Royal Canadian Mint to Stop Virtual Currency Project

Fiserv Inc., a payments technology provider, has created a product that will let prepaid cardholders load funds to their cards from checks using the camera on their smartphones.

Consumers can make a deposit by downloading their prepaid processor’s app and taking a picture of the front and back of a paper check with a smartphone. They can then securely load the check deposit electronically to a prepaid card – without visiting a bank or ATM. Through a new agreement with VALID Systems, a check guarantee service, Fiserv dramatically reduces risk for prepaid processors by providing near real-time verification while enabling instant funding for the consumer.

Although checks are being supplanted by electronic means of distributing and moving funds, remote deposit capture options are enabling people who still receive wages and other kinds of checks to more easily turn those checks into electronic currency even when they do not have bank accounts. Although fraud risks remain, as technology improves, companies like Fiserv are able to mitigate many of those risks.

Read the story at: http://www.pymnts.com/news/businesswire-feed/2013/april/02/fiserv-launches-prepaid-source-capture-enabling-instant-guaranteed-funding-for-prepaid-cards-20130402005337