All articles by Will Cain

Will Cain

Country survey: USA

It may be the worlds largest market for commercial cards but a number of factors are converging which could pose significant challenges to the US corporate payments market

Western Union adds mobile to SBI deal

Remittance specialist Western Union has extended its partnership with State Bank of India, Indias largest bank, to offer money transfers via mobile phones. State Bank of Indias (SBI) 4 million online customers will be able to use the mobile service to route remittances sent from Western Union agent locations into their bank accounts

M-payments: An industry consensus?

Exclusive m-payments research conducted on behalf of VRL and sponsored by MasterCard indicates there is a long way to go before consumers are comfortable making transactions on mobile phones. EPI asked the opinions of industry experts on the findings. Will Cain looks at the results.

Global Payments signs CUP deal

Global Payments has signed a deal with China Union Pay, Chinas domestic card brand, to become the first foreign merchant acquirer to gain access to the Chinese market. The deal means Global Payments Asia-Pacific, a joint venture between Global Payments and HSBC, will be able to process domestic and international card transactions for Chinese merchants Global Payments already has an agreement with China Union Pay (CUP) to build acceptance of its cards outside of China, as the Chinese brand attempts to take on Visa and MasterCard

FPS ups DCA transaction limit to £100k

The UKs Faster Payments Direct Corporate Access (DCA) transaction value limit has increased from £10,000 to £100,000 ($15,300 to $153,000) per transaction. The Faster Payments Service (FPS) settles transactions between bank accounts in real time and is seen as one of the most likely replacement for corporate cheque payments, which are due to be phased out by 2018.

Consolidation expected in m-payments

Jakobsen has been appointed to introduce the companys top-up services to more blue chip telco clients and ready the company for sale in a mobile payments market that looks likely to consolidate He replaces the companys founder and CEO Norman Frankel, who will continue as part of the executive team as chief business development officer and retains a stake in the business

Nicaraguan mobile usage to top 80%

Nicaraguas mobile penetration will top 80 percent by 2015 from 53.9 percent in 2010, according to research.

New regs could spur transaction banking

Banks can increase revenue despite stricter banking regulations by upping investment in their transaction banking businesses.