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Fare cards for bike racks: As parking payment systems matured, giving travelers options that go beyond stuffing quarters into a meter, it was only a matter of time before new technology came to bike racks. San Francisco's 16th St. Mission BART station now has bike racks that lock and unlock from a traveler's fare card, TechCrunch reports. Though the bike racks are free to use, the vendor Bikeep requires users to first link their transit fare cards via smartphone as a way to pair each cyclist with a specific dock in the bike rack, the article says. Eventually, Bikeep plans to let users remotely unlock their bikes via an app, enabling bike owners to rent out their bikes when they would otherwise be sitting unused and locked up during the day. The planned app would also allow Bikeep to collect payments to reserve a specific bike rack spot in advance, according to TechCrunch.
A cameraman is silouetted as the logo of the Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition is projected on a screen during the Microsoft Digital Entertainment Anywhere Launch Event where the new Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 was announced at the Shrine Auditorium Tuesday October 12, 2004 in Los Angeles, Calif. The Media Center Edition 2005 allows you to save movies and television shows onto a hard drive including the usage of multiple tv tuners and ability to record HDTV.(Danny Moloshok/Bloomberg News)
DANNY MOLOSHOK
Broken Windows: Windows XP may have been retired back in 2014, but enough companies and consumers use the outdated operating system to make it appealing to fraudsters, particularly via the recent WannaCry ransomware crisis — something that should be a concern to banks whose ATMs still use Windows XP. This Tuesday's round of patches marks the second time in about a month that Microsoft has seen fit to provide a security patch to Windows XP devices, The Verge reports. Microsoft is citing an "elevated risk of cyberattacks by government organizations, sometimes referred to as nation-state actors, or other copycat organizations" as justification for the uncommon update, the article notes.
Boost gets a (financial) boost: The market for modernizing B-to-B payments is getting more competitive and attracting more investment. New York-based Boost Payment Solutions has just closed a round of funding from Mosaik Partners, with plans to use the new funds to expand business development, sales, product development and support, according to a company press release. Boost, which currently operates in the U.S., Caribbean, Canada, Europe and UAE, did not disclose the amount of the investment.
Fingerprinting flyers: Biometric technology is being used for everything from e-commerce authentication to theme park admission, and the Transportation Security Administration is getting in on the trend. The TSA has begun evaluating fingerprint authentication at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and Denver International Airport for passengers enrolled in the TSA Pre✓ program — meaning fingerprinted passengers are those who opted in and paid for the opportunity to get through security checkpoints faster. As part of the TSA Pre✓ application process, many passengers already provided their fingerprints. The TSA suggests this new process could eventually eliminate the need to present boarding passes and IDs at the checkpoint.
From the Web
Credit card losses set to climb industrywide: JPMorgan's Smith Reuters | Tue Jun 13, 2017 – U.S. credit card losses are likely to rise at JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) and across the industry, Gordon Smith, head of the bank's consumer businesses, said at a conference on Tuesday. Smith said the largest U.S. bank is being "surgical" in determining where to tighten credit standards but he added that lenders industrywide ought to be leaning toward stricter credit card lending standards rather than looser ones.
Alibaba’s ‘Jaw-Dropping’ Guidance Has Sent Analysts Into a Tizzy The Wall Street Journal | Tue Jun 13, 2017 – Wall Street is rushing to raise the bar for Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. The Chinese e-commerce titan last week predicted that its revenue will increase almost 50% in the 2018 fiscal year. Wall Street had previously estimated a revenue increase of about 35%, and the news that Alibaba expects to beat that target sent shares up 13% Thursday.
"Initial coin offerings" present dangers to investors, new challenge for U.S. regulators Reuters | Tue Jun 13, 2017 – The explosive growth of "initial coin offerings," a capital-raising tool that uses bitcoin and other crypto-currencies to fund projects that leverage technologies such as blockchain, has sparked concern among experts who warn that the lack of transparency around the issuance of such coins is a concern for both investors and regulators.
Amazon's latest Prime perk is debit rewards In a move that will certainly cause friction across the card payments industry, Amazon announced a new service called Amazon Prime Reload, which incentivizes newcomers to the program to load funds using a debit card or bank account with a 2% cash back on purchases.
How Fiserv's deal for Monitise gives it valuable footing in Europe This morning it was announced that Fiserv is to acquire UK mobile payments veteran Monitise for 70 million pounds ($88.72 million). This is quite a bargain considering that at its peak, Monitise was valued at around 2 billion pounds. But beyond the firesale price tag, what exactly does Fiserv get out of this?
Visa Ready expands to B-to-B software developers In its continuing expansion of the Visa Ready faster certification program, the card brand is targeting technology companies that develop software for Visa's business-to-business payments services.
As it rolls out dozens of new products to up its game in stablecoins and artificial intelligence, the payment company is also working with sellers wishing to expand activities involving non-U.S. corridors.
Jim Richards, who served as the bank's head of anti-money-laundering compliance, says the Federal Reserve is wrongfully denying him compensation that was designed to keep him employed at Wells Fargo.
New Jersey-based ConnectOne Bancorp received FDIC approval for its merger with First of Long Island Corp; lending-services fintech Oportun makes changes to its board of directors; Associated Banc-Corp's Steven Zandpour will succeed David Stein as head of consumer and business banking; and more in this week's banking news roundup.
The Trump administration says it will nominate Jonathan McKernan to serve as Treasury undersecretary for domestic finance. McKernan has already been nominated as the next director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
