TSYS & Edge
NYC-based ShopKeep, the cloud-based technology and business management solution used by more than 20,000 independent merchants, today announced its collaboration with MasterCard and the MasterCard Easy Savings® program.
ShopKeep Funding
ShopKeep has snagged another $60 million in Series D funding, led by investor Activant Capital. The Company says it plans to use this injection of capital to aggressively grow its overall US customer base, strengthen industry partnerships, and launch international operations, starting with the UK this month.
Revel POS
San Francisco-based Revel Systems has secured a $1.2 million grant from Invest Northern Ireland to open a UK sales and operations center in Belfast. The Revel platform includes complete front-end order entry, POS system and payment processing, back-end personnel scheduling, time clock and payroll, inventory management, comprehensive product/menu management and advanced reporting to successfully measure and optimize business performance.
Mashreq Bank Implements Polaris Transaction Banking Platform
Polaris Financial Technology announced Mashreq deployed its revolutionary Intellect Global Transaction Banking (GTB) platform. The integrated cash management platform through portal and backend modules allows the Bank to offer its customers’ transaction banking services on a single platform in multiple countries in the Region. With Polaris’ multi-country and multi-currency enabled Intellect GTB solution, Mashreq can offer new products such as liquidity and trade via a unified portal. The solution facilitates a global transaction banking implementation on a single instance of the application, improving the Bank’s ability to scale up transaction banking operations by three times their current capacity. Through this portal, the Bank offers a single window to their corporate clients for services related to accounts, payments, liquidity, collections and trade.
P2P Cash and Gust Win Startup Challenge
SWIFT financial messaging provider announced that P2P Cash Technology and Gust have been awarded “Top Startup” and “Top Innovator” from the inaugural Innotribe Startup Challenge Regional Showcase. P2P Cash Technology won the title of “Top Startup” with innovation in financial transactions, having developed a highly scalable mobile financial services solution that brings secure, low-cost banking functions to the unbanked consumer via the mobile phone and proprietary cash management system. Gust won the title of “Top Innovator” with innovation in the sourcing and managing seed and early-stage equity investments.
Cashless Parking Launches
A new system which allows motorists to pay for parking without cash is to be implemented in towns across Northern Ireland. Rather, it requires short phone call at the start and end of a parking session. Payment is taken on either a credit card or debit card at the end of the month. It avoids the problem of motorists not having change or having to guess how long they will be parked for.
AmEx Middle East Membership Rewards Partners 10th Airline
American Express Middle East and Oman Air, the national carrier of the Sultanate of Oman, are partnering to offer American Express Cardmembers even greater value. Cardmembers enrolled in the American Express Middle East Membership Rewards Program can now redeem their points for Oman Air “Sindbad Miles,” American Express Middle East’s tenth airline redemption partner. The rewards program offers one point earned for every dollar- or equivalent- spent on the Card. Membership Rewards points do not expire and can be redeemed across a wide selection of reward categories including flights, hotels, dining and entertainment, a variety of merchandise, and charity donations.
Travel Cash Prepaid MasterCard Junks ATM Fees
Travel Cash Prepaid MasterCard recently scrapped ATM withdrawal fees on all three of their prepaid currency cards. This gives “my Travel Cash” cardholders access to cash machines abroad safe in the knowledge they will not be hit with additional ATM charges that are incurred when using most credit/debit cards abroad. These “my Travel Cash” cards also rewards customers for their spending abroad with 1% cashback on all purchases paid directly to the prepaid card account every month. The amount earned is only limited by how much the cardholder spends.
ACI Worldwide Joins U.K.’s Payments Council
ACI Worldwide payment systems has joined the Payments Council, setting strategy for payments in the U.K. As an Associate Member and bringing the benefit of its global presence to the Payments Council. This will expand its work with key players in the payments industry and bring its wealth of market experience from nearly 30 years in U.K. payments to drive change. ACI works with 19 of the world’s 20 largest banks, including all of the ‘big four’ in the U.K., and has more than 850 financial institutions, processors and retailers as customers worldwide, reinforcing its importance in payments around the world.
Q1 LABS
Q1 Labs security intelligence solutions has announced a major push into the European market with the establishment of a new European distribution, R&D, sales and support center and new senior management staff in the UK, France and Germany. Q1 Labs has doubled its customer base in one year and now has more than 1,000 customers worldwide including over 250 in Europe, is one of the fastest growing vendors in the SIEM space. It currently has two major OEM relationships with Juniper and Enterasys, as well as numerous partners worldwide. In March, Invest Northern Ireland announced that Q1 Labs will establish its new EMEA Headquarters in Belfast, where it will recruit around 50 staff to adequately meet demand from the region. The new facility will support the strong growth in EMEA, which accounts for over a quarter of its global customers, since it launched its products in the region in 2008. Q1 Labs also has respected partners including ATM in Poland, Eurosel in Italy, Ymon in Finland, as well as multinational partners, including Integralis and Axians.
INTELLECT GUB
Bank Sohar has signed up for Polaris Software Financial
Technology’s “Intellect GUB 10.0” Debt Management solution, allowing
control on receivables and to minimize delinquent accounts. The
“Intellect GUB” Debt Management Solution (Intellect Collect) is a
comprehensive debt collections system that enables Banks to design
strategies to collect outstandings from their customers and effectively
control the rising tide of delinquencies. Intellect Collect is a single
platform that facilitates customer based collections across multiple
products, and has been implemented in four leading banks in the Middle
East region. Polaris will follow Accelerated Implementation Methodology
(AIM) to enable the business ‘go live’ in 8 weeks.
Hispanics Avoid the Great Recession Impact
Hispanic households across the country are absorbing the impact of the
recession differently than other American households. Given Hispanics
spend an average of $115 weekly on groceries, more than any ethnic
group, Hispanics are not dining out less frequently like 52% of the
population because the majority never dined out often before the
recession. Also, Hispanics increased their entertainment spending in
2007 and 2008, with such services as movie-at-home, 40% to have no type
of account with a bank, compared to only 21% of non-Hispanics, while
less than half have credit cards. This research, thanks to Mintel,
however shows 76% of Hispanics are only in fair/poor shape while only
31% feel secure financially.