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Welcome to the new PaymentsSource Morning Briefing, delivered daily with the information you need to start your day, including top headlines from PaymentsSource and around the Web. In today's briefing:
Disney reinvents its 'Magic Band': Before the term "wearable" became mainstream in technology circles, Disney's Magic Band was one of the model's early successes, replacing the amusement parks' hotel keys, theme park tickets and stored-value cards with a fashionable wristband that could perform the same functions. It was successful enough to inspire wearable technology from Apple, and is now getting a second life at Disney. Believe Vacations reports Disney's Magic Band is being redesigned with a puck design that can be popped out of the bracelet. That enables it to be used with other accessories such as lanyards and keychains. The idea behind the redesign is to make the bands more personalized, according to Believe Vacations.
Vehicles pass the entrance to the Walt Disney World theme park and resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, U.S., on Monday, Aug. 31, 2009. Walt Disney Co. said it agreed to buy Marvel Entertainment Inc. for about $4 billion in a stock and cash transaction, gaining comic book characters including Iron Man, Spider-Man and Captain America. Photographer: Matt Stroshane/Bloomberg
Matt Stroshane/Bloomberg
Cash hangs on in Canada: While India dramatically alters its currency policy and a move to eliminate some paper money gains steam in Australia, cash is still popular in Canada, even though it has declined 20% in the past five years, according to the Finextra, which cited research from the Canadian Payment Methods and Trends Report. As the same time, contactless payments grew 70% in 2015 alone. Checks are on the decline, falling 25% during the past five years.
Samsung's wearables score one for interoperability: Samsung Pay has been limited to Samsung devices, but the company's new wearable technology is loosening some of those restrictions. 9to5Google reports the the Gear S3 Classic and Gear S3 Frontier smartwatches will support Samsung Pay mobile payments both with and without a paired Samsung smartphone—pairing the devices with any modern Android smartphone will allow Samsung Pay to work. The range of contactless payments technology these watches will support is still unclear, according to 9to5Google.
Scottish Bitcoin ATM: Despite the regulatory uncertainty surrounding virtual currency, Bitcoin ATMs have usually been able to gain traction. Edinburgh will get its first Bitcoin ATM this week, when AlphaVend deploys a terminal inside the Foreign Exchange offices, reports EconoTimes. Consumers can buy the digital currency through the ATM as well as all of the foreign currencies supported by the Foreign Exchange office. Consumers can buy in increments of about $8 to $1,300.
Dunkin' Donuts emphasizes its growing rewards program Business Insider • B.I. Intelligence This story was delivered to BI Intelligence "Payments Briefing" subscribers. To learn more and subscribe, please click here. This week, Dunkin’ Donuts is holding Perks Week as part of a move to "honor and reward" its most loyal customers. During the promotion,...
Amazon opens Prime shipping to all merchants Business Insider • B.I. Intelligence This story was delivered to BI Intelligence "E-Commerce Briefing" subscribers. To learn more and subscribe, please click here. Amazon's new Seller Fulfilled Prime program allows third-party merchants to make inventory eligible for Prime two-day shipping without using Fulfillment by Amazon, letting vetted...
The chip card migration needs more speed and consistency Despite the breakneck speed of technological advances, however, the United States has been slow to evolve its security practices compared with other countries, many of which began adopting EMV more than a decade ago.
Contactless pay for donations expands in Australia Charitable giving has long been a staple of contactless payment technology, and an Australian payments provider hopes reach donors with a contactless countertop solution that accepts consumer charity donations will less staffing and administration needs.
Australian telco brews coffee cup payments Australian telecom firm Optus has added a tap-and-pay coffee cup to its expanding array of wearables leveraging Near Field Communication that link to its mobile payments app.
The regulator and conservator of two influential loan buyers with government ties is considering digital currency's increased use in qualifying borrowers.
The Texas attorney general has accused WEX Bank of "debanking" a firearm supplier, but the Maine-based bank said it does not discriminate against any industry.
Der Spiegel and other European publications say the company continued to serve porn sites and money launderers even after regulators cracked down on it.
Regulators proposed a rule to replace the 2% enhanced supplementary leverage ratio with a capital charge equal to half of a bank's global systemically important bank surcharge. Low-risk assets will continue to count toward leverage requirements under the proposal.
