All articles by Verdict Staff
Verdict Staff
Visa gets foody with its cardholders
Visa Inc is to expose Visa Signature cardholders to a wealth of culinary events featuring the worlds most renowned chefs after partnering with American culinary heritage society, the James Beard Foundation.
HSBC and Mastercard renews partnership
HSBC has renewed a deal with MasterCard Worldwide to use its network for its Premier credit card product, aimed at high end retail banking customers. We have developed the HSBC Premier credit card in partnership with MasterCard during the last decade and are pleased to renew our commitment to that partnership, said Richard Harvey, HSBC global head of cards
EAPS gains ground in Italy and Germany
The Euro Alliance of Payment Schemes (EAPS), an alliance of European debit schemes, is claiming increased transaction flows following a tie-up between its Italian and German partners. Italy’s Consorzio Bancomat and Germany’s Zentraler Kreditausschuss opened up the Italian and German processing gateways (SIA-SSB and CardProcess) in August last year It extended the reach of EAPS to another 19,000 ATMs in Italy and Germany, taking the total to 200,000 across Europe through its partners including Link (UK), SIBS (Portugal) and Euro 6000 (Spain)
Country Survey: Spain
The fast-growing Spanish economy has provided a strong environment for card issuers, notably in the credit card arena Data up until the end of 2008 shows demand for the products was still strong, and that they were outstripping debit card growth
Building credit history for the unbanked
One of the benefits cited for prepaid cards when they entered the market was the potential for unbanked customers, or those with poor credit histories, to build relationships with banks
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TSYS launches digital card solution
Payment services provider TSYS has partnered with global technology group Serverside to launch TSYS Card Shop, a digital card solution that combines on-demand manufacturing processes with card management and customization capabilities.
US reforms bolster card demand
Some commentators are suggesting institutions like credit unions, which more closely comply with consumer-friendly initiatives like the US CARD Act, should be used by regulators as industry bench marks. Last years Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure (CARD) Act continues to rile the US cards industry, but doesnt seem to be having much of an effect on demand for card products.
Comment: Ray Stanton, CEO, SCL
UK gift card sector plays catch-up Studies show that, in the UK, adoption of gift cards is now catching up with the US as more retailers seek to exploit sales growth and benefit from operational efficiencies How retailers manage consumer-card interaction and service delivery, however, will be crucial in achieving and sustaining this level of prepaid card growth.
Banco do Brasil, Bradesco unite
Banco do Brasil, Latin Americas largest bank by assets, and Banco Bradesco are merging parts of their cards businesses to create a new venture called Elo which will target unbanked Brazilians The banks want the new venture to capture 15% of Brazils card market in the next 5 years, and are projecting synergies of BRL1bn. Most of the growth in market share is expected to come from new clients,” said Marcelo de Arajo Noronha, general director of Bradescos cards division.
Card transaction alerts by text
Wells Fargo is the first bank to deploy a Visa platform which notifies credit card customers of transaction details via mobile phone within seconds of the purchase