Prepaid cards

Prepaid card issuer Green Dot Corp. has launched a unit called Green Dot Shanghai Software Technology Co. in Shanghai, China.

First Data has acquired a San Diego-based digital card distribution firm called Transaction Wireless Inc. (TWI), a company which, paired with First Data's 2014 purchase of Gyft, rounds out the company's gift card strategy.

Gemalto has entered an agreement to provide payment-capable wristbands that will allow tap-and-ride capabilities and fitness readings for transit riders in Wuhan, China.

InComm, a provider of prepaid gift cards, is working with Credit Suisse Group AG and Deutsche Bank AG on a 2015 initial public offering or sale that may value it at as much as $3 billion, people with knowledge of the matter said.

The U.K.’s retail spending in the first three months of 2015 was 2.8% higher than the same period last year earlier. But despite the rosier outlook, consumers’ trust in the banking industry is yet to return, together with their desire to use credit cards.

Mobile wallet developers need only look to the prepaid card business to find a suitable partner, one that has already been down a path mobile has just started.

Despite the criticism, prepaid cards are hooked on celebrity branding, with marijuana icon Tommy Chong being the latest to lend his name to a card designed for legal marijuana purchases.

Convinced that consumers know the Brink's name and associate it with strong security, prepaid card provider NetSpend has launched a Brink's-branded prepaid card.

Fees for prepaid debit cards have shifted in the last year, with some transaction charges becoming less common while automated-teller-machine fees rose, according to a new study.

Brightwell is attempting to carve out a niche in the crowded prepaid card market by focusing on reducing the amount of cash carried at sea by ships' crew members.

Bento for Business has launched a prepaid commercial debit service for small-business owners to control how much money their employees spend on supplies or services.

More companies are testing ways to turn unwanted gift cards into valued forms of payment.

TD Bank is expanding its prepaid offerings to meet higher demand from upmarket consumers and to counter competition from rival issuers.

Payment solutions provider Global Payout has designed an electronic, closed-loop payment system to address the challenges faced by the medical and recreational marijuana industries.

TD Bank will launch TD Connect, its second prepaid card aimed at helping consumers budget their spending.

InComm has integrated Walmart's prepaid reload capabilities with Visa's ReadyLink card management system.

A lot of change in the payments business is unavoidable, such as EMV-chip cards and mobile commerce, so the high-tech card maker Stratos plans to replace its cards each year as part of a membership program.

As a bank customer, I am trained to avoid fees at all costs. I diligently maintain a minimum balance in my accounts, pay my credit card bills weeks ahead of time and plan my day around getting to a bank-owned ATM to avoid surcharges.

Brazil's embrace of digital commerce is providing juice for Santander's university smart-card program, which is growing by leaps and bounds as it lays the groundwork for the mobile channel.

American Express will certainly suffer when its 16-year cobranding deal with Costco ends in 2016, but its executives will spend the next year building up the card brand's digital payment products to create enough opportunities to ease the company's short-term pain and guarantee its long-term health.