Industry News

Kona I, a South-Korea-based smart card and technology platform, has received a Letter of Approval from Mastercard for biometric plastic (PVC) payment cards built on the Idex Pay platform, allowing the issuance and deployment of biometric cards globally. Idex Pay is provided by Kona says annual production capacity is 60+ million cards.

CellPoint Digital has launched its Payment Orchestration Platform to help airlines implement progressive payment strategies. CellPoint processes $8 billion in travel payments and 7.9 million transaction per hour. Client travel merchants can adopt Offer-Order-Settle-Deliver (OOSD), which facilitates the sale of tickets, bundles, and ancillary services.

Mastercard has joined with Feedzai, a provider of financial crime prevention technologies, to help banks identify and stop scams occurring at any point from account opening to when a transaction is made. The companies will expedite the deployment of Mastercard’s Consumer Fraud Risk (CFR) services in key markets by leveraging Feedzai’s fraud platform, which currently operates in over 90 countries. In account-to-account payments, CFR provides both the sending and the receiving financial institution with intelligence to help detect and prevent scams in real time. Since it went live in the UK in 2023, data shows that the value of authorized push payment scams has been reduced by over 12%.

Turkish Airlines has partnered with Advanzia Bank to launch a Miles&Smiles Mastercard Gold in Germany. Cardholders pay an 8 euro monthly fee to earn one Mile for every two euros spent on everyday purchases. Miles can be redeemed for Turkish Airlines and Star Alliance award tickets, cabin upgrades, extra baggage allowance, as well as purchases at Shopandmiles.com. Cardholders also get comprehensive travel insurance as well as zero foreign exchange and ATM fees.

Red Maple, a company that specializes in expanding the capabilities of Microsoft Dynamics 365, has released a Subscription Payments product that is built to integrate with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations and Business Central. It manages recurring payments, billing, and customer subscriptions. New features include attaching payments directly to contracts for better tracking and compliance.

E& Enterprise, a company that helps governments and large businesses digitize their operations, has signed a three-year partnership that will gives businesses in the UAE access to PayPal's wallet. The intent is to expand markets and drive cross-border commerce.

Payrails will provide payment processing support to Flix, which operates bus and train services in 40+ countries under the FlixBus, FlixTrain, Kamil Koc and Greyhound brands. Last year, 81 million passengers used Flix for travel. Payrails operates in Europe, North America and Turkey.

The Board of Directors of Zwipe AS has decided to file for bankruptcy with the Oslo district court, Norway. The company says that despite extensive efforts to restructure operations and secure continued business activities, it has not been possible to achieve a financially sustainable solution. Zwipe provides a battery-free open platform for a biometric system on an access control or payment card.

InComm Payments, a global payments technology provider, has introduced Mastercard “Give Hope” prepaid cards to support the American Red Cross. For each card purchased on www.mastercardgiftcard.com, InComm will donate $2 to American Red Cross disaster relief. Cards are issued by Suton Bank.

Points4Purpose has expanded its card-based cash back rewards platform for micro donations, called CommunityRewards, to include purchases from Coach, Bergdorf Goodman, Bloomingdale's, Neiman Marcus, Gap and other retailers willing to make cashback rewards to linked Visa or MasterCard cards. Cardholders can donate a portion of that reward for a micro donation to a local charity of their choice. Currently operating in the Miami area, the model can be used across the US.

Payoneer, a financial technology company for small and midsize businesses (SMBs), has received the regulatory approvals in China required to complete its previously announced acquisition of a licensed China-based payment service provider. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2025.

One Inc., a digital payments network for the insurance industry, reports revenue growth of 55%, 87 new agreements and $100 billion processed in its first year of doing business. The platform is used by 270 insurance carriers, including 10 of the top 15 in the US.

Revenues for the first quarter were $1,047.3, up 9% million. Operating income of $122.7 million were up 26%. For the full year, revenues of $3,989.8 million were up 8%. Operating income of $503.2 million was up 16%.

Corpay, provider of a suite of payment products and services used by corporations, has launched Multi-Currency Accounts to manage foreign bank accounts. Business owners can receive and pay out various foreign currencies through dedicated accounts in their own names, with a unique account assigned to each currency. Initially Corpay is supporting 12 currencies.

dLocal, a cross-border payment platform, has partnered with AZA Finance for cross selling of each others' services. AZA, a fintech specializing in payments and foreign exchange in Africa, operates a network of regional licenses. It will provide dLocal's merchants with foreign exchange conversion and additional payout corridors. AZA's presence is particularly strong in Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Ghana, Egypt, Cameroon and Zambia. Both companies focus on financial inclusion in emerging markets

Visa has launched Tap to Add Card in Ukraine, allowing cardholders to add Visa contactless cards to digital wallets by tapping on their mobile device, citing manual entry as a common source of errors and a vulnerability to fraud. Tapping generates a unique, one-time code validated by Visa's Chip Authenticate service.

Trustly, a global provider of open banking services, has partnered with Kivra to handle automatic payments in Sweden. Kivra is a Sweden-based digital mailbox. Users register for direct debits using a BankID confirmation, which instantly activates Autogiro, a direct debit service for collecting krona-denominated payments from a bank account in Sweden. Autogiro is similar to SEPA Direct Debit in the Eurozone.

CheckIssuing.com has launched a B2B platform for online check printing and mailing services for businesses in the US. The company offers USPS's National Change of Address and Coding Accuracy Systems Software, as well as Intelligent Mail barcode USPS tracking, which allows businesses to mail checks via USPS the same day they process them.

CheckIssuing.com has launched a B2B platform for online check printing and mailing services for businesses in the US. The company offers USPS's National Change of Address and Coding Accuracy Systems Software, as well as Intelligent Mail barcode USPS tracking, which allows businesses to mail checks via USPS the same day they process them.

Apex Fintech Solutions, a fintech that provides access to online investing, has collaborated with Ramp, best known as a provider of commercial cards and program management to US businesses, to offer the Ramp Investment Account. The account is a Treasury offering that lets businesses invest their extra cash in high-yield money market funds. Apex is the brokerage firm. To start, customers will be able to invest in the Invesco Premier U.S. Government Money portfolio, a fund that invests in short-term, high-credit-quality money market instruments.

The merger between Discover Financial Services and Capital One Financial, originally expected to close on February 19 2025, may be delayed until May 19. Three lawsuits related to the merger were filed in January, arguing that the acquisition would harm consumers by giving them fewer options, particularly low-income borrowers. Lawyers representing stockholders claimed that the joint proxy statement/prospectus contained certain disclosure deficiencies and/or incomplete information. In a filing with the SEC on February 10, Discover and Capital One stated that they are adding disclosures to previous proxy statements "to minimize the costs, risks and uncertainties inherent in litigation, and without admitting any liability or wrongdoing."

P2P, a digital finance platform designed for Brazilians living in the US, has partnered with Mbanq for embedded finance. Mbanq offers digital financial services on a software as a service basis via a white label app. It also provides regulatory expertise.

Second quarter revenue of $73.7 million increased 12.8% YOY to $73.7 million, driven by 16% YOY growth in subscription and transaction revenue. Total dollar volumes of transactions were $843.1 million, an increase of 15.5% compared to second quarter of fiscal year 2024. Transaction volume totaled 299.8 million, an increase of 4.6% compared to 286.7 million.

Revenue from continuing operations was $61.7 million, an increase of 12.1% over the prior year's first quarter. Net income from continuing operations was $3.3 million, compared to net loss from continuing operations of $4.2 million in the prior year's first quarter.

Interest income grew 42%, driven primarily by growth in loans held for investment, which increased approximately 30%, and to a lesser extent by the pricing initiatives implemented in prior periods. Network revenue grew 33%.