All articles by Verdict Staff
Verdict Staff
US regulators and banks go head-to-head
The US Federal Reserve has announced that it will be clamping down on credit card fees under the Federal Trade Commission Act. However, US banks are opposing the move, and it remains to be seen whether these proposals will survive in their current state. Truong Mellor reports. US federal regulators are currently poised to introduce new measures in an attempt to address penalty fees and other credit card company practices that consumer groups have labelled exorbitant and unethical.
Discover to buy Diners Club
US card network Discover has revealed that it will be purchasing Diners Club International in a move that will transform it into an international network Truong Mellor investigates the motivations and potential outcomes of the deal and the implications for both brands.
Multi-function cards drive health care
Multi-function cards drive health careHealth savings accounts and the cards used to access them are growing at a brisk clip in the US, but the best is yet to come, with impressive growth potential that could be unlocked through multi-purpose cards, according to a new report HSAs and cards are inseparable, it seems, and thats a good thing, as Celent finds the accounts are on the cusp of explosive growth.The report found that spending on health care cards totalled about $2.5 billion last year, with much of the spending on a closely related product, the flexible spending account, which is far more prevalent in the US (there are about 19 million flex spend accounts nationwide), though only about 30 percent of those accounts have cards attached to them
The changing face of the back office
As the cards market in Asia-Pacific continues to grow, the processing sector is undergoing numerous changes in order to stay competitive. Nowhere is this more apparent than in China, where processors are using various approaches in order to strengthen their footholds in the region.
Region round-up
Bank of China (BoC) will maintain its strategic partnership with the Royal Bank of Scotland… The number of Vietnamese consumers using debit and credit cards has grown… Polands Citi Handlowy is launching a service allowing location of partners… Stanbic Bank of Uganda has extended UGX30 million ($18,292) to 2,000 credit cardholders… Qatar National Bank (QNB) of Doha has launched the QNB Private Banking credit card…
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Liverpool’s contactless ticket to ride
Contactless payment in the UK is beginning to gain traction, with a growing number of retailers signing up to the technology, along with trials rolled out across the London public transport network and in London taxi cabs.Now, in the first significant expansion of contactless payment outside of the UK capital, MasterCard, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and transport operator Stagecoach are to bring MasterCards contactless PayPass technology to Liverpool.
Metavante branches into healthcare cards
Metavante Technologies hopes to capitalise on a recent acquisition by increasing the reach of its health payment card portfolio to grab a greater share of the self-directed consumer market Its newly re-launched product, BenSoft, combines the older BenSoft RepayMe system with Metavantes payment card and processing offerings in a product that uses a single interface.
Amex converts to bank to tap funds
American Express (Amex) has become the latest financial institution to convert to a US bank holding company, in a sign that the card network and issuer is under mounting pressure amid rising credit losses and a worsening economic outlook (see CI410). Amex now joins the ranks of Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley in becoming licensed as a bank holding company, thereby gaining access to Federal Reserve funds under the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) at a time when credit losses are mounting and there is growing pressure on sales of asset-backed securities.
Credit crunch fall-out sees First Data scrap InComm acquisition plans
Consolidation in the prepaid industry has long been predicted by industry experts, as new start-ups succumb to the promise of more profitable larger transaction volumes which can be achieved by joining forces with more established players. In 2007, Capital One announced with much fanfare it would acquire US prepaid pioneer NetSpend in a $700 million deal, but that fell through following huge credit losses at Capital One, coinciding with the emergence of the credit crunch.
News Briefs
Online payments and ATMs linked… Oberthur finalises XPonCard deal… Saving time and money online…