« July 2006 | Main | September 2006 »
Chase Paymentech Solutions has announced a new data security compliance program targeted to small-to-medium sized merchants -- those who process less than 20,000 e-commerce and/or one million card present transactions of a single card brand annually. » Continue Reading
Dave Alexander writes for the Muskegon Chronicle about the launch of new Debitman-based debit cards by Muskegon, Michigan-based Wesco that he says "will provide the regional chain of gas stations and convenience stores relief from high bank card transaction fees and provide discounts to customers." Wesco and Debitman announced the new card program last week.
Evolution Benefits has announced a pilot test with the Hartford Public Schools of TeacherDollars, a new debit card program developed with funding from The Robert & Margaret Patricelli Family Foundation, card technology from Evolution Benefits, and program leadership from the Hartford Public Schools. » Continue Reading
Jerry Gleeson reports for the Journal News (NY) about New York State's plans to begin paying unemployment benefits into accounts that will be accessed via debit cards.
MasterCard has announced zero liability protection for small business cardholders effective September 1, 2006 along with a "Build Your Business" sweepstakes to promote its small business product offerings. MasterCard is also launching a new MasterCardBusiness.com site, "where small business owners can find further information about the "Build Your Business" promotion and zero liability protections, as well as tips on how to manage employee benefits, ways to market their businesses on a budget, and helpful money management advice."
China Unionpay (CUP), China's only national electronic payment and interchange network operator, has announced it has opened its first regional representative office in Singapore. The new representative office will "facilitate collaboration in the regional payment industry, as well as further develop trade ties between Singapore and its neighboring countries. CUP is planning to launch similar offices in Europe, the United States and other parts of Asia in the future.
Fredricka Paul reports for The State News that Michael Kasavana, Michigan State University National Automatic Merchandising Association-endowed professor, predicts that vending machines that accept credit and debit cards will become more popular in coming years. "By 2009, half of the six million vending machines will be capable of having cashless technology," Kasavana said. "About half of those will have card readers."
RSA Security has announced that Goldleaf Technologies is now offering the RSA Adaptive Authentication solution to its banking and credit union customers. » Continue Reading
Ellen Rosen reports for the New York Times on the parking payment system developed by Parcxmart Technologies and its CEO John J. Regan.
We have received news of the following recent management changes:
The American Bankers Association has released results of a recent survey of consumers that concludes that although branch banking still ranks first overall among consumer's usage, younger customers behave very differently. » Continue Reading
The new issue of the Visa Quarterly focuses on emerging markets in an interview with Visa International's Debbie Arnold, vice president and managing director for emerging markets. Other articles include Financial Literacy Unveiled, Visa's Remittance Solutions, a look at WAY Systems' Mobile Transaction Terminal, and Credit Bureaus and Visa.
First Data Corp. has announced that Todd Strubbe has returned to the company as president of First Data Debit Services. Strubbe will oversee First Data's debit processing business which includes the STAR Network, reporting to David Bailis, president, First Data Financial Institution Services. » Continue Reading
YeePay has announced the completion of a round of financing led by Draper Fisher Jurvetson, DFJ Dragon and joined by Intel Capital China, WR Hambrecht and several other institutional investors. » Continue Reading
The Washington Post's Caroline Mayer writes about a colleague's frustration with his Chase-issued Amazon.com Visa card and its paper-based reward certificates. He says "It's no surprise I guess. While they want to make it easy for me to spend my money, they'd like to make it hard for me to spend their money."
David Kesmodel reports for the Wall St. Journal about concerns raised by the Independent Community Bankers of America about pending legislation in Congress that "would require financial institutions to block payments between U.S. residents and online casinos." Bankers and the ICBA are concerned that the ACH system provides no information about the nature of a recipients business and "would require a massive – and costly – overhaul to allow banks to identify transactions."
Lore Croghan writes for the New York Daily News about how the "25-and-under crowd is hooked on debit and credit cards" - including using them for small purchases. Croghan writes about a recent Visa USA survey about using cards for small purchase amounts.
With the cost of gasoline at record levels, payments companies aren't missing any opportunities to promote new card programs designed to help consumers save money on gas. Today, Ecount announced seeing a 500% growth in demand for their Fuel Card program over last year - saying that the dramatic increase in demand is due to numerous companies turning to the Ecount Fuel Card program to help provide relief from high gas prices for their employees and customers. Separately, National Payment Card LLC has announced the launch the "first ACH payment card for the gas industry" - saying it provides a way for consumers to pay less for gasoline through an immediate cash reward and for station operators to substantially lower their processing costs for participating consumers compared with the current charges of credit and debit card interchange and processing fees. » Continue Reading
Glenbrook has announced the addition of a new session of our popular two-day intensive Payments Boot Camp program to be held in Denver on November 7th and 8th. Each of the Glenbrook Payments Boot Camps is taught by full partners at Glenbrook with many years' experience in the business, operations, technology, marketing and risk management of payments. Glenbrook Payments Boot Camps are a great professional networking venue as well - with many opportunities to talk with other attendees both during the workshop and at a reception on the first night. Learn more about the Denver Payments Boot Camp and registration details at the Glenbrook web site.
Jane Kim reports for the Wall St. Journal that some banks have begun paying higher interest rates on checking accounts in an effort to attract new accounts. But, no surprise, she cites industry experts who say that checking accounts are still "a lousy place" for consumers to save.
Celent has announced it has updated its 2003 report on anti-money laundering solution vendors in a new report titled "Evaluating the Vendors of Anti-Money Laundering Solutions 2006". According to Celent, "the report profiles and evaluates 19 established and emerging vendors of anti-money laundering software, including BI-heavy transaction analysis software and filtering solutions for screening government watchlists such as OFAC."
The Korea Times publishes a story by Shuan Ghaidan, Head of Product Sales and Delivery for MasterCard's Asia/Pacific Region, in which he discusses the business benefits of contactless card technology. "Combined with the benefits of faster completion of transactions, the potential for increased revenue, and the chance to collect and utilize valuable customer data to create highly targeted and effective marketing campaigns, contactless payments hold the potential to have a significant positive impact on retailers’ business and operations."
We have received news of the following recent management changes:
Ross Anderson of the University of Cambridge (UK) Computer Laboratory has made available his book "Security Engineering" (PDFs - by chapter) for download onlline. Anderson's book is an important reference to many aspects of designing and operating secure systems and it's great that he and his publisher are making it available online.
Phoenix-Hecht has published a white paper titled "The Road to Remote Deposit" (pdf) that provides some help and guidance for corporations evaluating this alternative way of depositing checks.
Starbucks Coffee Company is looking for a Manager of Payment Technologies for its Global Treasury Team in Seattle. » Continue Reading
Griff Witte writes for the Washington Post about the upcoming issuance of new federal employee ID cards and how the use of biometric and other technologies in those cards could spur usage in other applications - potentially including banking and payments.
Western Growers has announced they are partnering with Bank of America and Visa to offer a payroll solution that will help member companies reduce expenses and provide more convenience and flexibility to their employees by offering the CashPay Visa payroll card to their employees. CashPay Visa allows employees to avoid the fees associated with check-cashing services. » Continue Reading
Rick Rothacker and Binyamin Appelbaum write for the Charlotte Observer about what some banks have been doing to attract Hispanic customers - describing the latest push by banks to offer low-cost or even free services to transfer money to friends and relatives in foreign countries.
Wells Fargo has announced several upgrades to its online security platform "designed to give customers and businesses even more protection in the fight against Internet fraud." » Continue Reading
David Breitkopf reports for the American Banker on PNC's decision to end its seven year relationship with MBNA as the credit card issuer for its banking customers and to move it to US Bank. » Continue Reading
Kathy Chu writes for USA Today about David Nelms, CEO of Discover Financial. Chu reports Nelms describing Discover's current strategy: "We're trying to stand out more. We think we have a great story to tell."
Western Union has announced the appointment of five new directors who will join Jack M. Greenberg, the former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of McDonalds Corporation, Non-Executive Chairman of Western Union, and Christina A. Gold, Chief Executive Officer of the Western Union Company on the board of directors. » Continue Reading
We have received news of the following recent management changes:
Susan Harrigan writes for Newsday a great profile of Capital One's CEO Richard Fairbank. Harrigan quotes Fairbank: "What my dad ... taught me was, success is not about how much money you make or about promotions and rewards and things like that. Success is about having a quest and pouring yourself into that quest ... and the magical things that are happening on your journey to you and to those that you're sharing the journey with." She goes on to explain how Fairbank's idea to move beyond the "one size fits all" credit card was the key to Capital One's early success...and much more. Read Harrigan's profile!
EMC, scheduled soon to acquire RSA Security, is in the midst of a major transition from being known as "the storage company" to what they want to become known as: "the Information infrastructure company". An article by AP Technology Writer Brian Bergstein takes a look at what's involved in this transformation. "I think they come to the table today with a much better story, a holistic solution," said James Hull, head of engineering services at MasterCard Inc., a large EMC customer.
Almost one year ago, on August 31, 2005, MasterCard announced plans for a new corporate governance and open ownership structure that ultimately led to a successful initial public offering about nine months later, on May 24, at an initial offering price of $39.00 per share. On Friday, MasterCard's stock closed at $55.00 per share, up 41 percent in the three months since completion of the IPO.
Google has introduced a new incentive program for ecommerce providers to support Google Checkout. They're offering to pay 0.5% of all Checkout sales that a provider's merchants process for a year plus $25 for each merchant referred who processes at least $500 in sales and 3 transactions with Checkout. In addition, Google's offering extra bonuses to providers who bring merchants on by September 30th with Level 1 or Level 2 integration.
Andrew Davidson of the London Sunday Times interviews Marion King, CEO of Voca. "King, chief executive of Voca, the automated payments system previously called BACS, is nothing if not a compelling saleswoman."
Eric Lai writes for ComputerWorld about the state of mobile commerce in the US - and, in particular, the tentativeness of banks in supporting mobile-based initiatives. He asks whether they're ceding the market to third parties like PayPal Mobile - citing Christophe Uzureau, an analyst at Gartner who says "PayPal is more agile than banks. Banks have to rethink their processes and act now."
Home Depot has announced the launch of its first co-branded consumer and business rewards credit cards - The Home Depot Rewards MasterCard and The Home Depot Business Rewards MasterCard - both issued by Citi Cards. » Continue Reading
We have received news of the following recent management changes:
Visa Asia Pacific has released new information that shows international travelers to and within the region spent a total of US$6.8 billion on their Visa cards during the first quarter of 2006 - 13 percent more than the same period a year ago. According to Visa, the increase in spending can be attributed not only to more arrivals but also to an increase in the issuance of Visa cards across the region. In Visa's Asia Pacific region, there were 287 million Visa cards in circulation in the first quarter of 2006, an increase of 17 percent over the year before. » Continue Reading
John Blau writes for PC Advisor that "train passengers in Germany can now purchase tickets with Internet-enabled mobile phones through the travel portal of the railway company Deutsche Bahn and receive a ticket in the form of a bar code sent via MMS that conductors scan to confirm the ticket."
Mike Reagan, Managing Principal of Carreker’s Global Payments Consulting, has published an opinion piece (PDF) about what he calls "All-Consumer Check Conversion (ACC): the automatic conversion of any consumer-written check to ACH at the earliest point possible." Reagan says "The key variable is the willingness of the banking industry to move in a direction that looks at checks not by the way they are processed but by the value they deliver. It is not a question of championing one payments silo over the other, but advancing the electronification agenda in the manner that delivers to customers and derives for banks the best "win-win" value scenario."
In the UK, The Logic Group is surveying retailers regarding their views and awareness of the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS).
Bill Brohaugh of Colloquy writes for DMNews.com about the benefits of letting customers decide what loyalty options make the most sense for them. He mentions Turkey's Garanti Bank and its Flexi card that allows customers to "select from numerous options covering interest rates, reward percentages, fees and so on. For example, choose a higher interest rate for unpaid balances and offset it with a higher reward return percentage on purchases." Brohaugh concludes that "Garanti’s offer of multiple additional reward opportunities amounts to customer self-segmentation."
Hilary Osborne reports for the UK's Guardian Unlimited that "new borrowing on credit cards fell to an all-time low in July as consumers continued to rein in their exposure to unsecured debt." A press release by the British Bankers' Association (BBA) said "new borrowing on credit cards totalled £7,083mn in July, the lowest July figure since 2002. With repayments exceeding spending and after seasonal adjustment, net lending contracted by £348mn, continuing the recent subdued picture of demand."
We have received news of the following recent management changes:
The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago has published "Investing In Payment Innovations: Risks And Rewards" (PDF) by Carrie Jankowski and Tiffany White. From the abstract: "Advances in technology have helped usher in new payment mechanisms catered to current demographic and cross-border demands. Yet these payment innovations also pose increasingly complex security challenges worldwide. Participants at a recent Chicago Fed conference discussed the implications of these developments for the payments industry." The agenda, selected speeches and presentations from the May 2006 conference are also available online.
Dallas-based Whitson Wells Promotional Marketing Group has started marketing some unique gift card packaging solutions for retailers - with "TeeBuck" T-shirts that have been compressed into the shape of a wine bottle, golf ball, paint brush, coffee cup, etc. to accompany a gift card. » Continue Reading
The American Bankers Association has announced the results of a new survey finding that, by a ratio of 6-to-1, consumers trust banks more than other institutions when it comes to their personal records. » Continue Reading
The Federal Reserve Board has announced its approval of a final rule to provide that payroll card accounts are covered by the Board's consumer protection regulation governing electronic fund transfers. » Continue Reading
The Aite Group has announced a new report titled "Online Banking: Moving Toward a New Paradigm" that surveys 21 of the top 50 US banks and forecasts that, by 2010, 13 percent of new checking accounts in the US will be opened via the online channel. According to the report, the top performer among the banks surveyed says they are currently sourcing about 20 percent of new checking accounts online with the next highest performer currently sourcing 13 percent.
The FDIC has released its Quarterly Banking Profile (PDF) for the second quarter - reporting that banking in the United States continues to be a good business!
Michael Fitzgerald writes for Technology Review about near field communication (NFC) technology and how NFC can enable mobile phones to become like mobile wallets - with the added ability to swap addresses and share photos between two NFC-equipped phones (or other devices). Industry forecasters predict that by 2010 half of all new mobile phones will be NFC-equipped.
Visa USA has announced that Visa volume on purchases less than $25 in targeted small ticket segments totaled $27.3 billion in the first six months of the year, an increase of 17 percent over the same period in 2005, indicating that Visa cards are increasingly being used instead of cash and checks for everyday purchases less than $25. » Continue Reading
Entropia Universe, a fast growing virtual world utilizing a real cash economy, has announced "the launch of a new monetary deposit platform designed by Paysafecard.com, Europe's first prepaid card for online payments." » Continue Reading
eMarketer takes a look at the relatively low rate of mobile Internet usage in the US - as compared to other regions. "According to a new report from Telephia, 34.6 million US mobile phone subscribers accessed the Internet from a wireless device in June 2006. With eMarketer estimating the US mobile phone population at approximately 213 million in 2006, that equates to only 16% of mobile phone subscribers." What are the implications for mobile commerce generally? eMarketer has also recently published a report on Mobile Payments in Japan.
PULSE EFT Association LP and LINK Interchange Network Ltd., the operator of the UK Cash Machine Network, have announced a reciprocal agreement that will allow the 4,200 financial institution participants in the PULSE ATM/debit network to offer their cardholders access to all but a handful of the more than 58,000 cash machines across the United Kingdom and allow LINK to offer its 38 participating financial institution members access to an additional 250,000 PULSE cash machines in the United States. » Continue Reading
We have received news of the following recent management changes:
As mentioned yesterday, West Coast Bank is now offering its banking customers the Coinstar line of gift card, prepaid wireless, cash card, and phone card products. According to a press release issued this afternoon, included in the products being offered are gift cards from food, entertainment and retail businesses including Chili's, Borders, Starbucks, Circuit City, AMC Theatres, KB Toys, and Timberland along with Green Dot prepaid debit cards. » Continue Reading
Andy Williams writes for CR80News.com about how the big three US payment card brands remain bullish on contactless payments - one year after nationwide launches began - as key to their strategies to displace cash payments.
Visa USA has announced that Visa TravelMoney cards will now be available in more than 1,550 Safeway store locations nationwide, including participating Safeway, Carrs, Dominick's, Genuardi's, Pak 'n Save, Pavilions, Randalls, Vons, and Tom Thumb stores. NetSpend will market the reloadable prepaid travel cards and process transactions for the issuer, Inter National Bank. » Continue Reading
Wolters Kluwer Financial Services has announced results of a recent survey of financial organizations in which eighty percent of financial organizations responding said their organization currently offers Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) or plans to do so in the next year. » Continue Reading
TowerGroup has announced new research examining the US merchant acquiring business - concluding that further concentration of the large merchant acquirers in the United States is unlikely and that growth opportunities are likely to come from competition either between U.S. acquirers or with those outside the United States. » Continue Reading
Cara Nissman writes for Bankrate.com about how more colleges and universities are deciding that it's just too expensive for them to accept credit cards for tuition payments. We reported earlier this month on a move by Brigham Young University to push its students to using echecks for tuition payments.
Arcot Systems has announced that All Points Capital, a subsidiary of North Fork Bank, has chosen the Arcot's WebFort multi-factor authentication solution for authenticating financial institution customers into its online transaction portal. The ability to also use Arcot's solution for secure digital signing of electronic documents was an important factor in All Points' decision. » Continue Reading
Vauhini Vara writes for the Wall St. Journal about the steps various US banks are taking to implement stronger authentication for customer access to their online banking systems - at least partially in response to new security guidelines from the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) issued last year. One byproduct - increased customer service calls to banks as some of their consumers struggle to get used to the stronger authentication.
Discover Financial Services and JCB have announced a strategic relationship "that will lead to increased card acceptance for both companies." The arrangement provides for acceptance of JCB cards on the Discover Network in the U.S., and of Discover Network cards on the JCB network in Japan, and acceptance of PULSE cards at targeted ATMs in Japan at the option of the card issuer. » Continue Reading
We have received news of the following recent management changes:
Reuters reports that KDDI, Japan's second-largest mobile phone operator, is planning to cooperate with credit card issuer JCB to offer mobile phones that can be used as credit cards - apparently aiming to counter a service by NTT DoCoMo.
The Portland Business Journal reports that West Coast Bank has announced a deal with Coinstar to offer prepaid gift cards through jointly administered kiosks in West Coast's branches. According to the article, "Lake Oswego-based West Coast Bank will join Coinstar, of Bellevue, as it becomes one of the country's first banks to offer cards from numerous merchants within its branches."
Joris Evers reports for CNET News.com that Yahoo! is testing a new "sign-in seal" security feature intended to help prevent phishing attacks from being successful. According to Yahoo!, a "sign-in seal is a secret message or photo that Yahoo! will display on this computer only." The seal, customized by the user can be text-based or an image uploaded by the user. If the user doesn't see their customized sign-in seal on a Yahoo! web site, then it's not a genuine Yahoo! site.
Marisa Torrieri writes for CR80News.com about new ultra-thin, flexible lithium-polymer batteries called "Flexion" now available from Solicore and other batteries from Thin Battery Technologies (TBT), a small spin-off of Eveready. Torrieri reports that "until recently, on-card power supplies have been in-the-lab only. With recent advancements in thin, flexible batteries however, expect to see powered cards serving a whole host of functions identified and yet unimagined."
The British Government's Department for International Development has prepared a research report titled "BME Remittance Survey" (PDF) that provides a comprehensive look at the private money transfer habits of Britain’s Asian, African, Caribbean and Chinese communities.
INSIDE Contactless has announced that its MicroPass platform has been selected as the initial chip platform for Wells Fargo's launch of its new Wells Fargo Visa Platinum and Wells Fargo Visa Signature contactless cards. On June 14th, Wells Fargo announced its plans to launch contactless credit cards. Peter Ho, Wells Fargo Card Services vice president and product manager, said at the time "we believe our customers will benefit from the speed and convenience offered by this exciting technology." » Continue Reading
Visa International, Latin America and Caribbean Region, has conducted a study that "revealed the banking potential of remittance recipients, as well as their interest in establishing more productive relationships with financial institutions. The remittance market reached US$52 billion in 2005, marking a 15 percent increase over the previous year." » Continue Reading
Clint Riley reports for the Wall St. Journal on changes that Citigroup is making to its Citi Dividend MasterCard cash-back reward program. Riley reports that Citi is scaling back from 5 percent to 2 percent the reward paid for purchases made at supermarkets, gasoline stations and drugstores but adding convenience stores and utilities, including cable operators, to the list of qualifying merchants.
Visa USA has announced that Travelocity now "offers customers the opportunity to purchase their getaways using Verified by Visa, a payment card fraud-prevention service that protects Visa cardholders when shopping online." » Continue Reading
Brian Smith blogs on Comparison Engines about comments made yesterday in a research note by Piper Jaffray's Safa Rashtchy regarding retailer concerns about "ceding customer ownership to Google" if they implement Google Checkout. Rashtchy's survey of retailers raised "concerns about disintermediation, lack of system flexibility and the perception that Checkout provides Google too much visibility into their business, especially relating to Google search driven conversion rates."
Digital Transactions reports on comments by a PayPal executive that eBay's action barring eBay auction sellers from using Google Checkout is "aimed at barring new payment techniques until they can prove they control fraud and otherwise protect users."
The 41st Parameter has announced it has identified an e-commerce fraud scheme in which fraudsters are coordinating their attacks against e-commerce merchants by using personal, digital and financial data that all appear legitimate to typical detection systems. » Continue Reading