Wal-Mart Frowns On Contactless Element Of U.S. EMV Push

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will not embrace U.S. contactless payment anytime soon.

The nation's largest retailer plans eventually to begin accepting EMV chip-and-PIN cards in the U.S., but supporting domestic contactless-payment is out of the picture, according to a top Wal-Mart exec.

Contactless card acceptance could help pave the way to consumer adoption of mobile payments through Near Field Communication chip-equipped devices, some payment industry experts say. And while Wal-Mart is participating in "a very limited test" of contactless acceptance in 25 of its stores in the United Kingdom, Wal-Mart generally does not favor contactless payment. Read More >>

VeriFone Sets Sail To Bolster Rivalry Against Square

When Square Inc. launched its mobile card reader in 2009, VeriFone Systems Inc. was on its heels with PayWare Mobile. Now the terminal maker is ready to roll out another rival to Square with a product it calls Sail.

Whereas VeriFone designed PayWare Mobile for use off the shelf, it designed Sail for small businesses with technical savvy. It plans to offer Sail with open-source software that developers can adapt to work with merchants' inventory software.

Merchants also may use Sail as is, just like VeriFone's earlier product. Square similarly designed its product for merchant use right out of the box. Read More >>

MasterCard Study Puts Numbers On Mobile Payment ‘Folklore'

Mobile payment is revolutionizing the payments industry, suggests the widespread sentiment among industry insiders and observers.

But plenty of "folklore" exists regarding which countries are at the forefront with mobile-payment technology, exactly how "big" the market is getting in terms of consumer use and how mobile payments will evolve, Theodore Iacobuzio, Global Insights vice president at MasterCard Worldwide, tells PaymentsSource. Read More >>

Green Dot Chief Sees Prepaid Mobile Payments As Company's Next Challenge

BALTIMORE–Rage against fees on credit cards, not bank accounts, drove more consumers to using prepaid cards as everyday financial tools, contends the chief executive at prepaid card giant Green Dot Corp.

"There's an assumption that people who hate banks go to prepaid (cards), but we don't see that," Steve Streit told attendees here last week at NACHA's Payments 2012 conference. Read More >>

Plastyc Looks To Kindle Underbanked Interest In Its Prepaid Products

The Kindle Fire isn't as capable as Apple Inc.'s iPad. and it isn't as connected as a smartphone. But its mix of price and features makes it well suited to serve the underbanked.

The prepaid card marketer Plastyc of New York this week expects to announce an application for the Kindle Fire, Amazon's $200 Wi-Fi-only tablet. Part of the reason for Plastyc's focus on the Kindle is that the iPad, which starts at $400 (or $500 for the latest version), is out of the price range of many prepaid card users. Read More >>

India Remittance Provider TimesofMoney Reportedly Up For Sale

In a sign of third-party payments market consolidation in India, the owner of TimesofMoney reportedly plans to sell one of the country's most widely used remittance service providers to a multinational company.

Bennett, Coleman and Co. Ltd., promoter of the Times Group, is in talks to sell TimesofMoney to Network International LLC, a United Arab Emirates-based payment card company, according to a May 4 report in local pink sheet Mint. Read More >>

Mumbai's Urban Authority To Launch A Commuter National Mobility Card

The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority plans soon to launch the National Common Mobility Card that will enable commuters in Mumbai to access various public-transport platforms across the city.

The Common Mobility Card Called, dubbed More, is an integral part of the National Urban Transport Policy of India. It is designed to provide a single means to access all types of public-transport systems throughout the country. Read More >>