C-SAM and MasterCard have announced a joint initiative to offer a white-label mobile wallet solution based on C-SAM’s flexible Mobile Transaction Platform (MTP) integrated with MasterCard’s pre-paid platform, offers, PayPass Wallet Services and rich informational services.

“Our partnership with C-SAM offers telcos in the region a NFC solution that comes pre-packaged with prepaid instance issuance, TSM integration and coupon redemption at the point of sale and offers a path to a truly multichannel payment wallet through PayPass Wallet Services,” said Raj Dhamodharan, Regional Head of Mobile and Ecommerce for Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa for MasterCard.

On the web:

• Dreams of Mobile Payments Lead Telco to Try Banking in Canada - GigaOM
• VocaLink Launches New Product for Mobile Payment Services in UK - Banking Business Review
• Using Data Mining to Catch Suspected Financial Wrongdoers - Portals and Rails
• Mobile Payments for Vending Machines in China - Penn-Olson

On the wires:

• PriceTravel Selects Accertify to Protect Its Online Travel Platform Against Fraud
• eMerchantPay Partners With cashU Expanding Its Presence Across the MENA Region
• CSI globalVCard Mobile App Looks to Change the Way Mobile Online B2B Payments Are Made
• Heartland Payment Systems and Marathon National Bank of New York to Offer Business Clients Expanded Services

On the web:

• Subway Launches NFC payments in U.S. - NFCNews

On the wires:

• ROAM Data Takes Number One Market Position for Secure Mobile Phone Card Reader Solutions
• HSBC Sells Its Card and Retail Services Business in the US to Capital One
• NCR Launches Bill Pay / SIM Card Kiosk for Telecom Providers in Middle East and Africa
• Sutherland Global Services USA, Partners With ElectraCard Services (ECS)
• Launch of PlayStation Network Card Supported by InComm
• Hypercom UK and Spain Acquired by Spire Payments
• New Aite Group Report on the Role of VARs/ISVs in Merchant Acquiring Market

On the web:

• Google Offers Credit Card to Advertisers - New York Times
• EBay's PayPal Going Offline, Targets Big Retailers - Reuters
• Dwolla Now Processing $1M per Day, Milne Hints at What's Next (Video) - Silicon Prairie News
• Nokia: No Mobile Wallet Support in Current NFC Phones - NFC World
• U.S. Peer-to-Peer Lending Hits Record High for Seventh Month in a Row - NetBanker
• Mobile Payment Growth Comes Slower Than Expected - ClickZ

On the wires:

• Dynamics Inc. Reveals One of the Largest Patent Portfolios in Payments Industry
• ACH Alert Granted Patent for Fraud Protection System
• Banker’s Toolbox Launches WireFraud Manager to Combat Growth of Wire Transfer Fraud
• Net1 Signs Contract with Banamex to Provide Mobile Virtual Card Technology
• Shift4 and Digital Dining Work to Remove Cardholder Data From POS
• Network International Signs 3500 Merchant for Planet Payment's 'Pay in Your Currency' in UAE
• ADP ALINE Pay Offers New Payroll Solution Designed to Offer Compliance in 50 States

On the web:

• PayPal Enables Peer-to-Peer Payments on Android With NFC - AllThingsD
• Arab Financial Services (AFS) Signs Multi-year Fraud Detection Deal - Trade Arabia
• Bringing Trust Back to the Table: Adyen and Mobile Payments - Forbes
• Mobile Banking Company (Tyfone) Talks about its Flagship Memory Card - TMCnet

On the wires:

• iSend Expands Mobile Top-Up Service Reach with Tigo El Salvador and Tigo Guatemala
• MetraTech's Metanga Taps Scribe for Online Billing Integration for Azure ISVs
• Xsilva Systems Rebrands as LightSpeed, Opens APIs for Developers
• Fiserv Renews Debit Processing Contract with Heartland Financial
• New Aite Group Report on Card Security Risks

On the web:

• Justice Department Seeks OK for Pact With Visa, MasterCard - Wall Street Journal
• What is NFC, and why do we care? - Engadget
• SK C&C USA, InComm Will Let Merchants Offer Mobile Payments - Bloomberg
• Citi Says Many More Customers Were Affected by Data Theft - New York Times

On the wires:

• Fifth Third Processing Solutions Changes Name to Vantiv
• First Data Rebrands UK Acquiring Business to First Data Merchant Services
• Report Says Cash is King When it Comes to Credit Card Incentives
• VoiceTrust Expands With Mobile Payments in the Middle East
• Study Finds Mobile Check Deposit Top Reason to Switch Primary Banks
• ThreatMetrix Launches New “ThreatMetrix Fraud Facts”

On the wires:

• Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank and Mobibucks Launch Mobile Payment Service in UAE
• SecuTrans Selects Hypercom’s Optimum Systems for EMV Support in Canada
• Turkcell and Garanti Bank Team Up on Mobile-Based Cep-T ParaCard in Turkey
• Point Acquires Paybox Services in France (PDF)

On the web:

• Mobile Commerce Daily: Barclays Sets Eyes on U.S. Mobile Payments Market
• Fast Company: Another Thing NFC Could Change Forever: Product Warranties

On the wires:

• Ogone Brings Ethoca's Advanced Anti-Fraud Screening to 28,000 Merchants in Europe
• Mobey Forum Membership Increases as Industry Gets Serious About Mobile Payments
• Comviva Leads in Mobile Money and Recharge Solutions Across Growth Markets, With 92 Deployments Globally

On the web:

• ReadWriteWeb: Humble Barcode Scanning Could End Up Changing Your World
• AMEinfo.com: OneCard Enables its Users New Option to Buy Facebook Credits Directly
• NFC World: Turkcell launches commercial NFC payments with Yapi Kredi Bank (Turkey)
• Mobile Marketing Watch: 3 Reasons Mobile Payments Might Not Be Ready
• AllThingsD: Visa Says Mobile Payments Unveiling is Coming (This) Week
• telecoms.com: European Banks Issue Guidelines for NFC payments
• Wall Street Journal: Italy Telecom Operators Launch Joint Digital Payment Platform
• NYDailynews.com: Paper Purchase Receipts are Fast Fading from Daily Use
• Portals and Rails: United Front Needed to Prevent EMV Card Fraud from Picking Low-hanging Fruit

On the wires:

• BPC Banking Technologies Plays Key Role In The Development Of Russia's "Universal E-Card"
• ShopVisible and Pitney Bowes to Help U.S. Retailers Deliver Seamless International Purchasing and Shipping Experience
• TEC Announces New Skip Trace Optimization Service

On the web:

• AMEinfo: MasterCard and Aramex Help Boost E-Tail in the Middle East Economy
• Bank Info Security: New Wave of Wire Fraud Strikes Banks

MasterCard has released its latest "Insights" report on online shopping in emerging markets.

The results of the index show the gap in online shopping is closing in the Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa (APMEA) region; last year we saw a huge spike with India and Thailand jumping in terms of their increasing ease of shopping online, bringing them close to numbers for some of the more mature markets like China, Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia. While scores in India and Thailand have stabilized since last year, this year we see a jump in markets like China and Malaysia.

In his article titled 'Mobiles begin calling the shots on banking and payments', Trevor Lloyd-Jones writes for Business Intelligence Middle East about mobile payments efforts in many countries around the world and interviews Mi-Pay's CTO Simon Cavil. 'The use of mobiles for banking and payments is transforming lives and economies, especially in the unbanked and rural areas of many countries without branches and other traditional banking channels, such as ATMs, fixed line telephones and the Internet.' Some fascinating reading! Dave Birch did a podcast interview with Simon Cavil a year ago.