Bling
Nation, announced today at that Colo.-based Park
State Bank & Trust began offering mobile payments to its
customers and community through Bling Nation's Community
Payments Service Oct. 15.
The Community Payments Service is a secure local debit network, driven
by the tap of a cell phone, that enables banks and merchants to avoid
costly traditional payments network. As a result, shopping locally is
promoted and money is kept within the Woodland Park community. In
addition, consumers enjoy the convenience and safety of tapping their
cell phones to pay for goods and services without exposing sensitive,
personal information. With each purchase, a SMS text message is sent to
the consumer with account balance and any rewards program updates.
"Woodland Park is a community that encourages residents to shop locally
and support neighborhood merchants," said Tony Perry, president of Park
State Bank & Trust. "The introduction of Bling Nation's mobile payments
network to the community has been very well-received. Most of our
residents work in Colorado Springs but do their banking and shopping
locally, and they have embraced the ability to pay for purchases with
their mobile phone ... including the Mayor."
Park State Bank & Trust has begun offering the Community Payments
Service to more than 30 local merchants. Many merchants, such as
Quizno's, Papa John's, Big O Tire, Seven Arrows Gallery, Charitable
Treasures, The UPS Store in Gold Hills Square and Studio West were quick
to sign up for the Community Payments Service.
"I want to support 'shop local' and had been looking for an automated
way to track customer loyalty as far as offering discounts without
having to [send] postcards, the paper side of it," said Sue Greene,
owner of The UPS Store.
Consumers are embracing the ease and benefits mobile payments as well.
"I already Blinged," said Darlene Holloway. "I think it's marvelous.
Everybody is fed up with credit cards. It beats carrying cash everywhere
to pay for stuff. Plus, you have a great record for what you spend your
money on."
Park State Bank & Trust is working to capture the 24,000 Teller, Colo.
county residents who work in Colorado Springs, but live in Woodland
Park. The bank plans to expand their mobile payments network to include
Divide, Colo. merchants as well. The Woodland Park business community,
as well as the city and county government, has pulled together to
support the community and Bling Nation's Community Payments Service
further supports these shop local initiatives.
"With more than 7,600 residents that work and shop locally, Woodland
Park is an ideal community to benefit from our mobile payments network,"
said Meyer Malka, co-CEO of Bling Nation. "Our Community Payments
Service provides consumers with a fast and secure way to pay for
purchases. Circumventing traditional global network and their
interchange fees enables Park State Bank & Trust to retain more profit
from each transaction and to offer participating merchants better
processing rates and consumers rewards programs. The bank has signed
more than 30 merchants to date, and we expect to see continued growth
and adoption by consumers, merchants and neighboring financial
institutions."
Bling Nation's core technology is an integrated issuing and acquiring
platform designed specifically for local and regional banks. Through its
Community Payments Service, Bling Nation enables financial institutions
to more profitably support payments between their local demand deposit
account (DDA) customers and their merchant customers by bypassing the
current global debit payment model with an efficient, cost-effective and
local payment network.
About Park State Bank & Trust
Established in 1965, Woodland Park, Colo.-based Park State Bank & Trust
($100 million in assets) provides mobile payments, online banking,
investment, account management and loan services to individual and
commercial customers in central Colorado. With the largest deposit
marketshare in Woodland Park at 43 percent, Park State Bank & Trust is
an equal housing lender, member FDIC, with two branches and six ATMs.
For more information or to locate a branch or ATM, visit www.mypsb.com.
About Bling Nation
Bling Nation brings mobile payments to consumers and merchant points of
sale, offering lower costs, increased efficiency and improved security
compared to credit cards, debit cards, checks and cash. Its Community
Payments Service creates a local payments network between financial
institutions, consumers and merchants. Bling Nation also enables
financial institutions and merchants to offer consumers robust rewards
programs and real-time redemptions, promoting loyalty and convenience
and supporting "shop local" initiatives.
For additional information, visit www.blingnation.com.