News

Europe
Contactless Card Use in UK Reach Record Highs
April 30, 2014

UK contactless card transactions reached a record high in March, more than 200 percent from a year earlier.

Alternative Finances
MTN Partners with Tele 10 to Create Mobile Payments Service
April 30, 2014

MTN partnered with Tele10 to add a TV payment service to its payments options.

International
Australian Bank Launches Cardless ATM Transactions
April 30, 2014

Commonwealth Bank launched an ATM system where customers can withdraw cash just by using their mobile device.

Alternative Finances
‘Dark Wallet’ for Bitcoin Launches This Week
April 30, 2014

The new eWallet will encrypt bitcoins after a purchase so no one can trace where and who it came from.

MIT’s Bitcoin Give-Away
April 30, 2014

In what probably has to be the strangest experiment to come out of MIT in 2014, the Bitcoin Project will give every MIT student $100 dollars in bitcoin to see what they will do with the digital currency if everyone in their academic community has...

Europe
20M British Banking Customers Waiting on mPay Access
April 30, 2014

mPay, which allows users to send up to £250 a day on their mobile phones using only phone numbers and without disclosing banking details, is already available to 30 million British Customers–those who bank with Barclays, Bank of Scotland, Halifax, HSBC, Lloyds, Santander or TSB. Get the...

Merchant Innovation
PayPal Volume, Registered Accounts Increase
April 30, 2014

Despite a very active first quarter of 2014 that included, among other things, a very public fight with investor Carl Icahn over the future of PayPal, eBay's Q1 earning came in ahead of analyst predictions. PayPal also enjoyed a very strong Q 1, with total...

International
Neiman Marcus Can’t Persuade Chinese Customers To Pay Full Price
April 30, 2014

After purchasing a 44 percent stake nearly three years ago for a reported $28 million, Neiman Marcus is pulling out of China’s Glamor Sales Ltd. The Chinese company, which made a name for itself selling high-end fashions at a discount, was supposed to function as...

Merchant Innovation
Intuit Considering Mobile-Finance App Check Purchase of $350M
April 30, 2014

According to sources familiar with the situation, Intuit is currently in talks to purchase Check, a Mint-like mobile-finance app that allows users to track and pay bills. The service currently has 10 million users and Intuit is looking reportedly looking to scoop the company up...