TMCnet News

Global Payments Announces Winners of Wearable FinAppsParty
[October 30, 2014]

Global Payments Announces Winners of Wearable FinAppsParty


ATLANTA --(Business Wire)--

Global Payments Inc. (NYSE: GPN), one of the largest worldwide providers of payment solutions, today announced the winners of its interactive wearable financial app hackathon, which took place on October 24-25, 2014 in Atlanta in collaboration with CaixaBank in Barcelona.

The FinAppsParty hosted 42 talented developers, designers and programmers of mobile payments apps that competed in teams over a 24-hour period. A panel of judges comprised of financial services and technical experts from Global Payments, Technology Association of Georgia (TAG) and TTV Capital selected the following winners:

  • Grand prize: Garcon!: Created by Scott Hankinson and Brian O'Connor; provides users with a wearable app allowing streamlined checkout, multi-factor authentication, tagging, transaction history and purchase voiding.
  • 2nd prize: Dichotomy: Created by Dominique Bashizi and Nathan Black; allows users to use voice matching for transaction authentication.
  • 3rd prize: Charge Forward: Created by Joslyn Beckert, Kevin Coleman, Nebi Erdogan and Haider Khan; presents an innovative payment method selection that activates your top payment choices simply from your wrist position.

CaixaBank has run the FinAppsParty mobile app programming marathon since 2011, and for the first time in its history, the FinAppsParty was simultaneously held in Atlanta and Barcelona. The two venues (the Atlanta Tech Village and Palo Alto (News - Alert) Foundation in Barcelona) were connected by a video link, allowing the participants in both locations to interact and share ideas via social networks. The bank was one of the first anywhere in the world to adopt the hackathon format, seeking to harness collective inteligence and co-creation to drive innovation. CaixaBank has been an international pioneer in the development of financial services for wearable devices, with the launch of the world's first banking application for smartwatches as well as an application for Google (News - Alert) Glass.



Winners from CaixaBank's event will be announced at the awards ceremony during the BDigital Apps congress which will take place November 11-12, 2014 in Barcelona.

"The response to our hackathon was overwhelming and has allowed us to engage personally with extremely creative and innovative app developers," said Chief of Staff Jane Elliott. "We are thrilled with the results of the event that showcased the amazing talent located right in our own backyard of Atlanta. We are grateful to CaixaBank for allowing us to partner with them on an event that has been successful in Barcelona since 2011."


About Global Payments

Global Payments Inc. (NYSE: GPN) is a leading provider of payment services for merchants, value added resellers, financial institutions, government agencies, multi-national corporations and independent sales organizations located throughout North America, Brazil, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. Global Payments, a Fortune 1000 company, offers a comprehensive line of solutions and services for credit and debit cards, business-to-business purchasing cards, gift cards, electronic check conversion and check guarantee, verification and recovery including electronic check services, as well as terminal management. Visit www.globalpaymentsinc.com for more information about the company and its services.

About CaixaBank

CaixaBank is a consolidated financial group admitted for trading. It has banking and insurance businesses together with a business which invests in international banks and leads the Spanish market with a firm commitment to national and international growth thanks to its proven experience in investments in the banking industry.

CaixaBank, chaired by Isidro Fainé and led by CEO Gonzalo Gortázar, has 13.6 million customers, a network of 5,695 branches and 31,574 employees. It is the number one retail bank thanks to its sizeable sales business, its accurate and anticipatory risk management and its ongoing efforts in innovation.

CaixaBank is considered an international benchmark when it comes to innovation and new technologies. It has received numerous accolades, including the award for the world's most innovative bank at the Global Banking Innovation Awards, staged by the Bank Administration Institute (BAI (News - Alert)) and Finacle, and the award for best retail bank for technology innovation in the world, granted by Euromoney.

About Comercia Global Payments

CaixaBank and Global Payments work together to provide the finest in merchant payment services. In 2010 the two firms set up Comercia Global Payments in the Spanish market, where it commands a market share of 24%. In July 2013 CaixaBank and Global Payments announced the launch of Comercia Global Payments Brasil, a 50/50 joint venture in the Brazilian payments market.


[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]