ScramCard
Hong Kong-based ScramCard has snagged a seven-figure private investment from Stewart Milne CBE.
ScramCard users upload their credit and debit cards to a universal card with high security features.
Virgin Money
CardWeb.com’s CardData database of Company Profiles today features Virgin Money.
UK Payments Council Announces Board Appointments
The Payments Council (15 July 2014) announces the appointment of three new independent directors to its Board. Sarah Chambers, Christine Farnish CBE and Robert Lerwill bring a wide range of experience in consumer policy, financial services and regulation to the Board. They join Clare Spottiswoode CBE as one of the Board’s four independent directors. Sarah is an expert in regulation, competition and consumer policy. Christine has wide experience of financial services, public policy and regulation. Robert Lerwill is a chartered accountant. The Payments Council Board is made up of 15 voting directors, a voting independent chairman and an observer from the Bank of England. In addition to the independents, 11 directors are appointed by the industry to represent a cross section of the Payments Council membership.
Visa Europe backs Mobile Money Network
The Mobile Money Network Ltd announces that Visa Europe intends to take a 15% stake in its business, which provides mobile commerce and payments services for retailers. The investment forms part of Visa Europe’s strategy to deliver increased value for consumers, retailers and financial institutions through mobile payments. Visa Europe and MMN will implement a number of m-commerce initiatives in the UK in 2012, taking MMN’s bank-grade, interoperable infrastructure for secure, fast and simple mobile shopping to the mass market. MMN’s instant mobile checkout, Simply Tap, allows customers to easily identify and purchase a product on their mobile. Simply Tap can be used wherever a shopper sees a product they want – in print, on outdoor advertising, in-store or online – allowing the user to make an easy, secure purchase, with products delivered directly to his or her home address.
WorldRemit launches online remittance service
WorldRemit online money transfer business partnered with Commercial Bank of Ethiopia to launch an online money transfer service that lets Ethiopian immigrants remit home using their debit cards, credit cards and Interac Online. The new service lets users send money from the privacy and convenience of their home or office, 24/7. All they require is Internet access, eliminating the need to take time off to visit an agent location. When the money is sent, for which they can be notified on the mobile device, recipients can collect cash from any of CBE’s 390 plus branches in Ethiopia.
Utiba Americas to Host Central Bank of Ecuador mWallet
Utiba Pte mobile financial transaction software affiliate, Utiba Americas, will oversee RFP process for the Central Bank of Ecuador mobile wallet project. The Central Bank of Ecuador thoroughly researched successful mobile money projects and deployments worldwide, and based upon their investigation, drew up strict technical pre-qualifications for its mobile money program. The Ecuadorian mobile financial services project will provide all inhabitants with a mobile wallet for storing, sending and receiving money. The system will operate throughout the entire country, using cellular service from any one of the three mobile network operators present in Ecuador, and can integrate all financial institutions as they are already connected to the Central Bank of Ecuador.
MONTISE EXEC
Montise mobile banking and payment technology has appointed Ron
Drakeas as the VP of Business Development, bringing with him over
20 years’ experience in financial services. In his newly-appointed role,
Ron will oversee the development of the Company’s SEPA strategy
and lead electronic payment provider relationships. Drakeas’ 13-year
career as Managing Director of eFunds International, succeeding
managing director positions with Cincom Systems Ltd and Platinum
Financials respectively, has afforded the new VP well-established relations with
European retail banks and processors. Montise services span UK and
US territories with its “MONILINK” and Monitise networks in
partnership with VocaLink and Metavante Corporation, providing
secure mobile banking & payment services.
Barclaycard Employees Go on a Major Ride
Barclaycard USA announced that eight employees from the US and UK will embark on a seven-week, 3,250-mile cross-country bicycle ride to raise more than $250,000 for six American, British and international charities that include The East Side Charter School in Wilmington, DE; the Care and Share Food Bank of southern Colorado; BBC Children In Need Appeal; Macmillan Cancer Support; the Alzheimer’s Society and CORD. CORD is an international humanitarian organization working with displaced people and communities affected by violent conflicts worldwide. The riders will depart San Diego, CA, on Saturday, September 29, and will arrive in St. Augustine, FL, on Wednesday, November 14. The cross-country course follows the Adventure Cycle Association of America’s Southern Tier route traversing California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. The team will cycle an average of six to eight hours daily covering 70 to 100 miles across mountains as high as 6,200 feet above sea level.
BRITISH FEES
Research from the British Bankers’ Association(BBA) shows that bank
consumers in the UK, on average, pay much less in fees and penalties than
those in 11 other developed countries. These findings are from surveys of
bank consumers with products such as an account, overdraft, personal loan
and a credit card. With over 95% of the British population having a bank
account, UK banks clear over 7 billion transactions annually and
contribute to
10% of the gross domestic product. The BBA has handled 40,000 claims,
fielded over 80,000 inquiries on its telephone helpline, and had 149,000
visits
to its website.
Subpostmasters Join RBS/NatWest ATM Program
The National Federation of SubPostmasters has joined with RBS and NatWest to install free-to-use cash machines in the UK’s poorest
communities. The Federation is approaching subpostmasters in deprived
areas to see if they would agree to have a free-to-use RBS or NatWest
machine installed. The RBS Group, which includes NatWest, has initially
earmarked 100 cash machines for sub post offices out of 300 planned in
total. The RBS Group is already the largest provider of free-to-use cash
machines in the UK, with a network of more than 6,500.
CBE and Systech Target Petroleum Retailers
CBE, a distributor of “Verifone Ruby POS” systems, will now market and support Systech’s “IPG/7000” dial-to-IP converters to retail petroleum merchants nationwide. Merchants have the flexibility to convert from dial-up to broadband IP without new expenditures for POS hardware or software and payment transactions can be connected to the Systech converters and routed to retail petroleum processors including Lynk, Paymentech, Buypass and NBS. CBE supplies point-of-sale systems and digital surveillance to the C-Store industry. Systech Corporation designs and manufactures internet payment gateways for electronic transaction markets.