Banking
Mobile Payments

iZettle launches m-payments service in Mexico ... and IZettle gets a big strategic investment from Banco Santander

Burgess COMMENTARY
A comment on the LinkedIn thread:

There is a lot going on in the mobile payments space. There is amazing progress with the technology that is enabling all sorts of impressive innovation. There is also a less attractive side to what is going on. When I see that a big banking institution has made a 'strategic investment' in support of a technology and potentially disruptive innovation, I see problems. In very broad brush terms, we, the public, have little or no idea what is going on inside the large international banks, but we do know that these institutions have been at the center of the biggest socio-economic disruption in my life-time. I have followed little bits of the banking sector over a good number of years, and have watched systemic disruption of good initiatives so that the banks and the financial community could profit from a new 'asset class'. The case of microfinance is an example. I am appalled at the idea that the big banks and capital markets are able to extract significant returns on capital by helping to fund the microfinance sector. The value proposition of microfinance is completely ruined by the introduction of capital market metrics and focus on money profit rather than social impact. I have no idea what role Banco Santander has had in the evolution of the Spanish economy ... but my guess is that the bank was a big part of the problem, though it is virtually impossible to hold them accountable because the data needed is not easy to compile in a useful way. I find it incomprehensible that money is such a huge constraint on progress. We have technology that is better than at any time in history. We have mode educated people than at any time in history. Yet we have a global economy that is in a funk. Why is this? The money based monetary economy has failed, yet the banks and those with control over money don't seem to get it that the global economy and society could be in a better place ... not 2% better but maybe 100% better. What is possible is exciting. What powerful institutions will allow to get implemented for the benefit of society is another matter. Peter Burgess TrueValueMetrics

http://www.thepaypers.com/news/article.aspx?cid=751574&goback=%2Egde_2703652_member_252184988 iZettle launches m-payments service in Mexico Wednesday 19 June 2013 | 11:44 AM CET Swedish social payments start-up iZettle has made its mobile payments service available in Mexico as a result of the Swedish company’s global partnership with Banco Santander, a Spanish financial institution. For the Mexican market, iZettle has also launched a new mini chip and Magstripe card reader for Apple or Android phones and tablets, that allows small businesses to accept both chip card and magnetic stripe card payments. iZettle provides hardware and software that can be used by small merchants to turn smartphones and tablets into mobile credit-card terminals. iZettle’s services are compliant with EMV (Europay, MasterCard and VISA) standards as well as with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS). No sensitive data is stored on the mobile device or iZettle reader, and all data traffic is encrypted. In recent news, iZettle has received a strategic investment of more than EUR 5 million (USD 6.6million) from Banco Santander. Keywords: iZettle, Banco Santander, Mexico, Sweden, m-payments