NEWSFour Eastern European men were indicted in connection with the cardholder data breach at prepaid card issuer and processor RBS Worldpay Inc. Individuals from Russia, Estonia and the Republic of Moldova, were charged by a federal grand jury in Atlanta with wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, computer fraud, conspiracy to commit computer fraud, access device fraud and aggravated identity theft.
Four more men, each from Estonia, were indicted for access device fraud. The breach, which was discovered by RBS Worldpay in November 2008 and publically disclosed the following month, reportedly resulted in an ATM scam that netted fraudsters $9 million. The coordinated attack spanned cities in the United States, Canada, Russia and Asia.
The Center for Financial Services Innovation's Nonprofit Development Lab and its Underbanked Solutions Exchange met for the first time to address best practices for serving the underbanked. "By combining these two networks, our diverse group of participants will be able to learn from each other and share ideas and first-hand intelligence on best practices in serving the underbanked market," said Karen Andres, Relationship Manager for CFSI.
The Nonprofit Development Lab comprises nonprofit executives and is sponsored by grants from the Citi Foundation and The Walmart Foundation. The Underbanked Solutions Exchange consists of mid-sized financial institutions and receives some of its support from Meta Payment Systems. The CFSI, a nonprofit affiliate of ShoreBank Corp., was founded in 2004 to inform, connect and invest in services for the underbanked consumer.
ANNOUNCEMENTSCoinstar Inc.'s third quarter 2009 financial results indicate revenue of $296 million, which is a year-over-year increase of 45.5 percent. "In the third quarter, our core DVD rental and coin-counting businesses continued to produce solid results at both the top and bottom line," said Paul Davis, Chief Executive Officer of Coinstar.
GiftCards.com LLC launched its new No Fee Cards, which can be purchased on its Web site in denominations of $20 to $500. The cards carry no fees for monthly maintenance, transactions, replacement or expiration. Consumers can choose from hundreds of designs to personalize the cards.
MoneyGram International Inc.'s third quarter 2009 financial results revealed a money transfer volume increase of 6 percent (excluding bill payment). Money transfer fees and other revenues climbed by 3 percent over the prior year. MoneyGram reported a 2009 year-to-date revenue of $875.5 million; the company earned $608.1 million during the same period in 2008.
The Dallas Business Journal awarded its CFO of the Year in the Midsized Private Companies category to Mae Reeves, Chief Financial Officer of Parago Inc., a rewards-based incentive provider. Parago received other awards or recognition this year from the Dallas Business Journal, PROMO magazine, and the Dallas chapter of the Council of Better Business Bureaus Inc.
The Western Union Co., a global payment money transfer specialist, signed a strategic alliance with multi-platinum Grammy-Award winning international recording artist Wyclef Jean to promote Western Union Money Transfer and prepaid services to consumers in the United States.
PARTNERSHIPSA new partnership between First Data Corp. and Valid Systems promises to enable U.S. grocery and convenience stores to cash payroll checks for customers quickly and with reduced risk. Consumers will be able to receive funds in cash or on a First Data Money Network card, a prepaid card accepted online and at millions of merchant locations, as well as at more than 1 million ATMs worldwide.
Funded by a $40,000 Innovation Grant from the National Credit Union Foundation, Affinity Credit Union's new reloadable card powered by The Members Group is designed to serve the Hispanic community. Additionally, Affinity partnered with Coopera Consulting, a consulting firm specializing in emerging markets, to deliver prepaid solutions to the Hispanic market.
Plastyc Inc., a prepaid service provider that caters to Web-savvy young adults, teamed with Integration Inc. to offer a virtual solution whereby consumers can write and send paper checks without resorting to checkbooks, stamps and envelopes. Instead, a paper check is sent on their behalf when they request it through an online portal at Upside Card or iBankUp.
PlaySpan Inc., a provider of monetization solutions for online games, virtual worlds and social networks, employed PayPal Inc.'s PayPal X application programming interface to provide added convenience for consumers purchasing digital goods. Consumers can now make purchases without leaving their online game sites.
Stored-value card provider ProfitPoint joined iContact Corp. to offer iContact's e-mail marketing services to ProfitPoint customers. ProfitPoint will also use the services internally for marketing. Both companies ranked in the top 100 on the 2008 Inc. 500 list of fastest growing private companies.
Electronic payment and prepaid debit card provider TransCard signed an agreement with University National Bank to jointly deliver prepaid programs, prepaid products and mobile bank accounts for unbanked and underbanked individuals.
New York-based Spanish language media company Univision Communications Inc. teamed with MasterCard Worldwide to offer Univision Prepaid MasterCard Card and the Univision MasterCard Gift Card. The cards will be launched in 2010.
ZAPA Technology Ltd. selected ViVOtech Inc.'s loyalty and prepaid card platform for its mobile loyalty and gift card processing services in Europe. The ViVOtech platform will power the ZAPA TAG sticker, which can be affixed to mobile phones. ViVOtech's over-the-air provisioning software will be integrated at a future date.
ACQUISITIONSM2 Global Ltd. acquired Altair Technologies Ltd., a U.K.-based company specializing in prepaid card program design, implementation and management. Furthermore, M2 Global formed M2 Europe to manage the new company and strengthen its presence in Europe.
APPOINTMENTSVoiceCash Services GmbH & Co. KG, a prepaid and money transfer provider, appointed Mohamed Belarj to the position of CEO for the company's Middle East region. Belarj's experience includes a stint as a General Manager for MasterCard.
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