News

March, 2010

• 2 March

  Remote Mobile Capture Is Ready for Prime Time, Researcher Argues

  Remote deposit capture by mobile phone, a recent technology still considered experimental by many bankers, has proven itself in deployments so far, a banking researcher said on Monday. “The technology is demonstrably ready for broad adoption,” Robert Meara, a senior analyst at Celent LLC, told attendees at a banking conference. …
• 2 March

  Fast-Growing Green Dot Plans To Do an IPO And Buy a Bank

  More than 10 years after its founding, prepaid card reload network and distributor Green Dot Corp. is considering an initial public offering to raise up to $150 million for its next growth phase. The registration statement Monrovia, Calif.-based Green Dot filed last week for the proposed stock offering is a …
• 1 March

  TSYS Changes Course, Forms Joint Venture with First National of Omaha

  The joint merchant-acquiring venture announced Monday by Total System Services Inc. (TSYS) and First National Bank of Omaha marks a major change in strategy by both companies. The deal, scheduled to close April 1, marks the first time TSYS is taking an ownership interest in a merchant portfolio. And for …

February, 2010

• 25 February

  Reload Capability Eludes Consumers Despite Prepaid’s Popularity

  The concept of the reloadable general-purpose prepaid card is a familiar one to those who work in the prepaid card industry, but it hasn't caught on with the general public, according to findings from Mercator Advisory Group Inc. A Mercator survey of 1,012 adults last May and June found that …
• 25 February

  UATP Books a Hotel As Its Airline-Card Network Diversifies

  Processing volume hit some turbulence last year, but that didn't stop Universal Air Travel Plan Inc. from pursing its goal of adding merchants to its airline-owned network. Washington, D.C.-based UATP last week reported that LQ Management LLC's La Quinta Inns & Suites has become the first hotel chain in the …
• 24 February

  Prepaid Card Mall Pioneer Blackhawk Moves into Online, B2B

  Less than a decade after launching its first gift card mall, the Blackhawk Network Inc. is looking for new frontiers of prepaid card growth in the online world and the business-to-business market. “I think we've learned a few things on how to serve the customer better,” Teri Llach, chief marketing …
• 23 February

  NACHA Looks for a Partner to Help Move EBIDS out of Pilot Mode

  An electronic bill-payment and ?presentment network put together by NACHA, the governing body of the automated clearing house, is seeking an organization that can help build out the system and give it marketing firepower. Rob Unger, senior director of e-billing and payments at Herndon, Va.-based NACHA, says the association issued …
• 23 February

  Opportunity Comes With Risk for Public-Sector Prepaid Cards

  Government represents one of the biggest opportunities out there for prepaid card issuers and processors, but the market is fraught with pricing, operational, and other hurdles, according to executives who work with the public sector. About $65 billion currently is loaded onto prepaid card programs for federal and state benefits …
• 23 February

  U.S. Issuers Begin to Fret About Mag-Stripe Problems Overseas

  U.S. card issuers are starting to worry about problems some of their high-spending and corporate card customers are having using their magnetic-stripe cards in countries that support the chip-and-PIN standard, according to executives who spoke on Tuesday at a smart card conference. Whereas the issue hardly seemed apparent only a …
• 18 February

  A Rebound for Credit Cards Online Will Slow Gains for Alternatives

  Various payment alternatives will continue to grow in volume and claim more share of Web-based sales, but the dramatic gains of recent years will moderate as credit cards stage a partial comeback, according to a forecast released this week. Alternative payment methods, which have proliferated in variety over the past …