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TSYS has announced it is now certified to support open-loop prepaid cards in Europe on the MasterCard network. The certification includes capability for chip-and-PIN processing on MasterCard's network. » Continue Reading
GE Money (formerly GE Consumer Finance) is holding a security analysts' meeting today in New York City. Copies of presentations by Dave Nissen, President and CEO of GE Money, and other members of the senior management team are available online.
YeePay has announced a partnership with the largest online retailer in China - Dang Dang, to provide exclusive payment service for Dang Dang Mall (mall.dangdang.com), a new online store hosting program that allows merchants to sell their goods through Dang Dang's network. » Continue Reading
US Bank Canada has announced it has acquired CIBC's Visa purchasing and Visa corporate credit card portfolio. U.S. Bank Canada is a division of U.S. Bank, which is a subsidiary of U.S. Bancorp, one of the world's largest issuers of Visa commercial cards. » Continue Reading
CIGNA HealthCare has announced HealthePass, "a comprehensive new solution designed to simplify and improve payment processes to help patients anticipate and manage their health care costs, shorten provider revenue cycle and help address patient bad debt." » Continue Reading
Cardways.com has announced the launch of its new Web site that offers consumers the opportunity to customize gift cards and greeting cards, allowing them to add their own personal touch to an already popular gift. » Continue Reading
Prosper has announced that its membership has topped the 100,000 mark and that it has generated more than $20 million in loans since launching in February 2006. » Continue Reading
Moneyweb reports on how First National Bank in South Africa has enabled prepaid electricity, telephone and cellular phone services to people in even the remotest of areas using their mobile phones. "FNB has recognized the huge uptake of cellphones in South Africa, estimated at about 30 million users, and invested heavily over the past two years towards a technology that enables people to transact using any cellphone device on any mobile network."
Arcot Systems has announced a partnership with Yodlee to deliver multi-factor authentication capabilities with the full suite of Yodlee’s solutions and services. » Continue Reading
We have received news of the following recent management changes:
According to the latest Experian-Gallup Personal Credit Index survey, one in five (19 percent) consumers report that they have had their financial information stolen including a bank or credit card number. Approximately one in seven (14 percent) say they have had their personal information stolen, such as a birth certificate, driver's license or Social Security number. Combined, 26 percent of Americans report being the victim of one type of theft, while 7 percent report experiencing both. » Continue Reading
First Data's Independent Sales Services group has recently announced several "services and tools specifically designed to give small and medium-sized businesses an advantage in today's competitive landscape." » Continue Reading
MasterCard has announced that its interchange rates that apply to US merchants are now posted on its website, "along with the comprehensive information merchants need to understand the rates and how they apply." » Continue Reading
Greg McBride reports on the results of Bankrate.com's latest Checking Account Pricing Study - finding that the "average bounced-check fee, often referred to as a nonsufficient-funds fee, or NSF fee, by your financial institution, is now at a record high of $27.40." The average ATM surcharge is now $1.64 and is assessed by 98.3 percent of banks owning ATMs. Bankrate estimates that Americans pay $4.2 billion per year in ATM fees. Here's a Bankrate.com press release summarizing many of the study's findings.
Mary Wisniewski, Business Reporter for the Chicago Sun-Times, takes a look at Netspend's All-Access National Savings Program, which has begun paying 3 percent on deposits, more than double the average rate currently paid by banks on consumer checking accounts.
We've just launched a new payments event calendar here on Payments News. We're using Google's online calendar feature to host the calendar - making it easy to share. If you're on a Mac, you can use this link to point iCal at the calendar. If you're aware of an event that should be listed, please click the link on the calendar page and send us an email with the details for the event.
Mary Jacoby writes for the Wall St. Journal about upcoming hearings scheduled on November 14 and 15 in Brussels for EU regulators to examine MasterCard's interchange fees. The EU regulators view interchange fees as "obstacles to creating a single payment area in the EU".
Dana Dratch writes for Bankrate.com about "spend to save" credit cards such as the American Express One card launched a year ago that deposits 1% of the amount purchased into a high-yield savings account.
MasterCard Worldwide has been awarded the 2006 Frost & Sullivan Company of the Year Award for its performance in the contactless payment market. » Continue Reading
Javelin Strategy & Research has published a new report concluding that "Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) represent a paradox for banking and payment leaders: Banks cannot overlook the long-term opportunities for asset growth, yet must plan to address problematic consumer awareness and interest along with other thorny healthcare industry issues." » Continue Reading
Earlier this week, we announced that we'd implemented a new, customized search engine here on Payments News - taking advantage of a feature that Google announced on Monday. What's unique about this search engine is that we can provide it with a list of sites that should be searched - rather than searching the whole World Wide Web. For payments professionals, the search results from the Payments News Search Engine are much more likely to be results of interest vs. a standard Google search. We've further enhanced the list of sites searched this morning - with the list now totaling about 80 payments-related sites. You may want to bookmark our search page if you find it useful.
The US Treasury Department, the Federal Reserve Board and the U.S. Secret Service issued their third collaborative report (PDF) on the use and counterfeiting of U.S. currency abroad - concluding that, of U.S. notes in circulation abroad and at home, about one note in 10,000 is counterfeit. The report estimated that about $450 billion of the $760 billion in circulation as of December 2005 is held abroad. According to the report, "Colombia registers first on the counterfeiting threat list because it has been the chief supplier of counterfeit notes to the U.S. market. ... During FY 2005, approximately 15 percent ($8 million out of a total of $56.2 million) of all counterfeit currency passed within the United States originated in Colombia." » Continue Reading
Target has announced the launch of a Prepaid Photo Card that allow purchasers to save up to 20 percent on photofinishing services. » Continue Reading
Wells Fargo has announced that the number of deposits its business customers have made via the Internet -- eliminating the need for physical deposit of paper checks at the bank (called "remote deposit capture" in the banking industry -- nearly doubled in the past three months. This paper-less process was made legal by the "Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act" signed into law two years ago. » Continue Reading
Bank of America and Caremark Rx have announced the launch of a new Caremark Visa credit card program that offers cardholders a rewards program for making beneficial decisions related to their use of prescription medications, including choosing generic and preferred drugs. » Continue Reading
The October issue of Smart Card Talk, a publication of the Smart Card Alliance, is now available. This issue features an interview with Mohammed Khan, President and Founder of ViVOtech along with a look at Transit and Contactless Financial Payments.
Coinstar has announced a new Coinstar Direct Coin Deposit service that will allow bank and credit union customers to electronically transfer coin into their personal accounts. In addition, Coinstar’s making available a new "Madison" coin-counting kiosk specifically designed for retail financial institution branches. » Continue Reading
Glenbrook's Linda Elliott has been following the banking industry's efforts to comply with the FFIEC Internet Banking Guidance issued almost a year ago. We first posted her summary of bank strategies last September. Now, Linda provides an update on what the industry has been doing since then:
We've updated our earlier chart on announced FFIEC Compliance actions. We are now beginning to see more varied approaches to the dual-factor authentication challenge. Biometrics is being rolled out at some smaller institutions, such as Credit Unions. Today, Verisign and Northern Trust announced use of the Verisign network approach to risk-based authentication. While the field of announced solutions is more varied than before, the large security firms still seem to be announcing more 'wins' with larger companies. » Continue Reading
HP has announced that it is offering PayPal as a payment option at the HP Home & Home Office Store. » Continue Reading
The FDIC's latest issue of "FYI: An Update on Emerging Issues in Banking" contains "Highlights from the 2006 Summary of Deposits Data" that provides a number of interesting observations based upon the Summary of Deposits survey data captured each June by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Office of Thrift Supervision.
Pay By Touch has announced that Scott's Food & Pharmacy will be piloting finger-scan payment program at four of its stores in northeast Indiana. » Continue Reading
The researchers who published research recently into vulnerabilities in first-generation contactless credit cards have posted a video that provides a technical demonstration of the vulnerabilities. » Continue Reading
Entrust has announced that it is collaborating with VeriSign in proposing a new fraud intelligence network. The two companies have prepared an IETF Internet Draft document titled "How to Share Transaction Fraud (Thraud) Report Data". » Continue Reading
APACS has announced its latest report into "transparency and responsibility in the credit card industry." The report, - ‘Sharing Best Practice’, "details the steps the industry has undertaken to benefit the consumer, and provides an update on responsible lending initiatives such as increased data sharing." » Continue Reading
Jan Chipchase is a researcher for Nokia - and a great blogger too. He recently gave a presentation titled "Connecting the Unconnected" (in PowerPoint format annotated with notes) that's a real delight.
Two stories this morning about fraudsters and their methods - one from the Government Accountability Office examining the level of "trafficking" in food stamp benefit programs and the other from the Wall St. Journal examining the increasing sophistication of outright retail theft. » Continue Reading
INICIS Co. Ltd. of Korea has announced that it has entered into an alliance with ChinaPay of China and eContext of Japan to provide online global payment processing services to merchants from around the world. This strategic alliance will provide online payment processing services to many global merchants conducting or wishing to conduct online business in China, Japan and Korea. » Continue Reading
In an article titled 'Imitation Plastic", John Luu reports for the Sydney Morning Herald on new signature debit cards from ANZ (Visa) and Westpac (MasterCard). ANZ's Visa Debit has a monthly fee of A$6 for unlimited transactions - and can also be used for direct deposit of payroll. Westpac's Debit MasterCard doesn't have a monthly fee but does require an associated savings or deposit account.
New Resource Bank, an innovative commercial bank in San Francisco, has announced an agreement to provide simple and one-step financing to California customers of SunPower residential solar systems with SunPower Corporation, a Silicon Valley-based manufacturer of the world's highest-efficiency, commercially-available solar cells and solar panels. » Continue Reading
InternetRetailer.com reports that Arroweye Solutions is partnering with Yahoo! to offer gift cards that online shoppers can personalize with their own photos and text.
PRBC, also known as Pay Rent, Build Credit, Inc., has announced that it has "completed a round of equity financing that will enable it to expand its business as the leading "alternative credit bureau" in the United States." » Continue Reading
eFunds International Limited has announced that it will be working with LINK Interchange Network Ltd., the payments processor whose infrastructure powers the UK's real-time online ATM network, to provide the core functionality for the new Faster Payments Service (FPS) to deliver real-time funds transfer from one bank account to another. » Continue Reading
Prepaid Media has announced three new media properties: PayBefore.com, Prepaid Card Report (PCR), and Prepaid Card Report Newsletter (PCR Newsletter) that will be launched in phases beginning at the 2007 Prepaid Card Expo to be held in Las Vegas, February 26-28, 2007. » Continue Reading
TransUnion has announced that it has joined Utica College’s Center for Identity Management and Information Protection (CIMIP), a research collaborative composed of elite public and private sector organizations, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, United States Secret Service, LexisNexis, IBM and three prominent universities. The organization is dedicated to using applied research to further a national research agenda on identity management, information sharing and data protection. » Continue Reading
Wells Fargo has announced that it is the first major U.S. bank to offer consumer remittance services to China and Vietnam along with expanding its consumer remittance services to the Philippines. » Continue Reading
Yesterday, Google announced a new custom search engine feature - and we've used it to create a new Payments News search engine that's customized to search those sites most likely to have information that payments professionals are looking for.
We have received news of the following recent management changes:
Paul Lufkin, CEO of ePayments Corp. of Denver, says "we're on the verge of a major boom in check conversion. Individual and chain retail operations along with major industry sectors such as utility and telecom companies are finally starting to grasp the benefits of electronic check conversion." » Continue Reading
RSA has announced RSA Adaptive Authentication for Phone, a product designed to "meet the financial industry’s need for strong, automated and convenient caller authentication for telephone banking, given the nature of fraud migration and the regulatory requirements stated in the FFIEC’s Authentication in an Internet Banking Environment guidance." » Continue Reading
Tagit has launched what it says is a first-of-its-kind Mobile Ticketing Service in India. » Continue Reading
Katie Wilmeth reports for the Examiner about I4 Commerce's Bill Me Later - reporting that "the company, which was founded by four former credit card industry executives, has used that wariness over online credit card fraud to build up a roster of nearly 2 million customers — many of them in the “soccer mom” demographic."
Reuters reports that GE Money, the consumer finance arm of General Electric, and Wal-Mart have launched a credit card in China this week
Mercator Advisory Group has published a new report titled "Back To The Future With Alternative And Promotional Credit" that examines the emerging sources of promotional credit, delivered in some cases through new alternative credit providers. » Continue Reading
Wells Fargo has announced the launch of the Perfect Receivables service designed to "streamline and increase the security of business-to-business electronic payments." The new Treasury Management solution is available for both ACH debits and credits, offering fraud risk reduction on both. Wire transfers will be integrated into the service in the near future. » Continue Reading
American Express reported quarterly financial results today that included 15 percent growth in cardmember spending, average spending per card up 6%, and the addition of more than 2 million new cards in the quarter. Amex's average merchant discount remained essentially flat at 2.57%.
CyberSource is currently recruiting for a Market Manager, Enterprise Markets, and for a Channel Marketing Manager. » Continue Reading
Mall Networks, a company that "connects top online merchants to the universe of consumer rewards programs", has announced it has completed its second round of private equity funding. » Continue Reading
Richard Piersol writes for the Lincoln (NE) Journal Star about the experiences of local credit counselors who conclude that "it’s not so much wild spendthriftiness and irresponsible abuse of credit card debt" that leads to personal bankruptcy - rather, "medical costs from health troubles almost always lead to misfortune in employment and loss of income. Then comes bankruptcy." A new report from the Nebraska Appleseed Center for Law in the Public Interest titled "Debt Trends in Nebraska" (PDF) examines some of the issues in more detail.
Glenbrook's Carol Coye Benson files this report: I spoke on Friday with Barry Campbell, Director of Business Development for Acxsys Corporation and Interac Online, Canada's "credit push" online payment system. » Continue Reading
Bernard Wysocki Jr. writes for the Wall St. Journal about Wal-Mart's efforts to obtain an industrial bank charter in Utah - and the efforts of foes who have been attempting to prevent that from happening.
Peppercoin has announced that several additional merchants have selected its credit and debit card-based loyalty platform. » Continue Reading
John Schwartz reports for the New York Times in Monday's edition on new research completed by "a new consortium of industry and academic researchers financed by the National Science Foundation to study RFID" that concludes there are "potential security and privacy holes" in contactless cards. As part of the article, the Times links to two papers published by researchers Thomas S. Heydt-Benjamin, Daniel V. Bailey, Kevin Fu, Ari Juels, and Tom O’Hare: "Vulnerabilities in First-Generation RFID-enabled Credit Cards" (PDF) and "RFID Payment Card Vulnerabilities Technical Report" (PDF).
Binyamin Appelbaum writes for the Charlotte Observer about fees imposed by credit card issuers on purchases made outside the US. Some issuers (Bank of America is the example he cites) are charging 3%. Others, including Capital One, don't surcharge at all.
In a letter to the editor of the Washington Post, Tim Hammonds, president and CEO of the Food Marketing Institute reacts to the recent GAO report on credit card fees saying "the report missed an even larger hidden fee consumers ultimately pay: the interchange fees charged on virtually every purchase." For more on the GAO report, see this article.
Ross Kerber reports for the Boston Globe that by tomorrow Bank of America expects to have integrated its credit card processing systems onto the in-house platform that came with the MBNA acquisition.
The latest Nilson Report has arrived featuring an in-depth look at POS terminal shipments worldwide (subscription only). This issue also has articles discussing the Visa's merger/IPO plans, Internet gambling legislation, and projections for the growth in purchase transactions on credit and debit cards globally by 2010.
Tony Adams reports for the Columbus, GA Ledger-Enquirer that "Synovus Financial Corp., which owns 80 percent of payment processor TSYS, is seriously considering spinning off its subsidiary in the face of financial pressure to diversify and grow its business by acquiring other companies around the world." One important issue is that TSYS is limited in its ability to do stock-based acquisitions with its parent holding such a position.
We have received news of the following recent management changes:
Target has introduced a new bill payment offering for its Target Visa REDcard cardholders that encourages the use of their Target Visa cards to make either automatic or manual bill payments at biller-direct web sites while earning rewards and avoiding having to write checks to pay bills.
Digital Transactions reports on Obopay's launch with Amp'd Mobile earlier this week and last week's agreement with Vivotech to connect to contactless payments at the point of sale. According to the article, Obopay "is promoting signups now with an offer of $5 for each account as well as $5 for each account referred by current users. Each Obopay accountholder receives a MasterCard debit card linked to the funds in his account and issued by First Premier Bank, allowing users to get cash from ATMs and spend it in stores."
MasterCard, Citi, and Cingular have launched a web site devoted to the New York City Mobile Trial of near field communication (NFC) technology at MasterCard PayPass acceptance locations - including some specially equipped NYC Subway turnstiles.
The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada has released a new booklet for consumers, Pre-paid Cards (PDF), describing the "pre-paid" type of Visa and MasterCard branded payment cards, explaining what they are, how they work, and the various fees that can be charged for their use - reminding us that "pre-paid cards can be an expensive way to spend your own money." » Continue Reading
American Express has announced the "Event Ticket Protection Plan, a new benefit available to consumer and business Gold, Platinum and Centurion Card members at no extra cost. Through the Event Ticket Protection Plan, American Express will reimburse Card members for the cost of tickets purchased with their eligible Card to virtually any event that takes place within the United States, including theater, concert and sporting tickets that they are unable to use due to a covered incident." » Continue Reading
With the latest round of quarterly financial results, several banks have reported their merchant acquiring business volumes for the third quarter. Of particular interest is the 18% growth experienced by Chase Paymentech - handling $168.7 billion in payment volume during the quarter. Bank of America's Merchant Services unit grew by 6.2% to $97 billion in payment volume while US Bank's Nova handled $56.4 billion, up over 26% although US volume vs. international isn't broken out in Nova's numbers.
Visa USA has announced the launch of “Business Breakthrough, Presented by Visa”, an "experiential and engaging online resource designed exclusively for small business owners." » Continue Reading
The supplemental data provided by Bank of America as part of its third quarter earnings release includes one very interesting chart on page 19 - titled "E-Commerce & BankofAmerica.com". » Continue Reading
Bank of America is featuring on its home page its new American Express-branded Rewards Card. It appears the bank is offering the same signup offers on the Amex card as it is currently offering on its Visa Signature and MasterCard WorldPoints cards - a 0% APR on balance transfers and cash advance checks during the first 12 billing cycles on the card along with a $50 statement credit following use of the card for "qualifying transactions" (read the fine print!).
The days of merchant-subsidized credit card rewards programs, rapid increases in interchange fees, and confusing fee structures for credit card purchases are numbered, according to new research by Diamond Management & Technology Consultants. » Continue Reading
We have received news of the following recent management changes:
According to a survey commissioned by the Canadian Interac Association, and conducted by The Strategic Counsel, 92 per cent of Canadians recognize the importance of shielding their PIN at a bank machine or a debit card terminal. However, 60 per cent do not always shield their PIN if they believe nobody can see them entering it, and 37 per cent do not always shield their PIN even if they believe somebody can see them entering it. » Continue Reading
A number of presentations from the annual meeting of the Financial Services Technology Consortium (FSTC) held last week in New York are available online.
As part of a continuing effort to help organizations in the electronic payments industry understand and meet their obligations to comply with rules issued by the major credit card brands, the Electronic Transactions Association (ETA) will offer the first stand-alone version of its Compliance Day forum on November 6-7, 2006 at the Crowne Plaza O’Hare in Chicago. » Continue Reading
Sean Hargrave writes for the UK's The Guardian about the deployment of NFC-equipped mobile phones for payments in the UK. Hargrave quotes Alan Wright, head of mobile strategy at Motorola, who "points out that many of the new handsets coming on to the market within 12 to 18 months will be NFC-enabled. From then, it should become commonplace to pay for low value goods and services on a mobile phone - beginning with tickets."
Mallory Duncan, chairman of the Merchants Payments Coalition (MPC) and senior vice president and general counsel at the National Retail Federation, issued a statement yesterday following Visa's posting its interchange fees on its web site. » Continue Reading