All articles by Verdict Staff
Verdict Staff
Country Survey: the US
The US ISO market faces challenges such as declining margins, PCI-DSS compliance, the potential implementation of EMV, and the commoditisation of basic merchant services
P2P bank alternative Lending Club secures KPCB capital
Alternative loan and payment service providers continue to blossom on the back of banks financial woes and social ill repute The latest such success case is Lending Club, an – as the name suggests – alternative to banks that offers peer-to-peer (P2P) loans. Lending Club has secured the attention of and a USD15m equity investment from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB), which brings Lending Clubs total capital of funds raised to USD100m USD45m of which is unrestricted cash.
Ingenico’s easycash partners with Taxis Verts of Brussels
Ingenico has inked a deal with Taxis Verts of Brussels to fit the fleet of cabs with a one stop shop payment suit provided by easycash Michel Petre, CEO of Taxis Verts said: The decision to equip our taxis with electronic payment facility was taken for quite some time, but we had to find a partner who could understand the specific organisation of our fleet and allow us to implement the solution swiftly.
Ghana’s UBA bank unveils cardless ATM services
The United Bank for Africa (UBA) Ghana has launched a package of ATM valued-added services that include cardless cash withdrawals whose beneficiaries can be third parties other than the cardholder UBA Ghana CEO and MD Oliver Alawuba told local media that the move is a part of the banks innovation strategy in the Ghanaian banking industry. Other value-added services allows UBA customers to pay utility bills, TV subscription fees and top up mobile credit of their own or third parties phone.The new ATM services are powered by mobile banking and payment processing platform e-Tranzact
ABN AMRO-Temenos to co-develop new payments hub
ABN AMRO and banking software vendor Temenos have partnered to co-develop a new payments system built in conjunction with Temenos software platform to be implemented globally. Group product director for Temenos, Mark Winterburn, tells Meghna Mukerjee about the joint venture and how the vendor plans to differentiate itself in the payments market. ABN AMRO has partnered with banking software vendor Temenos to develop a new payments system to be implemented globally, and built in conjunction with the new Temenos Enterprise Frameworks Architecture (TEFA) a platform for Temenos T24 core banking software. The plan to co-develop the new payments system was announced at the Temenos Community Forum in Barcelona on 24 May. The payments system aims to be available as a standalone solution, to enable seamless operations in real-time with any core banking or current accounts system.
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Western Union to launch alternative to bank account in El Salvador
The new product will be an alternative to bank accounts and will give Salvadoran consumers a safe way to manage their money and a convenient method to shop online and at retail, Western Union said in a letter. Further information was not disclosed, but Mike Hafer, senior vice-president of global cards at Western Union will host an official announcement together with Western Unions partners in the region to discuss the new offering on 4 June.
AmEx moves further into mass consumer market with Foursquare digital voucher deal
American Express (AmEx) is partnering with mobile-check out service provider Foursquare to offer location-based advertising and offers to UK card holders. The service is already up-and-running in the US under the AmEx Smart Offer API since July last year. Among AmExs the UK merchant partners are supermarket chain Tesco, high street clothes retailer House of Fraser
Indonesia: PT Telekomunikasi moves into e-commerce with Finpay
Finpay is actually run by PTTs subsidiary PT Finnet Indonesia, which specialises in electronic payment systems and services, such as e-billing and even interbank transactions, and is connected to 50 banks in Indonesia.This is not the first time PTT has sank its foot into the e-commerce market: In 2009, it ran Mojopia, also an online payments platform and payment system
Gemalto backs la Caixa’s contactless strategy
Digital security firm Gemalto and Spanish retail bank La Caixa are set to roll out one million Optelio contactless EMV cards in Barcelona by the end of 2012 Gemalto’s Optelio card works by waving or tapping the card at the reader for small purchases of up to EUR20
VISA spurs controversy on Olympics’ ATMs
The industry body UK Payments Council has accused Visa of hindering access to cash and compel the use of only Visa cards in Londons Olympics venues.