Travelex has announced availability of “America’s first prepaid foreign ‘currency cards’ available in Euros and British Pounds that utilizes chip & PIN technology.” Travelex’s new Chip & PIN Cash Passport™ MasterCard provides Americans traveling abroad with technological compatibility with overseas merchants that have migrated towards chip-based transactions. The card will also include a traditional magnetic stripe, for those merchants not yet using Chip & PIN technology.

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MasterCard this morning has announced financial results for the third quarter 2010. The company reported gross dollar volume increased 8.5% on a local currency basis to $685 billion, cross border volumes increased 15.4% and processed transactions increased 0.6% compared to the same period in 2009, to 5.8 billion. “Consumers and businesses around the world continue to recognize the benefits of electronic payments and MasterCard remains at the heart of this evolution,” said Ajay Banga, MasterCard president and chief executive officer. “Our year-to-date net income is up over 22%, aided by strong volume growth from markets outside of the U.S.” Press…

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Headline News is compiled by Glenbrook Partners: NACHA, AFP, APA Launch Electronic Payroll Coalition Cambridge Trust Joins the Secure Vault Payments Network MasterCard Partners with Interpol Initiative to Prevent the Illegal Sale of Prescription Drugs and Medication Online MoneyGram and Ceridian Announce Relationship for Processing Global Prepaid Money Transfers Bank of Ireland Extends Processing Agreement With TSYS New York Times: Ajay Banga, New MasterCard Chief, Wages ‘War on Cash’ American Banker: Cost Just One Hurdle in U.S. for Interactive Cards Portals and Rails: Fighting back – Good news on the law enforcement front European Central Bank: The Single Euro Payments…

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Ixaris has announced the launch of Ixaris Opn (pronounced “open”), an application development platform that helps developers create payment applications for financial institutions and specialized market segments. With a long history of partnering with global payment networks such as Visa, MasterCard and Swift, Ixaris will offer financial institutions the means to offer payment services through a publicly-accessible application development and operating platform. Ixaris Opn avoids cumbersome integration with banks’ own IT systems, thereby freeing them to bring new payment services to market. The development community can use the platform to create customized payment apps that can incorporate mainstream payment networks…

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Obopay Introduces New iPhone Application – Now Sending Money and Staying Connected to Family is Easier Than Ever – Obopay announced that its Obopay Mobile Payments application for the iPhone will be available from the Apple App Store beginning today. The free download will enable iPhone users to send money to friends and family more quickly and easier than ever with Obopay’s application.

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BMO Bank of Montreal and Research In Motion, MasterCard Canada is bringing mobile payments to BlackBerry smartphones through its MasterCard(R) PayPass(TM) ‘tap and go’ contactless payment technology. The four-month trial brings contactless payments via mobile devices a step closer to Canadians.

In this trial, participants will use PayPass(TM) Mobile Tag-equipped BlackBerry smartphones to make secure purchases at any of the 8,500 merchant locations in Canada that accept MasterCard PayPass.

For the first time, the mobile payment will integrate with the device, with a confirmation email of each transaction sent to the BlackBerry smartphone, including purchase details such as the amount, retailer and date of transaction.

How it Works

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MasterCard today announced the introduction of the MasterCard Mobile Payments Gateway, a mobile payments processing platform that enables financial institutions and mobile network operators to deliver end-to-end mobile payments solutions through the MasterCard Worldwide Network.

Itau Unibanco and Redecard, along with mobile network operator Vivo, will be the first to use the MasterCard Mobile Payments Gateway to deliver mobile payment solutions to the banks’ customers in Brazil. The service will give consumers the ability to use their phone as a mobile wallet and link their existing credit, debit or prepaid MasterCard or Maestro card accounts to their mobile phone to fund mobile-initiated payments.

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