{{content.title}}

Business Function, Global

Contactless donations project raises thousands for homeless in Cardiff

Wales Online

Tags:
Financial Inclusion

"A scheme to allow shoppers to donate to the homeless using their contactless cards has been hailed a success after a trial. A total of 430 kind-hearted shoppers in Cardiff swiped their contactless cards to give money to the homeless in just three weeks. The interactive window in the city centre all...More

Financial inclusion is improving around the world—but women are still missing out

Quartz

Tags:
Financial Inclusion

"In developing countries, the gap in financial inclusion between men and women has stalled at nine percentage points. Not every emerging market has this disparity—men and women are equally likely to have an account in Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, and Vietnam, for instance. Even so, making sure wome...More

Google Pay hits 100 million installs on the Play Store

Android Police

Tags:
Google

"100 million is impressive, but it may not be nearly as impressive as you're imagining. For instance, Google Pay uses the same Play Store listing and APK pname (com.google.android.apps.walletnfcrel) as Android Pay, which Android Pay continued to use from Google Wallet. Additionally, Google Wallet/An...More

Risk & Fraud, Security

Why Paying for Fast Shipping Could Get You Flagged as a Fraudster

Wall Street Journal (Paywall)

"When people shop online at retailers like Macy’s Inc. and Finish LineInc., their visits are tracked and shared with an outside firm that scores their behavior and decides whether to approve or deny purchases. Shoppers who exhibit behavior that such scoring firms often associate with fraud, such as ...More

Security, Systems

PayThink column: An old law brings a fresh compliance challenge to faster payments

Payments Source

Tags:
Immediate Funds Transfer

"Financial institutions providing same-day delivery of good funds via ACH transfers more than ever will need to be vigilant to ensure that their systems protect their customers, are commercially reasonable and, most important, follow strictly the protocols the financial institution has agreed to wit...More

Security, Standards

Major card schemes zero in on single ‘buy’ button for online commerce

Finextra

Tags:
Secure Remote Commerce (SRC)

"Major card schemes are rallying around the the new EMVCo Secure Remote Commerce (SRC) framework in a bid to create a ubiquitous online shopping technology standard backed by token-only storage of payment details. Both Visa and Mastercard have set out their plans to support the standard at an indust...More

Users

Meijer to launch self-scanning app to speed grocery checkou

Chicago Tribune

Tags:
Merchants

"The Shop & Scan service allows shoppers to scan products as they shop with a Meijer app downloaded on their phones and bag the groceries on the go. To check out, shoppers hold their phones up to a self-checkout register, then walk out the door."

On The Wires

Affirm Expands Offering to Cover Smaller Purchases with Simple, Transparent Payments

Tags:
Installment payments

"Affirm, Inc., the company founded by entrepreneur Max Levchin to provide fair and honest financial products, today announced Affirm will partner with brands and retailers to offer shoppers a simple, no-interest payment option on purchases of any size via three easy, monthly payments. Now, Affirm’s ...More

Companies, Global

FIS Connects Three Australian Financial Institutions to Real-time Payments Platform

Tags:
Australia
FIS

"Continuing its leadership in the global movement toward real-time payments, global financial technology provider FIS™ (NYSE: FIS) announced today that it has leveraged its Open Payment Framework (OPF) to connect three leading Australian financial institutions to the country’s New Payments Platform ...More

Companies, Tech

Walmart Launches Check Out With Me, a New Service Designed to Save Customers Time

"Walmart is testing a new program called Check Out With Me in the Lawn & Garden Centers of more than 350 stores across the country, just in time for the busy spring season. Outfitted with cellular devices and Bluetooth printers, Lawn & Garden associates at these select stores can check out c...More

Companies, Global, Systems

SWIFT explores Asia Pacific cross-border real-time payments

"SWIFT has joined forces with a group of SWIFT gpi banks from Australia, China, Singapore and Thailand to develop a unique cross-border real-time payments service in the Asia Pacific region."

April 18, 2018

Headline News from PaymentsNews.com

Stripe debuts Radar anti-fraud AI for big business

TechCrunch

“Cybersecurity continues to be a growing focus and problem in the digital world, and now Stripe is launching a new paid product that it hopes will help its customers better battle one of the bigger side-effects of data breaches: online payment fraud. Today, Stripe is announcing Radar for Fraud Teams, an expansion of its free AI-based Radar service that runs alongside Stripe’s core payments API to help identify and block fraudulent transactions.”

On The Web

Aided by mobile phones, 3.8 billion people now have bank accounts, global findex database shows

Today News Africa

Tags:
Financial Inclusion

"Aided by mobile phones and the Internet, at least 69 percent of adults – 3.8 billion people – now have an account at a bank or mobile money provider, the Global Findex database released on Wednesday during the World Bank and IMF Spring Meetings in Washington, D.C., shows. This is up from 62 percent...More

Amazon Teams Up With Best Buy to Sell Insignia, Toshiba TVs With Fire TV Built-In

Variety

"As part of this multi-year partnership, Best Buy is becoming the exclusive retail partner to sell Fire TV Edition TVs, as these devices are officially called, made by Toshiba as well as Best Buy’s own house brand, Insignia. Best Buy will also sell the TV sets on its own website, and will for the fi...More

TransferWise becomes first non-bank to open settlement account with BofE RTGS

Finextra

Tags:
Cross-border payments

"The move was designed to open up a competitive space which has long been the preserve of the UK's biggest incumbents, providing non-bank PSPs with direct access to the UK’s sterling payment systems that settle in central bank money, including Faster Payments, Bacs, Chaps, Link, Visa, and, once live...More

Global, Systems

India’s ATM crisis proves that demonetisation failed and cash remains king

Quartz

Tags:
Cash
India

"For weeks now, ATMs across India have been displaying the “no cash” sign. The situation came to a head in the past few days, setting off a panic wave. Many of the counters have run dry in states like Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Manipur. P...More

Global, Systems

Tunisia operators make mobile money interoperable

Mobile World Live

"Mobile operators Ooredoo Tunisia, Tunisia Telecom and Orange Tunisia all offer money services in the country and – in one of a number of measures included in the government’s Digital Tunisia 2020 initiative – customers of the three are now able to seamlessly transfer cash."

Clearent launches Cloud EMV product with Quick Chip tech

Mobile Payments Today

"Clearent said Cloud EMV is intended to simplify the payment integration process by moving these processes into the cloud, thus providing a single point of access to manage all transactions, regardless of device lines or payment methods. By simplifying the process, Clearent enables software vendors ...More

Ripple calls for more crypto regulation in the UK

Business Insider

Tags:
Blockchain

"Ripple, the company that owns the world's third-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, XRP, has urged British regulators to develop more crypto regulation in the country, according to the Telegraph. It says there is a need for more regulation to enable innovation in the field, while also minimizing ...More

On The Wires

Adyen 2017 Revenue Crosses $1 Billion Mark; Increase Of Over $400M From 2016

Tags:
Adyen

"Adyen, the payments platform of choice for many of the world's leading companies, today announced that it generated $1.14 billion in annual revenue for 2017, an increase of over $400 millionfrom 20161. Additionally, the payments services provider disclosed that it processed $1222 billion in volume ...More

Tags:
Mobile Payments

"This new feature will allow drivers of eligible Chevrolet vehicles to pay and save directly through the touchscreen in their vehicle when they fuel up at participating Shell-branded stations, without swiping a credit card or using a mobile device. To use this feature, users will press the Shell ico...More

Samsung Canada teams up with RBC to expand Samsung Pay availability to Canadians

Tags:
Mobile Payments

"Samsung Electronics Canada Inc. announced today that Royal Bank of Canada(RBC) personal payment cards are now supported by Samsung Pay, the widely accepted mobile payment system that works almost anywhere you can swipe or tap a card.1 This latest announcement follows the expanded Canadian availabil...More

Risk & Fraud

FICO Amplifies Financial Crime Protection with New Suite of Solutions

""We're giving our customers new tools across the spectrum of our fraud and financial crime portfolio," said TJ Horan, vice president of fraud solutions at FICO. "These releases, along with our continued leadership in machine learning R&D, keep our solutions at the cutting edge of AI-based finan...More

Risk & Fraud

FICO Solution for Identifying Procurement Fraud, Waste and Abuse Now on Amazon Web Services (AWS)

"At its FICO® World 2018 conference in Miami Beach, analytics software firm FICO announced that the latest version of its solution for identify fraud, waste and abuse in procurement is now available on AWS. FICO® Falcon® Assurance Navigator applies advanced analytics to monitor the entire procure-to...More

JCB Pilot of Japan’s First Fingerprint Authentication Chip Card from IDEMIA

Tags:
Card technology

"Users first record one or more fingerprints for authentication purposes. When they want to buy something, they need only touch the fingerprint sensor on the card's lower right corner with their finger so as to authenticate payment. The fingerprint record is only kept in the card, and given that fin...More

April 17, 2018

Headline News from PaymentsNews.com

Global

Japan airline ANA aims to build digital payments business

Financial Times (Paywall)

“ANA, Japan’s largest carrier, is aiming to launch a digital payments business as it seeks a cushion against the volatility in the airline industry’s profits.”

Tags:
Japan

On The Web

Klarna Will Bring a 30-Day Pay Later Option to the U.S. Market This Summer

Digital Transactions News

Tags:
Ecommerce payments

"Klarna Inc. is bringing another of its buy now/pay later products to the U.S. market this summer with broader availability later in the year. That’s the word from Jim Lofgren, chief executive of Klarna Inc., the North American arm of the Sweden-based online payments firm. Lofgren, speaking to Digit...More

Domains, Global

GCash, Alipay target Chinese tourists with new payment scheme

ABS CBN

"Globe Telecom's fintech arm Mynt and Ant Financial on Monday jointly launched a new QR Code solution that will allow Philippine merchants to accept local GCash payments as well as payments from Chinese tourists using Alipay in one single connection. “By jointly establishing this QR code with Alipay...More

Google Pay now supports Hop Fastpass transit tickets in Portland, Oregon

Android Police

Tags:
Transit

"Transit tickets have been showing up in our Google Pay APK teardowns since October of last year, finally appearing for the first time with support for the Las Vegas Monorail. The premise is simple: instead of having to purchase a physical ticket and topping it up for public transportation, users ca...More

Domains, Global

Interoperability lifts Equitel’s growth to Sh711bn value of transactions

Business Daily Africa

"Equity Bank’s mobile money platform Equitel rode on interoperability to grow, processing transactions worth Sh711.5 billion in the three months to December up from Sh650.3 billion in the previous quarter. The value of Equitel's transactions was Sh350.5 billion, Sh258.9 million for its mobile e-comm...More

Investments / M&A

Coinbase confirms acquisition of Earn.com

Axios

"Coinbase is acquiring Earn.com, a paid inbox service formerly known as 21 inc., with CEO Balaji Srinivasan joining as chief technology officer, confirming Axios's earlier reporting. Bottom line: Coinbase is gaining a well-known figure in Silicon Valley and digital currencies as its CTO, while Earn....More

Security

Deleted Facebook Cybercrime Groups Had 300,000 Members

Krebs on Security

"Hours after being alerted by KrebsOnSecurity, Facebook last week deleted almost 120 private discussion groups totaling more than 300,000 members who flagrantly promoted a host of illicit activities on the social media network’s platform. The scam groups facilitated a broad spectrum of shady activit...More

Security, Tech

Zwipe, Gemalto, areeba create Visa’s First Biometric Payment Card in the Middle East

PC Magazine

"Gemalto has partnered up with biometric technology company Zwipe and the Middle Eastern financial and payment technology company areeba, along with Unilux Cards on Visa's first battery-less dual interface biometric payment card in the Middle East."

Distributed architecture concepts I learned while building a large payments system

Pragmatic Engineer blog

"In this post, I am summarizing some of the concepts that I have found essential to learn and apply when building a large scale, highly available and distributed system: the payments system that powers Uber. "

On The Wires

Security

Verifone Makes History with Payment Industry’s First AES DUKPT Key Management Implementation

"Co-designed by Verifone, AES DUKPT is a new security key management standard that was approved as an American National Standard in October 2017 by the Accredited Standards Committee X9 (ASC X9). It incorporates the AES cryptographic algorithm to encrypt transaction data with greater security and pr...More

Ingenico Group Reveals Versatile, All-in-One ECR for Small and Mid-Sized Retailers

Tags:
POS systems

"Ingenico Group (Euronext: FR0000125346 - ING), the global leader in seamless payment, today announced the launch of the Moby/C150 electronic cash register (ECR), an EMV pre-certified, full-featured Android-based tablet point of sale (POS) solution with a 15.6-inch display that is able to be customi...More

April 16, 2018

Headline News from PaymentsNews.com

American Express to end its Plenti frequent shopper program

CNBC

“Plenti was launched in mid-2015 to great fanfare as a frequent-shopper program that would involve multiple companies and brands, similar to other programs found in Europe. American Express even launched a Plenti credit card that would give customers Plenti points for each dollar they spent on the card. While American Express was able to partner with big brands at the beginning, the program lost several key members in 2017 like Macy’s and Chili’s and was considered to be on life support.”

On The Web

Companies, Tech

Mastercard files blockchain identity patent

NFC World

"Method and system for identity and credential protection and verification via blockchain — USPTO — “The present disclosure relates to the storage and verification and identity and credential data, specifically the use of distributed storage and storage via blockchain for protection of identity and ...More

Metro Says Mobile Payment Option for Stations, Buses Coming in 2019

NBC Washington

Tags:
Transit

"For years, Metro riders have been required to purchase a SmarTrip card to ride the rail or buses. Starting next year, they can pay with their smartphones. Metro is taking steps to allow riders pay for their trip using their cell phones. The transit company announced Tuesday that it is working on an...More

How The Technology In Smartphone Is Changing The Way You Pay

Valuewalk

Tags:
POS

"Paying for goods in a shop has been completely revolutionized by the widespread use and acceptance of debit cards. When they were first introduced, many would not have guessed how popular these little bits of plastic would become over time. Linked to a bank account, they removed the need to carry m...More

Global

The reach of West Africa’s mobile money sector is 13 times wider than local banks

Quartz

Tags:
Africa

"As the West Africa mobile economy report by GSMA shows, mobile adoption in West Africa has nearly doubled from 28% at the turn of the decade to 47% last year. Indeed, by the end of 2017, there were 176 million unique subscribers across the region’s 15 member states. Just as importantly, by the end ...More

Providers

OCBC Bank Singapore’s first in instant digital card issuing

Banking Technology

Tags:
Financial institutions

"According to OCBC Bank, it has become the first bank in Singapore to enable instant digital card issuance and provisioning on Apple Pay via its mobile banking app. Customers can transact at merchants that accept Apple Pay “within minutes” of applying for a new Visa debit or credit card."

Regulation

Credit Union Times

"Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) said Friday he received a commitment from President Donald Trump that the Department of Justice’s rescission of the Cole memo will not impact Colorado’s legal marijuana industry. “Furthermore, President Trump has assured me that he will support a federalism-based legisla...More

Security

Bitcoin Under The Skin – Why People Are Using Subdermal Microchip Wallets

CCN

Tags:
Authentication

"Dutchman Martijn Wismeijer is very cautious when it comes to storing Bitcoin – so much so that in 2014, he had two NFC (near field communication) chips surgically implanted into each hand to store his encrypted Bitcoin keys. Wismeijer stated a number of reasons for the drastic method of storing cry...More

Systems

PayThink column: Faster payments aren’t a fast fix for banks

Payments Source

"Financial institutions in the U.S. are not only under tremendous pressure to determine how they’ll become a part of the new payments ecosystem, but also what the shift to immediacy will mean to their current operating model, long-term strategy, and future relevance to consumers and corporates. They...More

Systems, Tech

Santander launches blockchain-based foreign exchange service

Financial Times (Paywall)

"Santander has become the first international bank to launch a cross-border payments system based on blockchain, using the new technology with a view to taking on specialist fintechs such as TransferWise."

Emirates NBD registers cheques on a blockchain

Finextra

Tags:
Blockchain

"Emirates NMD has integrated blockchain technology into issued cheques to reduce the risk of forgery and to minimise potential fraud. Emirates NBD's ChequeChain system prints a unique QR code on every leaf of newly issued chequebooks. The code registers each cheque on the bank’s blockchain platform,...More

Smartphone-turned POS terminals to boost region’s contactless payment infrastructure

CPI Financial

Tags:
Contactless

"Security and identity solutions firm IDEMIA, payment solutions provider, Network International, and Mastercard have teamed up to launch a project to enable merchants to use smartphones to accept contactless payments."

Users

Crate And Barrel Selects New Provider Of Credit Cards

Retail Touch Points

Tags:
Merchants

"Crate and Barrel has selected Synchrony, a leading private label credit card financing company, as its strategic provider of consumer financing. Crate and Barrel and Synchrony will partner on a private label credit card, for use in nearly 100 North American Crate and Barrel stores and all digital c...More

On The Wires

Business Function, Tech

Worldnet Completes First EMV Level 3 Certification of ID TECH’s VP8300 to First Data

"Worldnet, a leading provider of omni-channel payment solutions and ID TECH, the global leader in payment peripheral technology have completed the first EMV Level 3 certification through First Data for ID TECH’s new VP8300 countertop payment solution. The VP8300incorporates secure MagStripe, EMV chi...More

Amazon Pay is Just the Ticket for London Theatre Direct!

Tags:
Amazon

"London Theatre Direct has become the first ticket retailer in UK to accept Amazon Pay which can now be used for all purchases on their website. This new payment method offers consumers increased flexibility, security and ease when purchasing tickets to some of London's biggest shows. Amazon Pay mak...More

People

Ambassador Michael Froman Joins Mastercard as Vice Chairman and President, Strategic Growth

"As Vice Chairman and President, Strategic Growth, Michael Froman will integrate and align Mastercard's global approach to doing business with governments, connected cities, financial inclusion and other new business opportunities under one organization. Froman will also oversee the Mastercard Cente...More

Risk & Fraud

Guardian Analytics® to feature Same Day ACH Fraud Detection and ACH Fraud Analytics Solutions at NACHA’s PAYMENTS 2018

Tags:
ACH fraud

"Guardian Analytics, the #1 Financial Crime Investigation behavioral analytics and machine learning platform for banking payment fraud detection, enterprise B2B portal fraud and AML, today announced their attendance at PAYMENTS 2018, NACHA’s destination to learn about fast, secure and frictionless p...More

Equinox Payments Enables Merchants to Tap Into Japanese Tourists’ Spending Power with Support for JCB Contactless Cards

Tags:
Contactless

"Equinox Payments (“Equinox”), a leading provider of payment terminals, applications and support services, today announced that their Apollo, L5000 and Luxe terminal lines are being enhanced to support contactless chip technology for JCB cards. Final certifications are expected this summer, providin...More

Verifone Launches Engage V400c, the First Touchscreen Countertop in Next Generation Family

Tags:
Card technology

"Meeting market demand for easy-to-use, smart touchscreen experiences at the point of sale, Verifone (NYSE: PAY) today announces Engage V400c, the first touchscreen countertop solution in the Engage family. Enhancing the Engage lineup of countertops and PIN pads, this new solution is ideal for any s...More

April 13, 2018

Headline News from PaymentsNews.com

Regulation

Banks grapple with data-sharing concerns after Facebook, Equifax breaches

Tearsheet

“As consumers’ confidence in Facebook to safeguard personal data tumbles — a poll released Wednesday found that 81 percent of respondents had “little or no confidence” that the platform would safeguard their personal data — 62 percent of U.S. customers trust banks with their data. But financial companies in North America realize that customers will soon demand more control over their information, in part because of the influence of European data privacy regulations coming into force this year.”

Tags:
Privacy

On The Web

Business Function, Investments / M&A

Google and Target Issue the First Voice-Activated Coupon for Google Assistant

Adweek

Tags:
Incentives

"Google has issued its first voice-activated coupon, a $15 offer for Target orders placed on shopping service Google Express via Google Assistant. Google said it did not have anything to share beyond the information available on its Google Express help page, but a Google spokesperson said in an emai...More

Subscription biller Zuora soars 43% following IPO

TechCrunch

Tags:
Subscription management

"Subscription biller Zuora was well-received by stock market investors on Thursday, following its public debut. After pricing its IPO at $14 and raising $154 million, the company closed at $20, valuing the company around $2 billion."