All articles by Verdict Staff
Verdict Staff
Voice Commerce launches iPhone POS
Financial services group Voice Commerce has announced the launch of UKs first fully functional iPhone terminal CashFlows Portable.The app allows businesses to accept real-time credit and debit card payments on the move.
Cash still King – BRC
Customers are increasingly turning from credit cards to cash and debit cards in a bid to better manage their finances and curtail spending money, says new figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC).The BRCs Cost of Payment Collection Survey 2011 includes results from nearly 8bn transactions in store and online during 2010, adding up to 60% of UKs total retail sales.
Adyen launches single click m-payments solution
An integrated set of iPhone and Android apps allowing businesses to accept single click payments has been launched by mobile payment solution provider Ayden. The payment platform enables app developers to accept credit cards, PayPal and a range of other payment methods within mobile applications and websites.
Improvement in default and payment rates will continue
The improvement in default and late payment rates on credit cards in the US is likely to continue, with rates dropping further in the next few months and reaching a plateau by year-end, industry experts have said.A recent series of regulatory filings by six of the biggest US card issuers has shown that May payment rates for most issuers were down to figures seen before the Great Recession and defaults are moving to normal levels. Fitch Ratings, who tracks the securities backed by credit card balances, has predicted in its April 2011 performance report that the rates will continue to drop.
Detecting fraud abroad
Banks protect themselves against payment card fraud by shutting down a transaction that looks in any way out of the ordinary, and that includes when a customer tries to transact abroad. Louise Naughton investigates how banks can become more sophisticated in their fraud detection.
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Narette’s Zoosh app moves to contactless
While consumers are still getting to fully know about the chip-based near field communications (NFC) technology, US-based technology development company Naratte is taking a different route with NFC using ultrasonics.Naratte has developed a new downloadable app Zoosh that enables contactless payments on any mobile phone, media players, tablets, POS systems, personal computers and televisions, regardless of NFC capabilities. Naratte claims that all a consumer needs to be able to use the app is a speaker and a microphone.
Orange deploys NFC programme in Poland
Orange has begun the largest NFC mobile payments roll-out in Poland, after determinedly pushing its mobile NFC payments drive in France, Spain, and the UK.PTK Centertel, Orange groups Polish unit, is working on a commercial pilot targeting thousands of users and allowing them to make low value payments at the point of sale by waving their handsets against any of the 35,000 contactless readers already in place across Poland at fast food restaurants, cinemas, supermarkets and other retail stores.
Card customisation drives payment activity
Card customisation is an important tool for banks to encourage debit card usage as customers continue to crave an individual and personalised approach to financial services. Capital One saw its churn rates plummet to almost zero as consumers find it difficult to cut up their family and friends, said Alex Cahn, sales director for digital card design company Serverside EMEA, at VRLs Cards and Payments Europe 2011 conference in Frankfurt. Further results from around the world also show the benefits of card customisation technology.
UkashOut MasterCard to convert eMoney back to cash
Global e-money network Ukash has announced the launch of UkashOut MasterCard, enabling consumers to convert their electronic money back to cash. The service allows consumers to load their cash onto a UkashOut MasterCard using their Ukash vouchers and convert it into cash. This completes a e-money payments loop, following last years launch of Ukash PayOut whereby online credit could be returned to the consumer in the form of vouchers.
Linking up
The international payments industry has long been in the shadows of more glamorous banking operations. But in fact the reliability of this area has served it well; it was one of the only areas in the banking system to stand well in the crash and is now set to reap some limelight of its own as corporates demand more value-added services around the core transactions process. In addition the industry looks set to benefit hugely from increasing volumes of global trade and technological advances meaning that payments methods will mutate.