman of its Bankruptcy Committee from 1990-92.
AirPlus International and Outtask have agreed to integrate Outtask’s “Cliqbook” online bookings with AirPlus corporate payment solutions in addition to pre-populating the Outtask expense management system “Vinnet” with AirPlus’ descriptive billing information. The AirPlus invoice will be sent to Vinnet, streamlining reconciliation and expense reporting. AirPlus International provides business travel payment solutions, offering UATP-based central payment accounts, corporate cards and online management information tools. Outtask, Inc.provides corporate travel and expense (T&E) automation solutions.
New Jersey-based Commerce Bank is expanding in the Washington, DC metro area with free ATM service at 170 CVS pharmacy stores. Commerce is one of the only banks in the country to offer customers no-fee ATM service. Commerce also announced that it will open two metro D.C. stores. Commerce Bancorp has 330 locations and $32 billion in assets.