Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
Federal banking regulators this month cracked down on MetaBank, a major prepaid card issuer, an action that threw into question the pending initial public offering of prepaid card program manager NetSpend Corp. Austin, Texas-based NetSpend is scheduled to price its long-planned IPO on Thursday, according to reports on the financial …
Read More »Report Faults Merchants for Sub-Par Virtual Gift Cards
With the holiday shopping season only weeks away, the nation’s biggest retailers are falling short in their offerings of virtual gift cards, according to research released on Thursday. Of the country’s 100 biggest online merchants—many of which also operate large brick-and-mortar chains—only half offer virtual cards, which are gift “cards” …
Read More »With Springbok, Fifth Third Gets into Open-Loop Prepaid
Merchant acquirer Fifth Third Processing Solutions LLC is also a sizable closed-loop gift card processor, and now it’s about to get into the processing of open-loop prepaid cards through its acquisition of bankrupt Springbok Services Inc.’s technology platform. The acquisition follows closely on the heels of Fifth Third Processing’s announcement …
Read More »New Visa Ventures Tap the Growing Transit Payments Market
Visa Inc. raised its profile in the growing transit payments market on Tuesday with announcements that it was backing mobile payments for New York City-area commuters and was the exclusive card network for new prepaid fare cards in Los Angeles. Visa also said its payWave contactless card became usable Aug. …
Read More »PayNearMe Debuts Cash Payments for Online Buys
PayNearMe Inc. on Wednesday announced the launch of a payment system that lets unbanked consumers pay for goods online or over the phone with cash. The system, which relies on real-time links to point-of-sale terminals in 6,000 U.S. 7-Eleven stores to collect and record cash transactions, has attracted eight announced …
Read More »Growth in Closed-Loop Prepaid Loads Perks up
Facing strong competition from up-and-coming open-loop prepaid cards and maturity in some of its subcategories, closed-loop prepaid cards still managed to grow 7.1% last year, according to a new study from Mercator Advisory Group Inc. Maynard, Mass.-based Mercator estimates load volume on closed-loop cards, which are issued by or for …
Read More »Will New Regs Cool off Open Loop’s Hot Growth?
Powered in part by surging government programs, open-loop prepaid cards barreled along in 2009, according to new findings from Mercator Advisory Group Inc. Now the question is whether that growth will continue after new payment card regulations kick in some time next year. Maynard, Mass.-based Mercator estimates users loaded $124.6 …
Read More »Gift Cards, Having Gone Virtual, Now Are Going Mobile
First gift cards went virtual, and now they’re going mobile. Portland, Ore.-based Giftango Corp. introduced on Wednesday a software developer’s toolkit that mobile developers can use to let users receive gift cards while staying within a mobile application. Giftango, which manages both plastic and virtual gift cards for merchants and …
Read More »Blackhawk Makes a Big Jump into Reloadable Prepaid Cards
Blackhawk Network, the supermarket-based prepaid card specialist firmly rooted in gift cards, announced on Monday its first major foray into general-purpose reloadable (GPR) prepaid cards. The move puts Blackhawk into direct competition with powerhouses Green Dot Corp. and NetSpend Inc., but that’s okay, according to chief marketing officer Teri Llach. …
Read More »A New U.S. Treasury Rule Would Add Millions to Prepaid Ranks
A proposed rule from the U.S. Treasury Department could add millions of users to a prepaid card program sponsored by the federal government to distribute Social Security benefits. The new rule, which would eliminate virtually all paper checks for various federal benefits, would expand the range of benefits that can …
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