Prepaid cards

Payments innovation comes quickly, and often from outside the banking industry, leading Associated Bank to create a special procedure to monitor the tech market and customer preferences.

Pock.io is allowing consumers in the U.K. to buy gift cards from large merchants such as Apple by using Bitcoin and other digital currencies.

UniRush, the prepaid card marketer co-founded by hip hop mogul Russell Simmons, has launched a portfolio of new designs for its RushCards as part of a broader marketing and branding strategy.

Visa has developed a new service that aims to reduce prepaid card fraud.

JPMorgan Chase is the first bank to adopt a new, standardized disclosure box for its prepaid cards that was developed by Pew Charitable Trusts.

The prepaid card company InComm and online payment service provider Money Online (MOL) plan to debut point-of-sale-activated prepaid cards in Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.

Orange has launched its Orange Cash mobile contactless payments system this week in two French cities.

JetPay Card Services has started a soft launch of a general purpose reloadable prepaid card, the first venture under a new leader in its young prepaid division.

Payment cards can sometimes do more than just make purchases. Some pack in odd functions; others are high-tech takes on the aging magnetic-stripe card.

Green Dot Corp. is making investments to expand its existing relationships and create new partnerships to get its products in front of consumers. These moves are designed to both address the rising competition in the prepaid industry and diversify its operations as a financial institution.

Payroll cards have gotten a lot of bad press over the past year, but the product is nevertheless a bright opportunity, says Rick Savard, CEO of UniRush, the company behind the RushCard prepaid cards.

Shares in prepaid card issuer Green Dot tumbled today amid fears that the firm would need to keep spending heavily to stave off new competitors, such as T-Mobile.

JPMorgan Chase has partnered with electronic payment processor ElectraCard Services (ECS) and the University Students Community Organization (UNISCOO) to offer MasterCard prepaid cards to its customers in Kenya.

Total System Services CEO Phil Tomlinson took time out from discussing record revenue during the payments processor's Jan. 28th earnings call to proclaim his company safe from the slate of recent data breaches that have afflicted Target and other retailers.

Prepaid and electronic wallet provider Global Payout will enable clients to transfer funds to China UnionPay cardholders.

The U.S. Postal Service should consider fixing its massive budget shortfall by offering financial products such as debit cards, remittances and loans to underbanked consumers, according to a paper issued today by the agency's Office of the Inspector General.

Payments processor Rev Worldwide and UnionPay International, a subsidiary of China UnionPay, have entered into a partnership to handle prepaid card issuance.

Mobile carriers are becoming more heavily involved in the payments world. Many are spearheading tests and full deployments of mobile wallets throughout the world, and some like T-Mobile are launching prepaid cards as well.

Whereas banks have long struggled to migrate financial relationships onto mobile devices and to attract the underserved, carriers like T-Mobile come into the market with a distinct advantage.

T-Mobile is launching a prepaid card, aiming to use mobile account access as a selling point to attract underbanked consumers.