Prepaid cards

Corporate credit cards have long been favored for expenses, but are not appropriate for all situations and are not available to all employers and employees. Just as prepaid cards have brought more of the unbanked into the financial system, stored-value cards could also push past the limitations on credit card-based expense systems.

Green Dot Corp. plans to start offering credit lines to its customers, a move that likely foreshadows how new regulations will reshape the prepaid card industry.

Green Dot reported a net loss in the fourth quarter as it spent money to diversify beyond its flagship prepaid card business.

Banks partnering with prepaid card providers face the potential of higher deposit insurance fees and other ramifications from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. classifying accounts as "brokered."

MasterCard's Antonio Corro is building a new payments system in Myanmar, a country that's springing to economic life after decades of military turmoil and political unrest.

Mobile payment and commerce provider Mozido LLC is bringing on a former MasterCard executive as its president for global markets.

The Starbucks gift card is the foundation the coffee chain's mobile and rewards strategy, and for good reason. In 2013, one in eight Americans received a Starbucks gift card as a holiday gift. In 2014, it was one in seven.

Lower gas prices are prompting more card spending on restaurants, hotels and other discretionary categories, according to Richard Davis, U.S. Bancorp's chairman, president and CEO.

Citigroup Inc. will exit some businesses within its institutional clients group, including hedge-fund administration and prepaid cards.

Banks in Europe are selling digital gift cards alongside traditional bank accounts, allowing online consumers to buy credit for Facebook, Nintendo, Spotify and other content providers.

The uses for prepaid cards are expanding, creating fresh opportunities for financial institutions that may have earlier dismissed the product as a tool for the unbanked, said Michael Fiore, who becomes MasterCard's group executive of global prepaid solutions on Jan. 15.

UniRush is feeding its appetite for the payroll card business by acquiring rapid! PayCard from WEX.

The extended leave of Starbucks' chief operating officer, Troy Alstead, could indicate that last year's creation of the COO post has succeeded in furthering the coffee chain's mobile payments initiatives.

Starbucks Corp. sold about 16% more gift cards in the U.S. during the 2014 holiday season as shoppers increasingly defaulted to the fail-safe option of treating their loved ones to lattes and Frappuccinos.

Prepaid card issuer Green Dot has promoted Kuan Archer to become its chief operating officer.

2014 was a big year for payments. Disruption came from within the financial services industry and from outsiders like Apple and Walmart. Mainstream payment companies had to respond to these new competitors as well as adapt to fresh attention from regulators and fraudsters.

A Canadian startup says it will enable customers to swap their holdings between gold bullion and bitcoins, and it plans an initial public offering next year.

The prepaid card and payments company Blackhawk Network is the new third-party gift card distributor for Hyatt Hotels and Resorts.

Green Dot Corp. will continue to sell its prepaid cards in Walmart stores, which are easily its largest distribution channel, through the end of 2015.

PayPal has agreed to distribute CashStar digital gift cards through the eBay marketplace and the PayPal Digital Gifts store.