The electronic-commerce payments market remains highly competitive despite the recession, and the online niche payment systems are trying to adapt their game plans to the fluid conditions. “The economy is helping us on the consumer side and the merchant side,” says Sergio Pinon, chief executive of eLayaway LLC, an online …
Read More »Tempo Plans Some Noise for a Quiet Decoupled Debit Card Market
The market for decoupled debit cards, which has been eerily silent for about a year, may soon be making waves again. An executive with Tempo Payments Inc., a non-bank processor with the only network-branded product on the market currently, said this week the company plans to launch a new product …
Read More »Consumers Still Unimpressed by Mobile Banking and Payments
Several years of hype haven't yet motivated many consumers to embrace banking and payments through cell phones and other mobile devices, though there are signs that consumers are warming to the new technology, according to new survey results from KPMG LLP. The audit, tax, and consulting firm asked more than …
Read More »New Mobile App Books And Pays for Taxi Rides in 27 Metro Areas
RideCharge Inc., a software vendor specializing in the taxicab market, is getting more mileage on its booking and payment application as the popularity of mobile phones grows. The Alexandria, Va.-based firm most recently added the largest cab company in Boston, the 200-plus vehicle fleet of Boston Metro Cab, to its …
Read More »Surprise! Mobile-Banking Adoption Depends on Phone, Not Age
Consumers' propensity to use mobile devices to conduct banking functions depends on the sophistication of the device, not on the consumer's age, according to recent research. Indeed, mobile users equipped with iPhones or other touchscreen-enabled smart phones are far more likely to use the devices for mobile financial services than …
Read More »Internet Pioneer Case Promotes RevolutionCard to Audience of Bankers
Entrepreneur Steve Case, whose founding of America Online Inc. helped popularize the Internet, told an audience of bankers on Monday that his new venture is set to shake up electronic payments by dramatically slashing costs for merchants and consumers. Case's remarks came on the same day that venture, St. Petersburg, …
Read More »Recession Is Boosting Some Prepaid Cards, But Profits Are Lagging
Prepaid cards branded by one of the national payment card networks are benefting most from the recession, but prepaid profitability overall is suffering, according to a survey of prepaid card executives whose results were released in a report this week. The survey, conducted by payments-research firm Aite Group LLC at …
Read More »Fraudsters Beef up Attacks on Checks As the ‘Weakest Link’
Check volumes may be declining, but check-related crime remains by far the most common type of payment fraud reported by corporate financial officers. What's more, while overall losses still remain small, fraud attempts increased last year and the recession could be a cause, according to the Association for Financial Professionals. …
Read More »FIS’s Metavante Acquisition To Create a Processing Powerhouse
Fidelity National Information Services Inc. (FIS) will buy Metavante Technologies Inc. in a $2.94 billion all-stock deal announced on Wednesday. The acquisition will create a bank- and payments-processing giant with $5 billion in combined revenue and a vast array of products in everything from core banking services to credit, debit, …
Read More »Contactless Stickers for Cell Phones Move onto Payments Networks
First Data Corp. announced on Tuesday it will use technology from Inside Contactless, a French chipmaker, for its Go-Tag product, a sticker that can be affixed to mobile phones to make them work like contactless-payment devices. Under the three-year agreement, Inside Contactless will supply so-called prelams, or chip-and-antenna elements, that …
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