Payments

WINSTON SALEM, N.C. — Allegacy FCU has streamlined its member feedback process and launched its "Mapping the Member Experience" program in 2011, reviewing each delivery channel and identifying where processes could be improved.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The word "collaboration" has long been a buzzword at credit unions, and one CUSO continues to see strong success by encouraging a unique mix of collaboration and competition that has helped CUs with another buzzword: innovation.

WEST JORDAN, Utah — Mountain America Credit Union has taken relationship building with its select employer groups to a new level with the creation of its Workplace Branching initiative.

JACKSON, Miss. — With access to quality financial services providers a particular issue in its area, $169 million-asset Hope Credit Union tapped mobile technology and shared branching to attract new members, to the tune of more than 4,000 new members in 10 months.

SPOKANE VALLEY, Wash. — Thanks to the introduction of a project-management tool that allows for two-way communication throughout its organization, $1.2 billion Numerica Credit Union has improved results in nearly every measurable category.

CHALRESTON, W.Va. — Pioneer West Virginia FCU has increased its credit card balances by more than 33% each of the last two years and is on pace to beat those results in 2013. The CU credits the jump to bringing the management of its portfolio in-house.

On Track Innovations' (OTI) contactless readers have received certification from the mobile wallet venture Isis, which recently launched its Near Field Communication-based payment system nationwide.

Web commerce provider Digital River will supply online payments technology for HarperCollins, which has recently redesigned websites for author C.S. Lewis.

Payment technology provider Yespay and retail services company PMC are partnering to build mobile payment products for retailers.

Rather than simply continuing to absorb the losses from account takeover attacks, institutions should be reevaluating the effectiveness of their authentication methods and increase security to better prevent fraud.

Electronic and social media payments provider Ribbon is building a person to person payment service, joining a market that's small yet fiercely competitive, analysts say, adding that Ribbon will be pressured to pair P2P with other products.

Airtag figures it has landed its mobile payment system in the right places at the right time, concentrating on the fast-food and grocery markets.

The wireless carriers' Isis mobile wallet venture is launching a new program to build merchant support for its technology.

A new multi-purse card called Coin recently caused a commotion as it sparked interest in the concept of a card with a dynamic magnetic stripe. But other companies have pitched similar concepts before.

Atos is studying potential acquisitions to help make the French computer-services supplier's Worldline unit Europe's biggest payments company.

Bank of East Asia will launch a mobile payment service for its credit card customers in Hong Kong early next year.

Andrea Scerch is the new president of DataCash, an e-commerce payments company MasterCard acquired in 2010. Scerch replaces Ajay Bhalla, who is taking on a larger role at MasterCard.

Electronic payments in Bangladesh may increase 20-fold over the next five years as mobile-phone transactions increase and the government pulls citizens into the formal financial system, MasterCard Inc. says.

Allied Wallet is developing new payment technology that allows users to identify themselves by using an add-on fingerprint sensor, and also plans to build biometric acceptance for merchants.

Google Wallet now offers a plastic Google Wallet debit card designed as an alternative to using a smartphone to pay at the point of sale.