Prepaid cards

While student-only payment methods might cater to an audience with a high turnover rate, that audience is filled with early adopters that merchants want to attract.

Google Wallet users can now redeem and manage their gift cards through technology from the prepaid gift card provider Blackhawk Network.

As Stockpile prepares to launch its digital gift card for stock purchases, it is lining up partnerships with banks and credit unions to host its software.

Nigeria will work with MasterCard Inc. to deploy a new national identity card with a payment option to help broaden access to financial services in Africa's largest economy, President Goodluck Jonathan said.

Payza, a payment processor and digital wallet provider based in London, has launched an eGift product for customers in the United States.

Pockio, a U.K.-based company that re-sells gift cards for cryptocurrency, has expanded the number of brands it offers from 30 to 160 in only a couple of months.

HyperWallet Systems Inc. now offers companies in Nigeria the ability to send funds to consumers via direct-to-bank money transfers and reloadable prepaid debit cards.

Online payment provider paysafecard is offering its customers a plastic prepaid MasterCard card to extend the company's e-commerce offering into the physical retail world.

PayRange, a distribution deal with Vistar, is launching a Bluetooth device through that lets laundry machines, vending machines and parking meters accept payments through the consumer's wireless connection.

Square recently ended a plastic card project out of concerns it would cause friction with the payment company's financial partners, according to Fast Company.

Wirecard AG's card solutions business will issue a MasterCard for Pockit, a provider of prepaid cards.

Merchants are leveraging their digital gift card platforms for quick digital promotions.

Wipit has updated its mobile application to allow consumers to make payments by displaying a bar code at the point of sale.

Amazon's new mobile wallet can't make payments, but it benefits from working with Blackhawk Network to connect to gift and loyalty cards from Blackhawk merchants.

Green Dot Corp. will eliminate its MoneyPak reload cards, which have been targeted by scammers, and instead will let consumers reload prepaid accounts at the point of sale, its top executive said this week.

SCVNGR's LevelUp is launching a gift card program to allow merchants to sell physical cards in-store and digital cards through the company's mobile wallet app.

Dan Henry, who became NetSpend's CEO in 2008 and leaves at the end of July, plans to look beyond the prepaid world after his final day on the job.

First Data Corp. has agreed to buy Gyft Inc., which sells digital gift cards, in a move to advance the Atlanta-based processor's mobile payment offerings.

Transport for London, the government agency in charge of city's rail and bus systems, plans to introduce contactless payments for rail customers in mid-September.

The state of California will no longer be able to deposit child support payments onto prepaid accounts that lack certain consumer protections, under a law signed July 23 by Gov. Jerry Brown.