All articles by Verdict Staff
Verdict Staff
News Digest
MyECheck on a strong growth path, Industry body sets out to promote biometrics, Diebold CFO steps down amid SEC probe, US ACH growth slows appreciably, Strong investor backing for Revolution Money, Deal gives Fundtech a major boost in the UK, Obama to lift US-Cuba remittance restrictions, PayPal UK forges ahead, Visa goes commercial with mobile payWave, Deutsche Bank to slash shipping lines costs, Research firm predicts mobile banking boom, UK-first for Caxton FX.
Vietnam embraces the electronic era
With a population of over 86 million, Vietnams rapid adoption of electronic payments is transforming it into one of the most dynamic cards and payment markets in the Asia-Pacific region Although debit dominates, there are opportunities for credit card players too, as Victoria Conroy reports
Prepaid’s big players descend on Rome
Now in its fifth year, the Prepaid Cards Summit will be taking place in Rome on 12-13 November 2009 The industry press is reporting the expansion of the prepaid market across several diverse and emerging industry sectors and Europe is being heralded as the next big market in terms of prepaid
Card portfolio sales dominate
For those hoping for the mega-sized deals which dominated M&A activity just a few years ago, the wait goes on
Debit benefits in the downturn
A new report from TowerGroup charts the growing popularity of debit cards in the US, with their usage growing strongly across a range of consumer sectors during the economic downturn
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Nervy issuers pull credit lines
Faced with a tsunami of losses and defaults, US credit card issuers are snatching away credit lines and closing inactive accounts, according to a recent report from Moodys Investor Service
ECB calls for Visa – MasterCard rival
European Central Bank (ECB) executive board member Gertrude Tumpel-Gugerell has reinforced her commitment to a third European card scheme to compete with Visa and MasterCard and to ensure the success of the Single Euro Payment Area (SEPA). In a recent speech at the European Financial Management & Marketing Association conference on cards and payments, Tumpel-Gugerell said: In my view, yet another ingredient necessary for the success of SEPA is a new European card scheme
Interchange under pressure from regulators in NZ, Australia
Visa and MasterCard are contending with the attention of regulators in New Zealand, following civil proceedings against the schemes and 11 banks instigated by the New Zealand Commerce Commission two years ago, which alleged price-fixing of interchange in 2004 Following settlements agreed with the Commission, and announced in mid to late August, Visa and MasterCard will adjust their interchange rules in the country, allowing individual issuers to set their own interchange fees up to an agreed maximum and will also open the scheme to non-bank acquirers
Region Round-up
Venture Infotek, Diners Club International enter merchant acquiring deal , UK ATM network operator Link to accept China UnionPay cards , China UnionPay ranked second-biggest card brand in Asia-Pacific, Dubai to construct real-time payments system, NTT claims 10m mobile wallet users, ANZ targets teens with MySpace prepaid card, Cyprus credit card spending drops 2%, HSBC Poland sells card portfolios to Alior Bank,..
Italy: the powerhouse of prepaid
The rapid development of Italys prepaid market stands in stark contrast to the uptake of prepaid elsewhere in Europe, with banks taking a leading role, but there are several inherent characteristics and consumer payment trends that have shaped the markets growth so far Amid all the contradictory reports on the prospects for the prepaid industry, with some giving glowing forecasts about profitability potential, but others predicting that prepaid will fail to meet expectations, there is at least one common denominator in the prepaid market that everyone agrees is a stand-out success Italy.