PCI Council releases merchant mobile guidance
Fact sheet on secure acceptance
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Indian pair start mobile inclusion initiative
Partnership between bank and telco targets unbanked millions
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Mobile wallet in Canada
Launch as banking industry rolls out blueprint for NFC standards
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Cloud security storage often poor, finds survey
Six leading cloud security providers tested
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Square-style reader rolls out in UK
M-payment reader tests to start Read more ...

Bank to issue JCB cards in China
Payment brand passes 5 million cards in the country
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Asian smart vendors increase pressure on Big Four
Figures show further market gains
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Amex launches mobile offer engine
Cardholders get “spend graph” Read more ...

First transaction for pan-Europe epayments scheme
Pilot to start in June Read more ...

More evidence of emerging nations driving
m-payments
Global survey finds new kind of customer
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Huge growth in China ATM market
Report and figures Read more ...

Leisure Pass Group sold
£35m buyout of smart card company
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Comment: The importance of being Honest
Scott Thompson, has quit as CEO of Yahoo, ten days after admitting his personal resume was not truthful.
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Samsung chooses payment tech provider for Galaxy NFC phone
Device supports major mobile wallets
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Merchant m-payments solution rolls out in India
25,000 downloads in first few days
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Has customer control made banks vulnerable?

An interview on the future payment risk challenges for banks was clearly going to be interesting. Especially as India-based Sriram Natarajan has 21 years’ experience working for among others Amex, HSBC and GE Money. What was unexpected and hugely thought provoking was his take on how enabling the customer to choose how they access their accounts has in itself made banks vulnerable. Read more ...

Contactless hack raises question of trust

Media stories are nothing new but can scare already nervous customers

The recent publicity over the hacking of personal details on Barclaycard contactless cards has highlighted the issue of customer trust in the technology. Read more ...

Preoccupied banks forgetting about their customers
Banks and service providers are preoccupied with discussions about new technology and products, bonuses, fee structures, buyouts and mergers. Aren’t they forgetting someone? Article by Jonathan Marcus of Peppers & Rogers. Read more ...

The rocky road to EMV: Why the US may finally be giving in
The US currently accounts for 47% of global payment card fraud. This and other factors may belatedly be convincing the country of the need for Chip, says Guy Weber, risk manager at SIX Card Solutions. Read more ...

"Don’t wait too long before committing to NFC” warns MasterCard’s Lambert
Unprecedented change raises stakes for banks
The card and payments business is currently facing massive uncertainty and nowhere is this being experienced more acutely than in the processing and acquiring business.
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Mobile and the future of plastic
With numerous mobile and NFC payments initiatives taking place around the world – from Isis and the Google Wallet in the US to France’s NFC city rollouts - we ask industry players what the future holds for the plastic card. Read more ...

Making sense of major changes
Comprehensive round-up and analysis of the latest mergers, acquisitions, deals and changes in the global card and payments industry over the last year. Who bought who, when, for how much, and what does it mean for the industry? Read more ...

Mobile wallet offerings go head to head
Significant recent moves in m-payments as major players such as Google, PayPal and Isis line up their mobile wallet offerings against those that are being planned by the payment networks and banks
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Where to put the NFC secure element?
While some claim it does not matter where the NFC secure element is located - in the handset, SIM or microSD card - there are others who say the lack of standardisation is a barrier to widespread deployment of NFC payments.
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Russia leads Europe in m-payments usage
Emerging payments report
MasterCard Worldwide has revealed the findings of its ‘Tech Nation’ poll, revealing which European countries are leading the way with new payment technologies such as mobile and contactless.
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SEPA - It's complicated!
SEPA was described as an “unstoppable train” by Narinda Viguier, head of strategy and interbank relations, global transactions division for Credit Agricole. But how will the Eurozone debt crisis affect payments market harmonisation? Bob Lyddon, MD of IBOS Banking Association, gives his views. Read more ...

Special NFC report: NXP takes advantage of dominant NFC position
Supplying 65% of NFC chips in NFC enabled terminals, chip manufacturer NXP has a strategically important position in the development of the secure mobile communications protocol. It was a joint developer of NFC in 2002 and has been an active member of the NFC Forum since them. Read more ...

Explaining the mobile business case to security and risk professionals
Visa Europe’s Security Summit this month took the unusual step of beginning by explaining the business case for mobile. This was probably a huge surprise for the audience of fraud and security professionals, but it achieved the enviable goal of putting into context the massive amount of technology change that is taking place.
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Five days at EFMA and some significant messages later
Annich McIntosh reports from five days in a Paris hotel basement in a heatwave.
After much thought about the major messages to share with Card & Payments World readers after a gruelling five days with EFMA, it is clear what has to be the first on the list – that the people attending the Wednesday to Friday Cards and Payments summit ought to have been in the Monday and Tuesday Mobile Payments conference. Read more ...

EMV or NFC? Major investment behind both make future for payments uncertain
In the US, SCTN is excited about the possibilities EMV chip cards and contactless payments will bring.
In Japan, Sharp is this month launching an NFC tablet primarily aimed at retailers who wish to read and write to customer loyalty and employee ID card. Read more ...

Greek bank success in a troubled market
It is the stuff of loyalty dreams. The points redeemed from the loyalty scheme of a European bank exceeds the number of points issued, even though the number of points being issued has gone up. The result of this of course, means 100% redemption - and it has been achieved by a bank in Greece. Read more ...

Payback drives India ambitions
Analysis of Indian loyalty sector
Payback aims to double presence in highly competitive loyalty market through deal with country's biggest retailer Read more ...

Blurring of terms bodes well for contactless payments
Mobile payments, contactless payments, NFC, POS acceptance, P2P transfers – its all becoming the same thing
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Virtualized Credentials: Has the Access Control Market Reached a Tipping Point?
NFC phones are just one of the new form factors driving fundamental changes in the way that secure identity is delivered. Article by Dr. Tam Hulusi, senior vice president at HID Global Read more ...

Ikea calls for central processing and rejects cards at any price
Ikea never claims to be anything other than it is – cheap basic furniture at the lowest possible price, and it expects card payment costs to follow the same principle.
The powerful Swedish company is now calling for the card cost structure for retailers to become more transparent, with different cost levels for different services. Read more ...

Acquiring: Increasing role as gateway between consumer and device
Acquirers are seldom in the card industry spotlight, unless it is to do with a data security breach. Historically it has been the card issuers that have made the headlines, but behind the scenes the role of the card acquirer is increasing in importance. With mobile payments on the horizon, the acquirer as a gate- way will grow in importance, but there are challenges.
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Changing debit reward models in uncertain market
With the Durbin Amendment threatening debit income, US banks are targeting card rewards at new and growing markets
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Reputation and trust are key decision influencers
Reputation and trust issues were both hugely influential factors in Barclaycard's decision to cancel its contract with card insurance company CPP along with sales of their identity theft product.
The data breach at Epsilon is also causing reputational havoc for major US brands.
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Lateral thinking creates new solution to PCI compliance cost problem
Complaints from retailers about the growing and relentless cost of achieving PCI DSS compliance are growing, driven by recessionary pressures
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Why did EasyJet partner with Nectar?
What is the benefit to Nectar of partnering with EasyJet?
Card World put these, and a whole load more questions to James Frost, marketing director of Nectar, and Paul Simmons, director, UK market at EasyJet Read more ...

Still searching for a silver bullet for PCI DSS Compliance?
Everyone still storing or handling cardholder data has a challenge ahead to manage their business through cost implications, technology deadline dates, changes to the PCI DSS standard and increased pressure from brands, fraudsters and their own management.  Read more ...

Special report: Rise in card skimming at the POS challenges industry
PCI security standards for card terminals
Mobile is the next big PCI challenge
Best practice advice from card bodies Read more ...

Awards honour acquirers for taking cards to the next step
Niklaus Santschi wins industry personality award Read more ...

Amex Zync works hard to appeal to Gen Y
Financial coaching and advice
New features and services offered to young customers via Quarterlife Project
Using social media and rewards
Rewards for green living Read more ...

Ikea call for central processing to lower cost of card payments
“Expensive solutions to all kinds of problems are a sign of mediocrity”

Ikea would like central, cross border European processing, and lower card fees. Martin Weiderstrand, Manager EU Affairs and advisor payment cards for Ikea explains his frustrations with the current system and warns that the lack of homogeneity and competition may lead to unwanted consequences.
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Innovation from an unusual issuer
Profile of private bank Duncan Lawrie which is pioneering a combined debit and credit card on the UK market for its 2,000 customers. The product recently won Best New Debit Card Product of the Year at the Card and Payments Awards. Read more ...

The Card & Payments Awards winners announced
Air of palpable optimism among 1,360 attendees at UK industry event
Four awards for Bank of America
WorldPay CEO gets Industry Personality of the Year prize
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Ownership of security keys remains stumbling block to NFC rollouts
Latest Card World report on the fast-moving mobile payments market Read more ...

The long, winding road to SEPA
The path to the Single Euro Payments Area has been slow and tortuous, so it was refreshing to hear the ECB’s Gertrude Tumpel-Gugerell list her New Year resolutions with a view to giving it some impetus. But is the payment industry ready to deliver against these goals? Read more ...

Special report into Citi Cards in the US
Citi introduces thank you credit cards
Customer feedback shapes offering
Two button smart card in Citi pilot
Default lowest in 22 months Read more ...

Everyday payments in the digital world – a break from tradition?
A new era in payments is dawning with consumers switching to “pay now” products post-credit crisis. Traditional payments providers are playing catch-up with a new generation of digital transactions providers - how can they win? Read more ...

Australia Country Report
Interchange cap under review
Seven years ago, the Australian Federal Bank and the Payment System Board made the decision to cap interchange at the cost to the issuer of the card transaction. The experiment has been watched by the rest of the world. Now they are considering reversing the decision.
Plus: Latest fraud figures and debit and credit card market data. Read more ...

Terminal manufacturers respond to customer demand for payment choice
In order to respond to the new payments world that is emerging at the speed of a roller coaster, terminal manufacturers are having to reinvent their business
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Mobile payments and the new ecosystem to transform industry
Consumer will make the choices in newly emerging world
“Nothing will ever be the same again”
Last bridging year before mobile payments are mainstream
Security will remain a strong differentiator Read more ...

Does your credit card come with face insurance?
From the VIP banks of Moscow to the depths of rural India, the diverse art of cross-selling insurance and assistance policies with everyday financial products is being keenly practised. Read more ...

Facebook based contactless reward scheme trialling in Singapore
Aneace Haddad of Welcome Realtime fame back with his next big idea
You may remember him as the indefatigable CEO of Welcome Realtime, but now Aneace Haddad is working on a new loyalty scheme idea aimed at restaurants and small businesses that incorporates both social media and contactless technology. Read more ...

Cantona sparks viral campaign to ‘cripple’ banking system
Protest scheduled for first day of Cartes

The potential of social media to rapidly escalate a controversial issue has been graphically illustrated by comments from former soccer star Eric Cantona. Read more ...

Speak up now on E-Money Directive – before it is too late
The Second Electronic Money Directive becomes law on April 30, 2011 for all countries in the European Union. It applies to all forms of electronic currency, including funds on prepaid cards, mobile devices and the internet. Read more ...

What to expect from iPhone5: NFC and biometrics?
iPhone has a few issues to solve before launching its iPhone5. These are little irritations such as useless reception. But Apple is unlikely to stop at simply putting right the problems. Read more ...

ISO 20022 on the rise
The core infrastructure of the majority of European banks is showing its age and needs a refresh, particularly with the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) and the Payment Services Directive (PSD) changing requirements. Part of that refresh will probably include a migration to the ISO 20022 global messaging standard for all payment processing.
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Increased clarity and relief for merchants in PCI DSS 2.0
Special report on details of the new standard with latest industry comment on lack of mobile payments and point-to-point encryption standards.
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Mobile banking to eclipse cards in Africa
Wave of product launches on continent where only 4% of the population are banked

“Everybody is trying to launch something at the moment. We have had calls from marketing companies and system integrators who want to become an m-payments provider in Africa” - Ahmed Faheem, Utiba. Read more ...

Elation, mixed with relief for the prepaid survivors
There was an atmosphere of elation among the audience at this year’s Prepaid Awards in London. Mixed with not a little relief. It was the sort of buzz you'd get after a near miss in an aeroplane, or after a rescue from a sinking ship.

Some in the prepaid industry have suffered an appalling 18 months, but Read more ...

After a decade of SEPA, even the banks are eager for an end date
EFMA Report Part 2
Ten years after the introduction of the principle of a Single Euro Payments Area, there remains infighting, uncertainty and anger but there is a growing acceptance among bankers that SEPA was going to happen.
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Call for European approach to card security as fraud figures jump
EFMA conference report – part 1
French Central Bank governor warns that SEPA confusion is contributing to rising card fraud
Full French card fraud figures in the next issue of Card World Read more ...