Here's what's coming up soon at Glenbrook:

Next Wednesday - Glenbrook Payments Essentials Webinar:
Social Payments - A Scenario Analysis - a one hour webinar next Wednesday, May 5th at 10:30 AM Pacific - fee $149.

See NetBanker Jim Bruene's praise for Glenbrook's presentation on Social Payments by Russ Jones and Erin McCune earlier this week at NACHA's Payments 2010 conference in Seattle. We'll be reprising this presentation on next Wednesday's webinar. (Big thanks to Jim!)

Our next Payments Boot Camp is on May 19th and 20th in Santa Clara, CA - taught by Scott Loftesness and Carol Coye Benson. Enroll now for this public session - or contact us to discuss an on-site private Glenbrook payments workshop for your company. READ MORE »

Visa has announced financial results for its fiscal second quarter 2010 ended March 31, 2010 with GAAP net operating revenue in the fiscal second quarter of 2010 of $2.0 billion, an increase of 19% over the prior year. According to Visa, revenue was "driven by strong contributions across all revenue categories, in particular data processing and international transaction revenues."

Some highlights:

• Payments volume growth, on a constant dollar basis for the three months ended December 31, 2009 on which fiscal second quarter service revenue is recognized, was up 8% over the prior year at $769 billion.
• Payments volume growth, on a constant dollar basis, for the three months ended March 31, 2010, was up 13% over the prior year at $745 billion.
• Cross border volume growth, on a constant dollar basis, was positive 12% for the three months ended March 31, 2010.
• Total processed transactions, which represent transactions processed by VisaNet, for the three months ended March 31, 2010 totaled 10.6 billion, a 14% increase over the prior year.

A conference call replay, presentation and more detailed operational performance data are available online. Seeking Alpha has made available a transcript of today's Visa earnings conference call. READ MORE »

The US House Judiciary Committee is holding a hearing today on H.R. 2695, the "Credit Card Fair Fee Act of 2009". Witnesses include:

• David Carpenter, President, J.D Carpenter Companies, Inc. - on behalf of the National Association of Convenience Stores
• Edmund Mierzwinski, Director, Consumer Program, U.S. PIRG
• John Blum, Vice President of Operations, Chartway Federal Credit Union - on Behalf of the National Association of Federal Credit Unions
• Douglas Kantor, Partner - Government Affairs & Public Policy, Steptoe & Johnson, LLP - on behalf of the National Association of Convenience Stores, the Society of Indepent Gasoline Marketers of America, and the Merchants Payments Coalition

Bradesco and Banco do Brasil have announced signing a Memorandum of Understanding "regarding the launch of a Brazilian brand and integration of part of their credit cards operations." Specifically, they have entered into a non-binding memorandum of understanding for the preparation of a business model, involving:

• The integration of part of their card operations;
• The launch of a Brazilian brand ("Elo") of credit, debit and pre-paid cards for account-holders and non-account-holders;
• The joint creation of new businesses for private label cards (cards offered to non-account-holder clients through partner merchants);
• The creation of a company to sell cards to certain determined groups of non-account-holder clients;
• The transfer of shareholdings retained by both institutions or their subsidiaries in CBSS S.A., for the subsequent creation of a company.

More details in this WSJ.com article and this Reuters story.

Visa has announced it is prohibiting web merchants from providing cardholder information to other companies without the consumer's knowledge or active consent. To address the data pass practice, Visa is requiring that "merchants will now have to prompt consumers to re-enter their card information to accept a subsequent offer from a third-party merchant. This provides a clear signal to cardholders that a second purchase is being initiated and protects them from questionable marketing practices."

According to Visa, "the misleading practice, called "data pass," usually involves a consumer shopping at a familiar retailer. At checkout, the consumer receives an offer for a discount or reward and does not realize it is from a different merchant and comes with unexpected monthly membership fees or recurring charges. Such deceptive marketing can result in high levels of consumer disputes and degrades the efficiency, reliability and security of the payment system. According to a 2009 U.S. Senate Commerce Committee staff report, 35 million consumers have paid $1.4 billion for "data pass" marketing offers." READ MORE »

• Glenbrook's Jay DeWitt on PaymentsViews.com: Payments News You Can Use! (Of the Beer and Transportation Sort)
• NetBanker: My Favorite Presentation of 2010: Glenbrook Provides Roadmap for Web 2.0 & Social Payments
• San Jose Mercury News: Palo Alto entrepreneur steps out of Facebook's shadow (FaceCash's Aaron Greenspan)
• People's Daily Online (China): Mobile payment market hurt by weak demand
• Bank Technology News: Banks Still Wary of PayPal's Party
• Bank Technology News: US: To EMV Or Not?
• Advertising Age: Banks Find Their Brands Rising With Economy's Tide
• NYTimes.com: Cellphone Payments Offer Alternative to Cash
• Statement of the Electronic Payments Coalition on H.R. 2695
• mPayy Adds Tournament Games to its Payment Network
• Entrust Brings Strong Authentication to Mobile Devices - Versatile Authentication Platform Secures Consumer and Enterprise Environments
• Digital Transactions: As Its PayPal Program Unfolds, Star Zeroes in on Online PIN Debit
• WSJ.com: Canada Credit Unions Cutting Into Banks' Domestic Mkt: Moody's
• Bank Systems & Technology: Citi's Bundle.com Lures Consumers With Spending Data, Comparisons
• Bling Nation Completes SAS 70 Type II Audit
• Plastic Jungle Blog:Future of Money (and a bit about our Present)
• E-Invoicing Could Help Save European Economy Millions And Support Growth
• Innovative North American Financial Institution to Issue EMV Cards with ACI Worldwide and Bell ID Solution
• PayPal Blog: PayPal to Open Mobile Payments Library to Developers
• AirPlus Survey Discusses Mobile Technology Integration into Corporate Travel Programs
• ERATE iPhone App Now Includes Credit Card Rates, Says Informa Research Services
• Easily Pay Your Kansas Property Taxes Online at www.kansas.gov/propertytax
• IBD - Investors.com: Small Businesses Use Smart Phones For Electronic Payments
• Seeking Alpha: Fidelity National Information Services, Inc. Q1 2010 Earnings Call Transcript
• Seeking Alpha: The Explosion of e-Commerce in China
• LifeLock: Clean out the Clutter and Help Keep Your Identity Safe This Spring