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American Express Co. on Monday launched Serve, a multifaceted online and offline payment system centered on a digital account and reloadable prepaid card that facilitate person-to-person payments as well as physical, online, and mobile purchases. AmEx says a key advantage of the digital account is that it is funding-agnostic, meaning …
Read More »Look, Ma, No NFC: Parking Payment Via a Smart Phone App
It was only a matter of time before mobile payments came to the parking industry. And no, the latest application doesn’t depend on near-field communication (NFC), a contactless technology that has been ensnarled in endless disputes between banks and mobile operators and is reportedly being eyed by high-flying players like …
Read More »Handsets, Shopping Apps Will Likely Fuel PayPal’s Physical POS Move
PayPal Inc.’s move into the physical point of sale is likely to involve handset-based services that make shopping and buying easier for consumers rather than a direct assault on the checkout counter, according to one expert who follows electronic payments. PayPal will most likely integrate its payments platform with applications …
Read More »Though Disappearing, Substitute Checks Create Opportunity for LPSI
A Dublin, Ohio-based startup is leveraging air-courier logistics and aggregation efficiencies to wring revenues out of a dying business—the so-called substitute check. Liberty Processing & Services Innovation went live only five months ago and is now printing and delivering about 3 million checks a month on behalf of five client …
Read More »Visa Brings P2P Payments to U.S. Cards Via Fiserv And CashEdge
Visa Inc. on Wednesday said it is adding person-to-person payment capabilities to its network and cards so that all Visa-branded credit, debit, and prepaid cards from U.S. issuers would be able to receive P2P payments. The first P2P providers to walk through Visa's new door were bank processor Fiserv Inc. …
Read More »Signaling Possible Plans Beyond Credits, Facebook Sets up a Payments Unit
Facebook Inc., a massive social network with more than 500 million users worldwide that is said by some experts to have ambitions in the payments business, has established a wholly owned subsidiary called Facebook Payments Inc. Facebook incorporated the entity in Florida on Dec. 10 and is advertising now for …
Read More »With a One-Two Punch, Discover Endorses Alternative Payments, E-Bills
Discover Financial Services on Tuesday found itself at the center of two announcements signaling increasing interest in the payments industry in alternative payments and electronic billing. Ebillme, an online-payments service offered by Rye Brook, N.Y.-based ModaSolutions Corp., said online merchants that accept Discover cards will be able to accept eBillme …
Read More »Android’s Popularity Could Boost New NFC Smart Phone Software
The rocketing popularity of Google Inc.’s Android operating system for smart phones could also propel near-field communication (NFC) technology for mobile financial services now that NXP Semiconductor and Giesecke & Devrient have introduced NFC software for Android phones. The open-source code, announced this week at a major telecom conference in …
Read More »Small Banks Envision a Slew of New And Higher Fees in Durbin’s Wake
Despite being exempt from pending debit card interchange regulations, small banks seem to be convinced that their revenues are about to take a hit and are planning to raise account fees or reduce access to debit cards to compensate, according to survey results from the Independent Community Bankers of America. …
Read More »Panini Aims to Open New Remote Capture Markets with Scanners for Macs
In a move that could open up a significant chunk of the desktop market for digitized check processing, Panini North America this week introduced what are apparently the first check scanners inherently capable of working with Apple Macintosh computers. The development “opens up a heretofore unreachable segment for remote deposit …
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