All articles by Verdict Staff
Verdict Staff
Commonwealth Bank offers contactless at Royal Easter show
Australias Commonwealth Bank has teamed up with MasterCard to offer contactless payments at Australias Royal Easter Show Merchants across the show will be accepting contactless as payment for showbags, food and drink, shopping and carnival coupons in what will be one of first times contactless payments have been utilised at a mass consumer event in Australia MasterCard PayPass credit and debit cardholders paying for items less than A$100 need must tap their card on a Commonwealth Bank merchant reader to debit their accounts.
Wells Fargo and Visa rollout Rapid Alerts for cardholders
Wells Fargo and Visa Inc have announced the rollout of Rapid Alerts for Wells Fargo Visa credit cardholders
TSYS launches hybrid card
Global payment processor TSYS is hoping to help banks grab an increasing share of debit transactions with the launch of a hybrid product that combines credit and debit functionality on a single card
UK contactless limit raised to £15
The maximum limit for contactless card transactions in the UK has increased from £10 to £15 ($15 to $22.6) following a push by payment networks Visa and MasterCard and bankcard issuer Barclays to bring the UK more in line with contactless limits across Europe. There had been concern within the payment industry that the previous £10 limit was too small to cover the range of low-value transactions contactless has been designed for, and that subsequently merchants were reluctant to implement contactless, hampering efforts by the payment networks and banks to roll out the technology on a wider basis.
US issuers and lawmakers lock horns
Now that the CARD Act has been implemented, US lawmakers are setting their sights on further credit card-related reforms despite warnings from the banking industry that they will limit consumer choice With a package of sweeping reforms going into effect in February, Congress is signalling that it is far from through regulating credit cards, much to the chagrin of issuers already squaring off with a sluggish economy and debt-weary consumers.
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Region round-up: Asia-Pacific
Global money transfer specialist MoneyGram has announced a significant expansion of its money transfer services in Vietnam with the addition of Sacombank as the latest agent to join the MoneyGram network.
Brave new world for card marketers
The last decade has seen card marketing increasingly move from the physical world to the online world, as card issuers seek to exploit technology advances to reach potential and existing customers much more quickly and efficiently than before
Region round-up: Europe, Middle East, Africa
UK banking group Barclays has made a further enhancement to its mobile phone banking service which will allow customers to make payments to third parties.
Taking security to the next level
With many markets having completed the migration to EMV, the onus is now on countries which have not yet upgraded their payment infrastructures to catch up with the rest of the world
Region round-up: Latin America
HSBCs Latin American operations recorded pre-tax profit of $1.1bn in 2009, down 33% on 2008 due to tougher economic conditions and higher loan impairment charges across the region. In its personal financial services business, loan impairment charges rose by 12% to $2bn, with increased delinquencies in credit cards, mortgages, vehicle finance and payroll loans due to higher unemployment.