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Banks In Europe, Asia and Canada are seeking to learn more about decoupled debit,
says Mike Grossman, CEO of San Mateo, Calif.- based Tempo Payments Inc.
Decoupled debit cards can deduct funds from a checking account at an institution other than the one that issues the card. For now, however, Tempo is working with U.S.
banks, notably HSBC's U.S. operations, to connect Tempo payments to MasterCard
Worldwide's debit network, Grossman says. "We have been working on [that] for a year," Grossman says.
Tempo launched in 2003 as Debitman Card Inc., set out to create its own payment network to enable merchants to settle transactions inexpensively
by using the automated clearinghouse network instead of payment card networks.
About a year ago, Tempo discarded that goal and decided to concentrate on connecting
its decoupled debit system to the MasterCard network, Grossman says. "We came to the conclusion that building our own network was going to take too long and
[use] too much money," he says.
Revolution Money, a St. Petersburg, Fla.-based unit of Revolution Card, also has attempted to build a payment network that bypasses the card brand's systems. Grossman says Revolution's card scheme resembles Tempo's original business
model. In February, Revolution Card said it signed a deal with Fifth Third Bank Processing Solutions to route transactions from merchants to Revolution Money.
