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Consumer usage of prepaid and gift cards declined last year, according to a new report from Javelin Strategy & Research. Javelin estimates that the percentage of U.S. adults who had used a prepaid or gift card in the preceding 12 months fell from 66% in 2008 to 61% in 2009. …
Read More »San Diego Nears End of Conversion to Contactless Monthly Transit Cards
A year-long conversion of the old fare-collection systems used by monthly-ticket customers of multiple transit agencies in San Diego County, Calif., to a unified system based on contactless cards is nearing completion, a local official tells Digital Transactions News. The new system, from San Diego-based Cubic Transportation Systems Inc., will …
Read More »Fed Surprises Prepaid Industry with a Tight Deadline for Compliance
Meeting the Aug. 22 deadline for complying with new rules for prepaid and gift cards released on Wednesday by the Federal Reserve will be a logistical nightmare for card companies and retailers that have to replace hundreds of millions of cards before the 2010 holiday shopping season, according to a …
Read More »On the Rise, Friendly Fraud Is Getting Online Merchants’ Attention
More online shoppers are repudiating transactions even after they've received their merchandise, much to the chagrin of online merchants, which are focusing on the problem as they seldom have in the past. That's according to Robert W. Botelle, executive vice president for merchant services and chief customer officer at Litle …
Read More »Capellas Leaves First Data As Hints of Recovery Appear on the Horizon
Michael D. Capellas, the former Compaq Computer Corp. and MCI chief executive who became chairman and chief executive at First Data Corp. in September 2007 when private-equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. took the huge processor private, is taking a new position at KKR. Replacing him as chairman and …
Read More »In Prepaid, Issuers And Networks Will See Fastest Revenue Growth
The continuing boom in general-purpose prepaid cards will lift all providers' boats, but some industry players will see revenues grow faster than others, according to new report from Aite Group LLC. The Boston-based research firm estimates that the total revenue pie of the so-called network-branded prepaid card industry will grow …
Read More »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 …
Read More »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 …
Read More »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 …
Read More »Consumers Favor Debit Cards, But Prepaid Cards Lag Far Behind
While electronic payment methods continue to gain ground against paper-based payments, consumers show widely varying attitudes toward specific types of electronic methods, according to a recently released report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. The paper, which the Boston Fed published last month and is based on a representative …
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