May 8, 2019

Visa Inc. has completed its acquisition of Earthport, a company that provides cross border payment services to banks, money transfer services and business.

In a company press release, Visa said the acquisition will allow it to expand its current capabilities to enable businesses, governments and consumers worldwide to send and receive money through bank accounts.

Visa agreed in December to buy Earthport for about $250.6 million, but had to fend off a competing offer from Mastercard, until the latter company dropped out of the bidding war in March and acquired cross-border transfer company Transfast, instead.  Visa did not disclose the terms of its final agreement for Earthport.

The acquisition of Earthport enables Visa to reach the majority of the banked population around the world, and expands the use cases for its Visa Direct product to include funds disbursement, P2P transactions, cross border-payments, bill payment and marketplace payouts.

"Visa is modernizing the way we move by making it quicker, safer and easier to pay and be paid than ever before," Bill Sheley, head of global push payments at Visa, said in the release. "The acquisition of Earthport unleashes the power of Visa by taking us 'beyond the card' — empowering us to enable our clients to make payments through bank accounts around the world."

Topics: Card Brands, Mobile Banking, Mobile Payments, Money Transfer / P2P

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May 7, 2019

InComm Inc. an Atlanta-based payments firm, has announced the integration of its MyVanilla prepaid Mastercard with Fitbit Pay and Garmin Pay mobile wallet apps, as well as the addition of near-field communication to the company's retail network.

InComm officials said the company has been approached in the past about adding contactless payment capabilities to reduce friction required in customer transactions, and it sees the wearables and NFC additions as ways to encourage greater use of mobile wallets.

"InComm is constantly reviewing our technologies through a dedicated innovation team that works to identify whether these technologies translate to customer interest and adoption," Michael Parlotto, InComm vice president of emerging technologies, told Mobile Payments Today via email.

The company said its prepaid cards are now compatible with the  Fitbit Charge 3, Fitbit Iconic and Fitbit Versa as well as the Garmin D2 Delta, the Garmin Forerunner 645 and the Garmin vivoactive 3.

MyVanilla cardholders who store their account information on smartphones will be able to reload their card with funds simply by tapping their smartphone in a transaction at a compatible POS terminal.

Topics: Card Brands, Mobile Apps, Mobile/Digital Wallet, NFC, POS

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May 7, 2019

Mastercard and Edenred, a provider of payment solutions via mobile apps, online platforms and cards, have launched the first regional test of biometric card technology in Mexico, according to a press release.

The test, which is focused on state benefits programs, features an embedded fingerprint sensor that can verify the cardholder's identity for in-store purchases.

The biometric features work on any credit, debit or prepaid Mastercard and work with existing EMV terminals without the need for major hardware or software upgrades by the merchant.

"This trial allows Mastercard and Edenred to support financial inclusion and implement new technology in partnership with the Mexican state social welfare agency in Sonora, demonstrating the true value of private-public partnerships in delivering meaningful programs," Jorge Noguera, president of Mastercard Mexico and Central America, said in the release.

"The administration for Sonora State is committed to technological innovation and the introduction of the biometric card for social benefits programs reflects this commitment," said Manuel Puebla Espinosa de los Monteros, Secretary of Social Development in Sonora.

Topics: Card Brands, Region: Americas, Security

Companies: MasterCard

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