Offering free online bill payment solutions to retail banking customers will cost the financial services industry $1 billion (USD) by 2010, according to TowerGroup estimates. "This aggregate amount represents spending on the portion of the service that financial services institutions (FSIs) outsource. While financial institutions traditionally accepted this expense as a cost of doing business, the “soft” revenue associated with online bill pay (enhanced customer retention, cross-sell opportunities, reduced call center activity, and higher profitability of online bill payment users) no longer compensates for the “hard” dollars institutions must spend to facilitate it."   » Continue Reading

Steve Hamm writes for Business Week about First Data's GO-Tags for contactless payments - "demoed this week at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, where First Data is based. The company demonstrated its newest technology, called GO-Tag, by distributing small buttons to 5,000 journalists and delegates. When they tapped the buttons on electronic sensors at concession stands in Denver's Pepsi (PEP) Center, they got free snacks and drinks."

• Pittsburgh Company Changes the Face of Multi-Billion-Dollar Gift Card Industry
• State Employees' Credit Union Extends Long-Term Agreement with Visa
• Business Week: Credit-Card Rage
• FT.com:US shoppers turn away from credit cards
• Convenience Store News: E&C Gives Discount for Cash

The Clearing House Board of Directors has announced that James D. Aramanda has been named the company's Chief Executive Officer effective September 8. He succeeds Jeffrey P. Neubert, who will retire from The Clearing House following a transition period.   » Continue Reading

In the latest in his podcast series, Dave Birch interviews Alistair Lukies, Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Monitise. Lukies talks about some of Monitise's recent partnerships including one with Carphone Warehouse to mobile-enable an open loop prepaid card in the UK and another with Made in Africa to mobile enable banking services in east Africa. If you're interested in mobile financial services, you'll enjoy this podcast!

• U.S. Banker Article: Learning to Monetize Mobile In The Land Down Under
• CNET News: Rising fraud threats in virtual worlds
• Hertz Europe Selects CyberSource Payer Authentication Service
• Fiserv MyMoney Banking Application Built on Facebook Platform Wins The Banker Technology Awards 2008 Retail Award for Online Innovation

J.P. Morgan has announced that "Brooklyn and Chicago recently used J.P. Morgan prepaid debit cards in successful campaigns to take firearms off the streets. The gun buy back programs were sponsored by local law enforcement officials who offered citizens prepaid debit cards for working guns, no questions asked. More than 7,500 firearms were collected at community churches and other turn-in sites in the two cities."   » Continue Reading

According to a survey sponsored by CheckFree, "more Americans than ever, an estimated 63.1 million households or three-fourth of those online, are paying their bills online rather than writing paper checks. The 2008 Consumer Banking and Bill Payment Survey, the eighth conducted by CheckFree since 2002, highlights Americans’ growing use of online banking and bill payment services to help manage their personal finances."   » Continue Reading

Today's PayPal webinar, last of the August webinar series, will focus on the topic of reducing shopping card abandonment. Patti Freeman Evans, research director from JupiterResearch, and Lewis Broadnax, director of e-commerce at Lenovo are participating. More info here - register here.

Videos and presentations from the eBay/PayPal Developers Conference held in June in Chicago are available online.

In a multi-part series, Sramana Mitra interviews mChek CEO Sanjay Swamy about his company's mobile banking and payments platform in India. Swamy comments: "It is very important to ensure there is a means of instant gratification. It may not expose you to all of the features and capabilities, but at least the customer can touch it now. That is what we had to do. We had to simplify the product and get it out there."

TrialPay has announced the launch of a new Gifts & Gourmet category with the company saying that "top companies from the food industry have enlisted in this new advertising section, marking a milestone for the payment method widely used for digital goods and services."   » Continue Reading

• NewsOn6.com - Tulsa, OK: Got a Gift Card? Use It Or Lose It
• Fiserv's eBILLPLACE.com Turns Green
• Alliance Data Signs New Long-Term Private Label Credit Agreement With Orchard Brands
• Element Payment Services Selects Hypercom to Enhance Its Express IP Payment Platform
• Breach Security Helps Organizations Accelerate PCI Compliance With New PCI QuickStart Packages
• ID Experts Releases Five Tips for Companies Victimized by a Data Breach
• The Hindu Business Line: Mobile banking guidelines likely in a fortnight
• Verizon Business Helps E-Retailers Gear Up for Holiday Crunch

Last week, Judge Barbara S. Jones issued a ruling narrowing the scope of Discover's antitrust lawsuit against MasterCard and Visa.

MasterCard commented: "MasterCard Worldwide said today it is pleased that Judge Barbara S. Jones narrowed the scope of Discover’s antitrust case against MasterCard by granting certain aspects of MasterCard’s summary judgment motion."

Visa commented: "As a consequence of these summary judgment rulings, Discover cannot challenge the legality of the agreements Visa has signed with its debit issuance partners. As such, it is unlikely the Discover litigation will have a significant impact on Visa's ongoing business operations."

Jim Bruene takes a look at Intuit's recently introduced Quicken Beam service - "the free service sends users text messages balance and activity alerts from most U.S. bank, credit card, and credit union accounts." Here's the press release introducing the service. Quicken Beam is one of the first services introduced by Intuit Labs.

Metavante has announced an alliance with Connect Software Solutions, an online banking provider for credit unions to bring Metavante’s bill presentment and payment solutions and Connect’s online banking platform together into a fully integrated online banking and bill pay product that will be delivered to the credit union market by Connect.   » Continue Reading

• New Mercator Advisory Group Report: Driving Consumers toward Mobile Money Services: Lessons from South Africa, the Philippines, and Kenya
• globeandmail.com: Mexicans to use cell phones to pay stores, taxis
• Alliance Data's Epsilon Signs Multi-Year Marketing Services Agreement With Commerce Bank
• Chris Skinner: How many cards are left in Chip&PIN terminals every day?
• Plastic Jungle Announces Board of Directors
• MediaWhiz Introduces Innovative Publisher Payment Solution Powered by Payoneer
• Discover(R) Small Business Watch(SM): Small Business Economic Confidence Increases for Second Consecutive Month

We're delighted to announce a revised and expanded schedule for our Glenbrook Payments Education events for the fall season.

• Glenbrook Workshops on Emerging Payments

  We've introduced a new, one-day Workshop on Emerging Payments. This advanced course will cover the newest developments in payments in the online, physicial point-of-sale, bill payment, and business to business arenas. The Workshop on Emerging Payments will be held twice this fall: in New York City on October 23 and in Mountain View, California on November 12. Registration for both Workshops is now open!

• Glenbrook Payments Boot Camps

  We're also presenting two sessions of our very popular Payments Boot Camp this fall - in the San Francisco Bay Area on October 15-16 and in Denver on December 3-4. Registration for both Boot Camps is now open.

• Private Payments Workshops

  In addition to these public sessions, Glenbrook also offers private payments workshops tailored and delivered at our client's locations. These workshops are individually customized to concentrate on the topics of most importance to you.

To learn more about Glenbrook's Payments Education series, contact Glenbrook's Carol Coye Benson.

Duncan Graham-Rowe writes for Technology Review about the San Francisco Bay Area's FasTrak bridge toll system and the finding by a security researcher that "that the unique identity numbers used to identify the FasTrak wireless transponders carried in cars can be copied or overwritten with relative ease."

• SmartMoney.com: The Dangers of Medical Credit Cards (GE, Citigroup)
• CreditCards.com: Credit cards and the gentleman from Delaware
• Bank Systems & Technology: Huntington Hits Annual m-Banking Target in Two Months
• Bank Systems & Technology: Comerica EVP and CIO John Beran Balances IT and Operations
• KeyBank is First to Market With Integrated Online Check/ACH Fraud Prevention for Small/Mid-Sized Companies
• New Aite Group Report: Global Core Banking Vendor Performance: Does Targeting the U.S. Market Make Sense?
• Digital Check Delivers CheXpress CX30 Check Scanners
• PaySimple Adds Open Source Shopping Cart Solution

Here's a review of this week's top stories on Payments News. Back to the future!: for fun, click for this same week's activity a year ago here on Payments News!

Looking for more payments-related reading? Checkout our Other Payments and Banking Blogs page for more from the blogosphere about the worlds of payments and banking.

Quote of the week: From Philip Mikal, COO of ChargeSmart: “We believe that consumers are taking advantage of the service for their car payments not only because of the credit card rewards they earn, but also the added convenience of being able to set up monthly payments, not to mention a useful cash management tool”

• APACS (UK) News
  • APACS Releases Latest Quarterly Statistics on UK Card Payments. (See more APACS and UK news.)
• Card Fraud News
  • Guardian Analytics announced the general availability of FraudMAP 2.0. (See more Card Fraud News.)
• Debit Card News
  • Surcharge-free ATM access is gaining in popularity among debit card issuers as they explore new ways to better serve cardholders, according to the 2008 Debit Issuer Study, commissioned by PULSE. (See more Debit Card News.)
• Mobile Banking News
  • Visa announced that it and eight North American financial institutions – PNC Bank, SunTrust Bank, U.S. Bank, Wachovia, and Wells Fargo in the United States, and Royal Bank of Canada, TD Bank Financial Group, and Vancity in Canada – have agreed to initiate a pilot program with up to a total of 2,000 participants to test the delivery of real-time notification alerts on Visa accounts. (See more Mobile Alerts and Visa news.)
• PayPal News
• The Reserve Bank of Australia's Payments System Board has announced that it will be pursuing reforms of some PayPal policies. (See more PayPal news.)
• PCI Compliance News
• The PCI Security Standards Council (PCI SSC) announced the availability of a summary of forthcoming changes to PCI DSS as it moves from version 1.1 to the previously announced version 1.2 in October. (See more PCI Compliance news.)
• Visa News
• Visa and Chase announced a consumer pilot to deliver merchant offers directly to the mobile devices of Chase credit and debit cardholders in the Phoenix metropolitan area. (See more Chase and Visa News.)

• Open Job Listings on PaymentsJobs.com
  
  • Director, Client Solutions - for a Mobile Payments start-up at Bling Nation (Palo Alto, CA)
  • Senior Business Analyst - Payments at Clear2pay Americas (New York, NY)
  • Senior Risk Management Analysts/Statisticians at Intuit (Woodland Hills, CA)
  • Senior Business Analyst - Check Processing at Clear2pay Americas (San Francisco, CA)
  • Lead Java Engineer, Develop Innovative Debt Management Services at Goalspring (San Francisco, CA)
  • Associate Consultant - Qualified Security Accessor at Xtrategies (Miami, FL)
  • Associate/Consultant - Risk Management at Xtrategies (Miami, FL)
  • Corporate Strategy, Senior Business Leader at Visa (San Francisco, CA)
• Upcoming Glenbrook Payments Education Offerings
  
  • Glenbrook Payments Boot Camp - Santa Clara, California - October 15-16
  • Glenbrook Payments Boot Camp - Denver - December 3-4

You can find all of our Weekly Wrap summaries in the Payments News Weekly Wrap Archive. They're published every Saturday and look back at the highlights of the week's news. Please share on how we can improve the Weekly Wrap!

Jim Bruene has announced the lineup of finalists who will be demo'ing their wares at the Finovate 2008 Conference coming up on Tuesday, October 14th in New York City. He's culled from a list of over 100 companies to a set of 24 finalists who will have the chance to strut their stuff.

Jim writes: "In a single action-packed day, we'll see several financial startups launch, a few major product overhauls revealed, and a pile of new features shown to the public for the first time. It could be the single biggest "news days" in the history of online finance."

October's simply a great time to be in New York and the Finovate conference format (no boring PowerPoint slides to sit through - just quick, to the point, 7-minute demos) keeps things moving and "information rich"!

For a taste of Finovate, see my postings from the San Francisco FinovateStartup conference held earlier this year. If you're interested in financial services innovation, you'll definitely want to be at the New York session in October. Registration is open - with a $100 Early Bird discount available. Glenbrook will be there - and we look forward to seeing you there.

Des Moines-based TMG (The Members Group) has announced it is expanding its prepaid product line with the availability of general purpose reloadable cards to its credit union clients. "The reloadable card service, called ATIRAreload, allows cardholders (and other authorized users) to load money onto the credit union-branded card, which can be used for purchases almost anywhere Visa Debit cards are accepted. The cards also function as ATM cards, giving cardholders instant access to cash."   » Continue Reading

First Data has announced that "during this year's Democratic National Convention (DNC), Denver's Pepsi Center will serve not only as a focal point of American politics, but also as an arena for the future of how people will pay for goods and services. Next week, First Data will introduce a new payment technology to thousands of select media and delegates attending the DNC. Beginning August 25 through August 28, media and delegates receiving a limited edition pin from First Data can use the commemorative pin as a payment device to purchase refreshments up to $10 in value at participating Pepsi Center concession stands."   » Continue Reading

APACS issued a press release today responding to an earlier CPP release titled "Forecast is hot for fraud this Bank Holiday". APACS says that in the release "PP offers incorrect information when claiming that Spain and France are “… the top spots where Brits fall victim to card theft”. APACS says that its latest statistics "show that fraud in France on UK issued cards has decreased by £4.3million in two years, and France has dropped to fourth place for where fraud on our cards is committed. This is a direct result of the French introducing the same global chip and PIN system that we are using in the UK. Equally, fraud in Spain has fallen by £3.9 million since their rollout." In fact, based upon APACS 2007 fraud figures for UK-issued cards, the card fraud abroad is highest in USA (£24.6m) followed by Italy (£9.6m), Australia (£8.2m), France (£7.3m) and Spain (£5.7m).   » Continue Reading

• Reuters: Olympics-Visa looks to extend sponsorship beyond London

James Gardner writes on his BankerVision blog about what's happening with cloud computing and predicts: "In 10 years, 2 decades at the most, I believe banks will own neither data centres or networks."

Visa and Chase have announced a consumer pilot to deliver merchant offers directly to the mobile devices of Chase credit and debit cardholders in the Phoenix metropolitan area. According to the two companies, "the offers – from merchant discounts to specials – are tailored to match the personal interests selected by Chase cardholders and will be redeemable at the point of sale or the web site of more than 50 participating merchants."   » Continue Reading

In a post titled "Could Mobile Payments Get a Boost from Lowly Stickers?", Jim Bruene writes on his NetBanker blog about contactless payment stickers - "It's a quarter-sized sticker you plop on the back of your mobile phone making it instantly payment enabled."

First Data has published "Contactless Payments: Consumer Trends and Usage Preferences" saying that "the first step toward mobile commerce is the introduction of consumer-friendly form factors (i.e. a sticker attached to a person’s mobile device or ID badge; a wristband; or a key fob)." FDC calls its contactless stickers GO-Tags.

Click here for a Google search that will find more articles about contactless stickers.

Capco has published its latest Journal of Financial Transformation - with this issue focusing on retail financial services. From the abstract: "Within the financial sector the retail financial services area is one where innovations have been most evident. Financial institutions are increasingly recognizing and reacting to growing competition in this space, both from banks and non-bank players, and learning how to incorporate best practices from other retail disciplines. As this diffusion of ideas into the industry increases, so will the number of new and innovative services. This issue of the journal provides a comprehensive review of the developments made in the world of retail and the aspects that have been, or can be, applied within the financial services sector."

99Bill Corporation has announced the launch of a new service offering installment credit enabling consumers to buy goods by paying in installments. 99Bill says this is the first of its kind in China's electronics payment service market.   » Continue Reading

• StorefrontBacktalk: Techniques, Tools, and Tirades about Retail Technology and E-Commerce
• Office of the Comptroller of the Currency Sides With Banks Against Consumers on Credit Card Reform Proposal
• StorefrontBacktalk: Why PCI 1.2 Ignoring Virtualization Won't Matter
• Credit Slips: Why the OCC Can't Be Relied on for Consumer Protection
• Huffington Post: Why you should never pay with a debit card.
• EMC Unveils Solution Designed to Help Financial Institutions and Creditors Comply With FACTA Red Flags Rules and Prevent Identity Theft
• Bloomberg: Banks Warn Credit Card Legislation May Hurt, Not Help Consumers
• Bank Systems & Technology: Mobile Banking Takes Off ... Or Does It?
• Bank Systems & Technology: Mobile Banking a Money Maker for U.K. Banks
• KIRO Seattle: Loyalty Card Idea Could Make Wallets Thinner (Chockstone's SingleSwipe)

In an article titled "The next credit crunch", Fortune senior editor at large writes that "we may be approaching the end of the most worrisome bubble of all: the standard-of-living bubble."

The Bank of Canada has published a new discussion paper titled "Merchant Acceptance, Costs, and Perceptions of Retail Payments: A Canadian Survey" by Carlos Arango and Varya Taylor.   » Continue Reading

PayPal is holding one of its weekly webinars later this morning on the subject of "Building Loyal Customers to Increase Profitability". Speakers include David Daniels, vice president and research director at JupiterResearch, and Jeff Wisot, vice president of marketing at Buy.com.

The Reserve Bank of Australia's Payments System Board has announced that it will be pursuing reforms of some PayPal policies: "Over recent months, the Board has received a number of comments on the no-surcharge and no-steering rules that apply to payments using the PayPal system as well as the mandated acceptance of PayPal on eBay’s auction site. Where no-surcharge and no-steering rules have existed in other systems, the Board has encouraged their removal on the grounds that these rules can diminish competition in the payments system. Consistent with this, the Bank will shortly be holding discussions with PayPal with a view to seeking the removal of these rules."

• CreditCards.com 'Taking Charge' survey: People adapt card use to changed economy
• Business Week: Credit Cards Replace Small Business Loans
• Washington Post's Security Fix Blog: Web Fraud 2.0: Validating Your Stolen Goods
• IBM: Web Merchant Enlists Power Players to Fight Credit Card Fraud
• Aberdeen Group: Addressing PCI Compliance Takes Longer, Costs More Than Expected
• Optimized Payments Consulting Helps Retail Merchants Lower Credit Card Processing Costs With New Research Paper
• eBay Supports Sellers With Dramatically Lower Listing Fee

Most observers note that the eventual success of mobile payments for face-to-face purchases depends upon the rollout of new POS devices that support contactless payments.

Yesterday, Pulse released a summary of results from its 2008 Debit Issuer Study. Included for the first time were results on three areas of emerging payments: contactless, mobile banking and mobile payments.

The survey results for contactless found that 10 percent of respondents currently offer contactless debit cards with another 35 percent saying they plan to introduce contactless in the future. Of the 10 percent that currently offer contactless, 24 percent of their cardbase is contactless, on average. The survey reported that the "key barriers to contactless adoption are low merchant acceptance, unfavorable cost/benefit ratios and low demand."

A different story seems to be emerging in the UK where, as we reported recently, there's a significant rollout of contactless already underway in London.

ClairMail has announced that Alerus Financial, a Midwestern-based financial services company offering banking and wealth management services, has selected ClairMail to power its new mobile banking offering – Alerus Mobile Access.   » Continue Reading

• Retailers Slow to Invest in Online Customer Experience, According to New Report by RSR Research
• Boston Globe: Gag order lifted against MIT students as T admits ticketing flaws
• New Mercator Advisory Group Report: Merchant Funded Discount Networks: Adding to the Payments Value Chain
• Barclaycard US Appoints Michelle Bottomley as Chief Marketing Officer
• Fifth Third Bank to Introduce Visa Signature Program
• U.S. Bank Acquires ATM-Related Services of Palm Desert National Bank's Electronic Banking Solutions
• M&I Bank to Begin Check Image Exchange Through Viewpointe's Pointe2Pointe Solution
• Pacific Daily News: Guam banks can hold checks longer: Federal rule exempts banks outside continental U.S.
• Serverside Group: More Evidence That Personal Cards Pay
• NBKI Now Provides FICO Credit Score to Russian Lenders

The PCI Security Standards Council (PCI SSC) has announced the availability of a summary of forthcoming changes to PCI DSS as it moves from version 1.1 to the previously announced version 1.2 in October.   » Continue Reading

Visa has announced that it and eight North American financial institutions – PNC Bank, SunTrust Bank, U.S. Bank, Wachovia, and Wells Fargo in the United States, and Royal Bank of Canada, TD Bank Financial Group, and Vancity in Canada – have agreed to initiate a pilot program with up to a total of 2,000 participants to test the delivery of real-time notification alerts on Visa accounts.   » Continue Reading

On Track Innovations has announced that Garanti Technology (GT), an affiliate of Garanti Bank, Turkey's third largest private bank, has won the "Best Innovation in a Loyalty Programme" award at the Cards & Payments Europe 2008 for the "Bonus Trink" Sticker project based on OTI's smart sticker contactless payment device.   » Continue Reading

Surcharge-free ATM access is gaining in popularity among debit card issuers as they explore new ways to better serve cardholders, according to the 2008 Debit Issuer Study, commissioned by PULSE. Financial institutions also are increasingly offering debit rewards.   » Continue Reading

Guardian Analytics has announced the general availability of FraudMAP 2.0 - saying that this release extends its "proprietary Dynamic Account Modeling technology to model all individual online account holder activity session by session, from login to logout, increasing FraudMAP's ability to detect suspicious actions and flag behaviors inconsistent with predicted account holder behavior."   » Continue Reading

The Credit Card Fair Fee Act of 2008, H.R. 5546, was introduced in March by Rep. John Conyers and co-sponsored by 39 other representatives with the objective to "to amend the antitrust laws to ensure competitive market-based rates and terms for merchants' access to electronic payment systems".

A transcript of the Judiciary Committee's recent markup discussion of this bill is available online - and makes for interesting reading.

ChargeSmart has reported that payments for automotive loans and leases are the most prominent transaction since the company launched its online service this past July. With a network of more than 4,000 billers, ChargeSmart’s web-based payment application allows consumers with a major credit card to make payments to companies in four different industries, including auto loans and/or leases, home mortgages, education loans and utility companies.   » Continue Reading

APACS has released its latest quarterly statistical summary of UK card payment activity.

"In the second quarter of 2008 there were 1.8 billion plastic card purchases made in the UK totalling £92.6 billion. The number of purchases was 7.8% higher than in the second quarter of 2007, and spending was 7.5% higher. Debit cards accounted for 73.4% of all plastic card purchases compared with 71.6% in the second quarter of 2007."

• Many Low-To-Moderate Income Americans Still Not 'Banked' Despite Numerous Financial Options Available
• LifeLock Develops Comprehensive Fraud Advisory Board
• PC World: Business Center: Scammers Replace Credit Card Readers in Irish Stores
• PCI Security Standards Council to Host Webinar on Relationship between Different PCI Security Standards
• Discover® Card Launches Income Gap Protection
• Quova Helps the Alaska Department of Revenue Detect Fraudulent Applications for the Permanent Fund Dividend Division
• Identity-fraud Expert Offers Insight into OTS Red Flag Examination Procedures
• New Banking Client for First Data in Poland
• New Aite Group Report: Managing Delinquencies and Losses in Tough Economic Conditions
• ComputerWeekly.com: Police warn of security threat to every chip-and-Pin terminal in UK
• Boston Globe: T hacking exposes a deeper clash
• Boston Globe: Judge awaits students' research paper
• Economist: New tickets, please - The contract for London’s transport card is up for grabs

Here's a review of this week's top stories on Payments News. Back to the future!: for fun, click for this same week's activity a year ago here on Payments News!

Looking for more payments-related reading? Checkout our Other Payments and Banking Blogs page for more from the blogosphere about the worlds of payments and banking.

Quote of the week: From Virginia Garcia of TowerGroup: "The inevitable convergence of remittances and mobility offers new opportunities for banks to grow this market by making payments faster, more convenient, more secure, and more accessible to a greater number of senders and recipients.”

• Featured Articles
  • Glenbrook's Russ Jones recently met with Ken Myles of NACHA to get an update on NACHA's Secure Vault Payments initiative. (See more ACH, eCommerce Payments, NACHA, Online Banking, and Secure Vault Payments news.)
  • Glenbrook's Carol Coye Benson recently interviewed Murali Subbarao, CEO of Billeo, about the status of the online bill payment marketplace in the US. (See more Bill Payment, Billeo, and Online Banking news.)
• Card Fraud News
  • In an article titled "Global Trail of an Online Crime Ring", Brad Stone wrote for the New York Times about the investigation leading up to last weeks announcement by the Department of Justice and other agencies about the indictments of 11 people involved in compromising millions of credit and debit card accounts. (See more Card Fraud News.)
  • In a Red Tape Chronicle's column on MSNBC titled "DID PIN THIEVES GRAB HACKING'S HOLY GRAIL?", MSNBC's Bob Sullivan writes about last week's indictments of eleven alleged international computer hackers. (See more Card Fraud News.)
• Credit Card News
  • Several articles of note appeared "slamming" the credit card - including various credit card issuer business practices, etc. (See more Card Issuers and Credit Card News.)
• eCommerce Payments News
  • TrialPay announced that, In less than two years, it has more than 10 million users with more than 5,000 premier merchants having adopted its payment platform. (See more eCommerce Payments and TrialPay news.)
• Mobile Banking News
  • TowerGroup released a new report titled “Disruptive Technology Spawns Market Revolution: The Ascent of Mobile Remittances into the Mainstream” finding the "accelerating investments being made in ubiquitous mobile payment platforms will be a disruptive industry force. (See more Mobile Banking, Mobile Payments, Remittances and TowerGroup news.)

• Open Job Listings on PaymentsJobs.com
  
  • Associate Consultant - Qualified Security Accessor at Xtrategies (Miami, FL)
  • Associate/Consultant - Risk Management at Xtrategies (Miami, FL)
  • Corporate Strategy, Senior Business Leader at Visa (San Francisco, CA)
  • Sr. Marketing Capabilities Manager - Mobile at Alliance Data (Columbus, OH)
• Upcoming Glenbrook Payments Education Offerings
  
  • Glenbrook Payments Boot Camp - Santa Clara, California - October 15-16
  • Glenbrook Payments Boot Camp - Denver - December 3-4

You can find all of our Weekly Wrap summaries in the Payments News Weekly Wrap Archive. They're published every Saturday and look back at the highlights of the week's news. Please share on how we can improve the Weekly Wrap!

Glenbrook's Russ Jones recently met with Ken Myles of NACHA to get an update on NACHA's Secure Vault Payments initiative. Read on for Russ' insights and reactions to what he learned.   » Continue Reading

• CreditCards.com: Nearly 2 million Discover accounts to shift to variable-rate terms
• iTWire: 18,000 Aussie taxis to get contactless payment technology
• Ingenico Announces Class A Certification from Chase Paymentech Solutions for its New Terminals
• TheStreet.com: Cash-Back Cards Aren't Money in the Bank
• Storefront Backtalk: How to Sell PCI To Business Units

In an article titled "PayPal wants to double its employment in Austin", Kirk Ladendorf writes for the Austin American-Statesman about PayPal's plans to double its current 200 person software development organization in Austin. He writes: "The company is entrusting some of its most important work — software for new payment products, fraud detection and help-desk assistance —to the Austin technical team."

Glenbrook's Carol Coye Benson recently interviewed Murali Subbarao, CEO of Billeo, about the status of the online bill payment marketplace in the US. Read on for her full interview .   » Continue Reading

Fair Isaac has introduced the Fraud Alert Network Forum, an online community in which financial professionals share tips, techniques and experiences in dealing with increasingly sophisticated fraud schemes. The new forum, previously known as the CardAlert Fraud Forum, originally launched in 2002.   » Continue Reading

First Data Corp. has reported its financial results for the second quarter of 2008. Consolidated revenues were up 10% to $2.2 billion. The adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) were up 7% to $653 million.

"Our focus on investment in product development is starting to pay off with significant customer wins in multiple segments," said Michael Capellas, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of First Data. "Despite difficult economic conditions, we continued to grow revenue and improve profitability."

• Third Quarter Financial Results Reported by Meta Financial Group
• New Javelin Research: Mobile Banking Vendor Analysis: A Thorough Comparison on Features, Partnerships and Overall Strategy Will Yield Highest Profitability
• PaySpot and Futura(R) Card Services Announce Multi-Year Distribution Agreement
• An Introduction to the FDIC’s Small Dollar Loan Pilot Program
• Comerica Bank Introduces EZ Perks Rewards Program
• CreditCards.com: Taking Charge poll: Nearly 3 of 4 Americans favor government regulation of credit cards
• Intuit Unveils Small Business Connected Strategy
• New MoneyWi$e Interactive Financial Education Resource Launches Online
• Fiserv Launches Source Capture Optimization Approach to Capture Deposits from Any Location

TowerGroup has released a new report titled “Disruptive Technology Spawns Market Revolution: The Ascent of Mobile Remittances into the Mainstream” finding the "accelerating investments being made in ubiquitous mobile payment platforms will be a disruptive industry force. As a consequence TowerGroup believes the emerging revolution occurring for sending and receiving remittances may well undercut existing fee structures and traffic volume of incumbent brick-and-mortar money transfer operators, which already appear to be under pressure in this current economic climate."   » Continue Reading

In a Red Tape Chronicle's column titled "DID PIN THIEVES GRAB HACKING'S HOLY GRAIL?", MSNBC's Bob Sullivan writes about last week's indictments of eleven alleged international computer hackers and the news that "at at least one retail chain, the indictments accuse the group of swiping encrypted versions of debit card PINs, decrypting them, then using the information to print debit cards and get cash from ATMs."

JPMorgan has announced that it is "the first major financial institution to enable insurance companies to use prepaid debit cards to deliver workers compensation benefits to injured or disabled workers. The Chase Workers Compensation Card, issued by JPMorgan, provides insurance companies with an alternative method for paying injured workers and improves the benefits payment process by reducing the costs and time associated with paper-based check distribution. Cardholders benefit from efficient, economical and reliable access to insurance payments without having to wait for a check to arrive in the mail."   » Continue Reading

TrialPay has announced that, In less than two years, it now has more than 10 million users with more than 5,000 premier merchants having adopted its unique payment platform.

According to TrialPay, "unlike regular options such as Visa, MasterCard, PayPal, Google Checkout and Bill Me Later, TrialPay actually increases a customer's willingness to pay by giving a 2-for-1 with every purchase. In just its second year, TrialPay counts 18 million visitors each month and 40,000 new users every day from around the globe to rival that of other top-tier online payment companies."   » Continue Reading

• Christian Science Monitor Op-Ed: The Outrage in Your Credit Card's Fine Print
• Visa Inc. Files Form 10-Q with SEC
• American Fiber Systems Connects Hooters of America New POS System to Remote Locations
• Study of Retail Financial Institutions Shows That Consumer Trust Drives Share of Wallet Capture
• Arby's Restaurants Satisfy Consumers' Cravings for Savings With Cellfire Mobile Coupons
• Yodlee(R) Releases Results from New Consumer PFM Survey
• BBC NEWS: Device 'steals chip-and-pin data'
• Juniper Research Forecasts Mobile Money Transfers Opportunity for Service Providers to Exceed $5bn by 2013
• Today's PayPal Webinar: Using Social Media and Networking to Boost Sales

First Data Corp. has announced that it has entered into a new payment processing agreement with Nordstrom fsb, a wholly owned subsidiary of Nordstrom, Inc. and a federally chartered thrift savings bank.

"The seven-year agreement calls for First Data to provide card processing, call center and back office automation tools, fraud and risk management, customer analytics as well as e-statements and email alerts for Nordstrom's entire card portfolio including Nordstrom Visa, private label credit and debit cards and commercial cards for Nordstrom employees. The portfolio totals about 4.5 million card accounts on file. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.   » Continue Reading

In an article titled "Global Trail of an Online Crime Ring", Brad Stone writes for the New York Times about the investigation leading up to last weeks announcement by the Department of Justice and other agencies about the indictments of 11 people involved in compromising millions of credit and debit card accounts.

• abc7news.com: No cash needed -- pay your bills with your cell phone 8/12/08
• USATODAY.com: Authorized-user credit card plans can be useful, and abused
• Most Parents Talk to Their Kids About Using Money Wisely, Visa Study Finds
• Travelex and ICBA Reach Agreement for Member Banks to Sell New Cash Passport(TM) and CashPax(TM)
• CreditCards.com: Loan officers' survey: Credit card lending standards tighten sharply
• Washington Post: FDIC Pilot Program Explores Alternatives to Payday Loans
• MegaPath Acquires IP Merchant Solutions, Providing Retail MPLS VPN Customers with Access to Credit Card Processors
• New Mercator Advisory Group Report: Retail Credit Cards: New Interest In An Old Topice
• SVPCO Image Exchange Volume Hits All-Time High in July: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance

Several articles of note have recently appeared "slamming" the credit card - including various credit card issuer business practices, etc. Below are some highlights:

• The Debt Trap - a series of articles and accompanying multimedia content that the New York Times has been running for the last week or so. The second article in the series ran on Saturday: Outside U.S., Credit Cards Tighten Grip.
• Listen to the 56,000 - a New York Times editorial that ran last Tuesday.
• Sunday's Washington Post Business section carried on its front page the article "Credit Card Industry Faces Reforms" by Nancy Trejos.
• Sunday's Parade magazine section included the article: Don't Get Clobbered By Credit Cards! by Gary Weiss. The online article includes a poll asking readers whether Congress should regulate credit cards.
• Today, ABC News Consumer Correspondent Elisabeth Leamy writes Credit Card Junkies, Get Your Scissors.

Do you know of any other similar recent articles? If so, please post a comment linking to them or email us Feedback by clicking on the link in the top toolbar on this page.

CyberSource and Trustwave have announced a partnership to provide payment security solutions to Trustwave and CyberSource merchants in the United States and Europe. The solutions "will help merchants streamline compliance validation with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), providing a complete set of payment security services for merchants."   » Continue Reading

Visa has announced that the "international tourists who have joined the more than 11,000 athletes from 204 participating National Olympic Committees in China for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games have had an immediate impact on the nation’s economy, including nearly US$10 million spent on Visa cards on the opening day of the Games. The money spent by tourists on their Visa credit, debit and prepaid cards on 8 August 2008 showed an increase of 11 percent over last year (8 August 2007). Opening Day’s biggest Visa spenders were from USA, followed by Japan, Hong Kong SAR, South Korea and the United Kingdom. Visitors from these five locations accounted for more than half of all Visa card spend on 8 August 2008."   » Continue Reading

• Paying With Cash? JetBlue Airways and Western Union Make Flight Purchases Easy and Convenient
• Bank Systems & Technology: U.K. Banks Now Charge for Mobile Banking
• AuctionBytes: Mpayy Promises Payments from Anywhere
• WSJ.com: Some Stores Quiet Over Card Breach
• PayPal Exec Dana Stadler Joins VC Matrix Partners (EBAY)
• Bharti Airtel to Pilot XIUS-bcgi's New End-to-End Mobile Transaction Platform
• TraceSecurity and Wescom Resources Group Announce Partnership to Provide Added Online Banking Security to Credit Unions
• nCircle Releases Configuration Auditing Packages for Retail and PCI
• MicroBilt Guarantees "Red Flag" Identity Theft Prevention; Helps Small Businesses, Consumers Recoup Losses
• Software Earnings Launches Payments Navigator
• New Aite Group Report: Trends in Anti-Money Laundering Compliance: Evolving Practices and Strategies
• PaySimple: Electronic Payment Processing Leader Launches New Online Customer Support Center

Here's a review of this week's top stories on Payments News. Back to the future!: for fun, click for this same week's activity a year ago here on Payments News!

Looking for more payments-related reading? Checkout our Other Payments and Banking Blogs page for more from the blogosphere about the worlds of payments and banking.

Quote of the week:: From Tom Wills, Senior Analyst, Security and Fraud, at Javelin Strategy and Research: "With the majority of financial institutions in compliance after the frenzied rush to meet the authentication requirements of the 2005 FFIEC Guidance, a number of financial institutions have relaxed into a satisfied mode. Compliance is not security, however, and complacency increases risk.

• ACH News
  • Glenbrook’s Carol Coye Benson interviewed