ItzCash Card Pvt. Ltd. has become India's first multiservice prepaid company to receive a license from the country’s central bank to operate a mobile wallet, a spokesperson for the Mumbai-based company tells PaymentsSource.

Looking to boost resources to meet an expected spike in demand for mobile financial services, ClairMail announced a $13.9 million infusion from VCs including Investor Growth Capital (IGC), a Stockholm firm that specializes in growth-stage tech firms.

The National Bank of Rwanda has set guidelines for mobile-phone payment systems in that country, according to a notice on the institution’s website.

Jack Henry & Associates Inc.'s ProfitStars division has begun offering Mitek Systems Inc.'s mobile remote-deposit capture software, pairing it with its own Alogent Mobile Remote Deposit system.

Research In Motion Ltd. is expanding the payment capabilities of its BlackBerry smartphones.

NCR Corp. said Wednesday that it is providing a mobile banking system to customers of Hancock Holding Co.'s Hancock Bank.

Masabi Ltd. has secured $2 million from m8 Capital, a United Kingdom-based mobile-technology investment company, to aid in the global rollout of a barcode-based mobile application designed to enable consumers to purchase train tickets using their mobile phones from any location, London-based Masabi announced on Sept. 28.

Obopay Inc. is trying to simplify its payments system with text messages.

Suppose your bank's retail customer wants to use a mobile phone to accept credit cards at a garage sale she's planning. MasterCard Inc. has an app for that.

More consumers are using mobile phones to pay bills, but specifically how they are doing so requires more study, according Fiserv Inc., which identified the gap in information earlier this year when it polled 2,000 households as part of the technology company’s 2010 Billing Household online survey (see story).

Qatar National Bank Ltd. has launched the first mobile-to-mobile funds-transfer service in Qatar, the Doha-based bank announced Sept. 22.

Bharti Airtel Ltd. has become the first mobile operator in India to receive a license from the Reserve Bank of India to offer mobile-payment services, the New Delhi-based company announced Sept. 22.

A recent partnership between Western Union Co. and Toronto, Canada-based electronic-wallet provider EnStream LP will enable Canadian consumers to send funds both domestically and internationally using their mobile phones. The companies plan to launch a pilot in Canada in December.

PayMate India Pvt. Ltd. has signed an agreement with Bank of Ceylon to launch mobile payment and banking services in Sri Lanka, the Mumbai-based mobile-payments provider announced last week.

Bling Nation Ltd. soon will tap in to VeriFone Systems Inc.’s vast reseller network to extend point-of sale acceptance of Bling’s rewards-based contactless BlingTags, the companies announced Sept. 21. The deal also will help extend acceptance of PayPal, traditionally an online payment service, to brick-and-mortar retailers nationally.

China's largest mobile-network operator China Mobile is suspending its project involving an RFID-SIM, a mobile-payment technology based on the 2.4GHz standard for contactless payment, local media in China reported last week.

Mobile-payments firm RegaloCard LLC is bringing its card-based funds-transfer service to an additional 4,000 U.S. retail locations through a distribution agreement with iPayStation LLC, the companies announced Sept. 20.

First Data Corp.’s recently announced partnership with a South Korea-based technology company will help strengthen the transaction processor’s ability to support contactless payments in advance of Near Field Communication-enabled mobile payments, according to a First Data executive.

The Central Bank of Sri Lanka is soliciting public comment on guidelines it has drafted for mobile-payment systems, an official from the bank tells PaymentsSource.The bank’s director of payments and settlements is accepting comments through Oct. 18, according to the official. “Our aim is to ensure safety and effectiveness of mobile-payment schemes,” he says. Under the draft guidelines, the central bank will allow mobile payments in Sri Lanka only through licensed banks, registered finance companies and custodian account-based systems operated by nonbank service providers. Banks and financial institutions would be allowed to offer mobile-payments services to their accountholders, which would allow customers to operate their accounts via their mobile phone. Under the custodian account-based system, mobile operators may open e-money accounts for customers and issue e-money in exchange for actual money from customers, according to the guidelines.The central bank would allow mobile-payment services to be conducted only in Sri Lanka rupees and only for domestic transactions, and providers must route all foreign inward remittances to mobile accounts through the custodian banks and credit them in rupees. The draft rules also would require mobile-payments providers to report any suspicious transactions based on the guidelines of the central bank’s Financial Intelligence Unit. The draft also requires providers to use security measures to prevent criminal activity while using Near Field Communication-based mobile-payment systems.

With interest in mobile payments growing, First Data Corp. and South Korea-based SK C&C Co. Ltd. reportedly plan to collaborate to enable consumers in the United States, Canada and Mexico to use their mobile phones in place of physical wallets to initiate payment.