March-April 2010 |
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by Robin Arnfield, News Editor
April 22, 2010--American Express Canada is set to widen the roll out of its American Express gift cards to other retailers apart from Shoppers Drugmart and Pharmaprix. Last November, Amex Canada launched its first gift card in Canada, making it available initially exclusively through branches of Shoppers Drugmart and Pharmaprix. The cards only display Amex’s branding – there is no retailer’s logo on them. Read the article |
April 21, 2010 --Visa Inc will buy CyberSource Corp, a company that helps retailers accept online payments, to boost its business in fast-growing areas such as emerging markets and online commerce. Visa, the world's largest credit and debit card processor, would pay $26 a share, or about $2 billion, for CyberSource. That amounts to a premium of nearly 34 percent over CyberSource's closing share price on Tuesday. Visa's shares edged 1.1 percent lower to $93.03, while CyberSource's surged 31.8 percent to $25.62. CyberSource was the second-most active stock on Nasdaq on Wednesday. Read the article
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Apriil 21, 2010 --Canada’s Moneris Solutions is in with a chance to further its global expansion ambitions as its bid for UK processor Global Merchant Services goes forward to the second round. The unit is up for sale by the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), following a restructuring plan agreed by the UK-based bank with the European Commission. Read the article |
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April 16, 2010--The Honourable Jim Flaherty, Minister of Finance, today released a Code of Conduct for the Credit and Debit Card Industry in Canada, which the minister says promotes fair business practices and ensures that merchants and consumers understand the costs and benefits associated with credit and debit cards. Read the release |
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April 16, 2010 ---In a press release sent out today, the Payments Accountability Council (PAC), led by Retail Council of Canada (RCC), the Canadian Council of Grocery Distributors (CCGD) and reportedly backed by more than 250,000 Canadian merchants, applauds Finance Minister Flaherty and the Government of Canada for announcement of a code of conduct for the Canadian debit and credit markets. Read the release |
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April 16, 2010--TD Canada Trust has become the latest Canadian bank to offer mobile applications for iPhones and iPod touch devices. As well as mobile banking via TD’s EasyWeb Internet banking site, customers can use their wireless devices for wealth management and insurance. They also get a branch and ATM locator which will help them avoid bank fees. Using iPhone applications, banks are able to offer more varied services to their customers than on traditional mobile banking platforms. Read the article |
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By Robin Arnfield, News Editor
April 12, 2010 --Texas-based payments company Rêv Worldwide is looking to expand into the Canadian and US prepaid card and m-payments markets after the successful launch in March 2010 of an investment fund by backers MPower Ventures. Founded by brothers Roy and Bertrand Sosa in June 2008, Rêv Worldwide has a proprietary processing platform and distribution network which can be used by financial institutions, telecoms operators and merchants for delivering mobile payment and prepaid card services. Read the article |
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By Robin Arnfield, News Editor
April 12, 2010 --Robert Cattral, who has a PhD in Computer Science, has just been sentenced to seven years in jail by the Ontario Superior Court for knowingly supplying card fraud technology to international terrorists and criminals. In the 1990s, Robert Cattral and Catherine Brunet started a business in Ottawa known as Canadian Barcode and Plastic Card Supply Inc. According to indictment documents, the company sold various devices such as blank magnetic-stripe cards, magnetic-stripe card readers, printers, embossers, and data loggers. It also sold the software for transferring financial card data from a credit card or data logger to a blank magnetic-stripe card. Read the article |
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March 22, 2010 --The Canadian Payments Association's Board of Directors has approved the CPA's Payments Strategy: Vision 2020, enabling the Association to move forward with initiatives that support the dynamic changes to the Canadian payments industry. Read the article |
March 29, 2010--A major new study of over 1,900 Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) and senior finance executives from 81 countries and 35 industries worldwide reveals that more than 60 percent of CFOs plan major changes to respond to the new economic climate. CFOs and senior finance executives believe the already intense pressure on three fronts -- reducing the enterprise cost base, making faster, more accurate decisions and providing more transparency to external stakeholders will increase dramatically over the next three years. Read the article
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March 25, 2010 --The Canadian Acquirers Association, a not-for-profit body that acts as an educational forum for Canadian payment acquiring and processing entrepreneurs, is planning a second event for its members. The association was founded in June 2008, with its inaugural event sponsored by Pivotal Payments and VersaPay. Its board consists of Adam Atlas (http://www.adamatlas.com/), an attorney-at-law who represents Canadian payment companies, Anil Bissa of CardSolve International, Kevin Turko of Data Shapers, Michael Gokturk of VersaPay and Michael Jaffe of NXGEN Payment Systems. Read the article |
Special News Reports |
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By Robin Arnfield, News Editor
March 25, 2010--Vancouver-based hyperWALLET Systems has launched a mobile airtime top-up service, enabling Canadian residents to send airtime credits to cellphones owned by friends and relatives abroad. The new airtime service follows hyperWALLET's recent launch of a global money transfer service for the Canadian marketplace. Read the article |
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By Robin Arnfield, News Editor
March 24, 2010--Tio Networks, the Vancouver, BC-based bill payment processor, says transactions over its network grew by 22% year-on-year in its second quarter to January 30. Read the article |
BMO launches first World Elite MasterCard in Canada
March 24, 2010--BMO Bank of Montreal has become the first Canadian bank to launch a World Elite MasterCard credit card. Read the article |
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By Robin Arnfield, News Editor
March 20, 2010--A report by Moody’s Investor Service says that the Canadian credit card sector, which finished 2009 at historically poor performance levels, will return to stability in 2010. The New York-based credit ratings agency says that Canada’s unemployment rate and personal bankruptcy filings – two key drivers of credit card performance – have recently demonstrated signs of stabilization. Read the article |
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By Robin Arnfield, News Editor
March 16, 2010--RBC Royal Bank of Canada has become the first Canadian bank to take advantage of the lifting of a ban on Canadian credit card issuers offering both MasterCard and Visa cards. In partnership with RBC, WestJet Airlines Ltd has launched the WestJet RBC World MasterCard and the WestJet RBC MasterCard. With each credit card, cardholders earn WestJet dollars on everyday purchases. These dollars can be redeemed as part payment for WestJet flights or vacations, with no redemption grids, blackouts or minimum spend requirements.Read the article |
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By Robin Arnfield, News Editor
March 10, 2010--UK-based Level Four has teamed up with France’s Galitt to provide technology to help Canadian ATM deployers test their networks’ compliance with the EMV (Europay-MasterCard-Visa) standard for secure chip card transactions. The two firms say their technology will enable Canadian financial institutions to reduce the cost of testing their ATMs in the run-up to the 2012 deadline for EMV migration. Read the article |
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By Robin Arnfield, News Editor
March 8, 2010--EnStream, an m-payments joint venture between three Canadian wireless carriers, has announced a three-month trial of a sticker that turns cellphones into contactless payment devices. In the week since the trial was launched on March 3, 2010, around 200 consumers have signed up, along with retailers such as PetroCanada and McDonalds.
The Zoompass Tag sticker, which uses MasterCard’s PayPass contactless technology, was developed by Germany’s Giesecke & Devrient. It measures 43 mm by 33 mm and can be attached to any cellphone. To make purchases, consumers tap their phones against PayPass-enabled point-of-sale terminals. Read the article |
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By Robin Arnfield, News Editor
March 7, 2010--PayPoint, a UK-based bill payment service provider, has signed a deal to buy Vancouver-based Verrus Mobile Technologies and its subsidiary Verrus UK.
Verrus provides services enabling consumers to pay for parking by credit or debit card using their cellphones in North America, the UK, Australia and France. It was founded in Vancouver in 2000 and entered the British market in 2004. As of March 2010, around 2 million consumers have registered to use Verrus. Read the article
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VersaPay's year-end results show strong growth Apr 30, 2010 |
CIBC acquires full ownership of CIT Canada Apr 30, 2010 |
Rising dollar impacts RDM results in Q2 Apr 30, 2010 |
UAE remittance portal gears up for Interac payments
Apr 28, 2010 |
Open Solutions facilitates new ATM card acceptance
Apr 23, 2010 |
RDM announces account receivable integration
Apr 23, 2010 |
Travelex, Inetco manage encrypted transactions
Apr 23, 2010 |
Multi-currency ATM comes to Kitchener Apr 22, 2010 |
Official statement on two-dollar coin Apr 21, 2010 |
Calypso gets certified for EMV processing Apr 21, 2010 |
Islamic credit card now offered Apr 18, 2010 |
Code of Conduct released April 16, 2010 |
Read the actual Code of Conduct Apr 16, 2010 |
Read the code backgrounder Apr 16, 2010 |
Download a copy of Bill C-9 here Apr 16, 2010 |
Mastercard to adopt new code Apr 16, 2010 |
TD comments on new code Apr 16, 2010 |
Retail grocers applaud new bill Apr 16, 2010 |
Interac says code has meaningful solutions
Apr 16, 2010 |
Scotiabank supports code
Apr 16, 2010 |
BMO joins in support of code Apr 16, 2010 |
Small business says code is welcome Apr 16, 2010 |
Evident Point launches new payment system Apr 15, 2010 |
411.ca partners with Pivotal Payments Apr 13, 2010 |
BMO offers advice on controlling spending
Apr 13, 2010 |
CIBC continues to add to mobile banking options
Apr 12, 2010 |
Credit Union signs on with Inetco Apr 11, 2010 |
George Weston Ltd. appoints new CFO Apr 1, 2010 |
Analyst firm names Monexa leading provider of cloud solutions Mar 31, 2010 |
Watch live video direct from NACHA Mar 31, 2010 |
Interac makes direct connection for tax payments Mar 31, 2010 |
IBM survey shows retailers power of purchase-based technology systems
Mar 30, 2010 |
American Airlines offers Canadians PayPal option
Mar 29, 2010 |
Vancouver credit union outsources core banking to Fiserv Mar 27, 2010 |
GCA expands Canadian presence Mar 26, 2010 |
ATM fraud ring smashed in Durham Mar 26, 2010 |
Open Solutions endorses EFT provider Mar 26, 2010 |
Amex relaunches Air Miles cards Mar 25, 2010 |
Direct seller implements global commission solution Mar 25, 2010 |
FEI names co-recipients of CFO of Year Award
Mar 24, 2010 |
PayPal rolls out new iPhone App Mar 16, 2010 |
Pitney Bowes Insight selects Monexa Mar 16, 2010 |
New product targets smart card cleaners Mar 11, 2010 |
CFOs report on hiring expectations for Q2
Mar 10, 2010 |
Survey says Canadians still confident in credit, debit cards despite fraud Mar 10, 2010 |
New Air Miles division has impact Mar 9, 2010 |
VersaPay partners with BIABC Mar 8, 2010 |
Nxgen to serve European businesses Mar 4, 2010 |
Monexa looks to capitalize on fast-growing cloud billing market Mar 3, 2010 |
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