« April 4, 2010 - April 10, 2010 | Main | April 18, 2010 - April 24, 2010 »
Earlier today, two Glenbrook partners, Allen Weinberg and Bryan Derman, arrived in Haiti to present a specialized Glenbrook Payments Boot Camp on Saturday for 50+ representatives of the Haitian banking sector, led by the Reserve Bank of Haiti.
Read more about Glenbrook's involvement in Haiti - see Allen Weinberg's post on PaymentsViews.com.
In a press release, the Interac Association says it "welcomes the final Code of Conduct for Debit and Credit Payments in Canada released today by federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty. After a comprehensive consultation period with stakeholders, the Minister has developed meaningful and practical solutions that will effectively address significant concerns that have been raised by merchants and consumers about changes taking place in Canada’s debit marketplace." READ MORE »
The Honourable Jim Flaherty, Minister of Finance, has released a Code of Conduct for the Credit and Debit Card Industry in Canada that "promotes fair business practices and ensures that merchants and consumers understand the costs and benefits associated with credit and debit cards." (See Code of Conduct and an associated Backgrounder).
“Businesses have voiced real concerns about the lack of choice they have had in accepting debit and credit card payments, and about the costs involved. These added business costs are borne by merchants and may be passed on to consumers, which makes this an issue of importance to all Canadians,” said Minister Flaherty. “The Code of Conduct encourages choice and competition. It gives merchants the freedom to choose which card networks they use, helps them control their costs, and allows them to pass on savings to their customers.” READ MORE »
The STAR Network has launched a redesigned web site at STAR.com.
The new STAR.com is content-rich and easy to navigate, designed to serve as your one-stop resource for information about STAR and PIN debit. Our experts will offer their points of view on key industry topics in the Insights section. And the About STAR section houses the newsroom, with recent STAR announcements, press releases, and media relations contact information – all organized so you can quickly find the information you need."
A feature on the new STAR.com site is a series of 9 tips for retail bankers about how they can enhance their investment in PIN debit.
Bank of America has reported financial results for the first quarter 2010.
In its Global Card Services unit, the bank reported "net income of $952 million as credit costs declined, reflecting continued improvement in the U.S. economy. Net revenue declined 9 percent to $6.8 billion due to lower net interest income from the decline in average loans and lower fee income resulting from the implementation of the CARD Act. Provision for credit losses decreased $4.7 billion to $3.5 billion from a year ago as lower delinquencies and lower expected losses from the improved economic outlook drove reserve reductions during the quarter."
Debit card purchase volume was $56.1 billion, up 10% over 1Q09. Credit card volume was $48.7 billion, up 1% over 1Q09.
Prosper.com has announced that it has raised $14.7 million in a Series D round from new investors TomorrowVentures, LLC and CompuCredit Holdings Corporation and all of Prosper’s existing investors: Accel Partners; Benchmark Capital; DAG Ventures; Meritech Capital Partners; Omidyar Network; QED Investors; and Volition Capital (formerly Fidelity Ventures). Including this latest round of financing, Prosper has raised a total of $57.7 million to date. READ MORE »
Note: Throughout the day, as Payments News happens, this post is updated. For job opportunities available for payments professionals, visit PaymentsJobs.com. Employers looking to hire payments professionals can post their job openings there as well.
GlobalCollect has announced that private equity firm Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe (WCAS) has signed an agreement to acquire a majority share in GlobalCollect from General Atlantic LLC. GlobalCollect's senior management continues to hold the remaining stakes in the firm and will remain in charge of the operational business. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed. READ MORE »
MasterCard has announced the launch of MasterCard Labs - calling it "a new global Research & Development arm dedicated to bringing innovative payment solutions to market with greater speed than ever before." Garry Lyons has been named Group Executive, Research & Development and will oversee MasterCard Labs. MasterCard has published a short video about MasterCard Labs. READ MORE »
Note: Throughout the day, as Payments News happens, this post is updated. For job opportunities available for payments professionals, visit PaymentsJobs.com. Employers looking to hire payments professionals can post their job openings there as well.
Click to read his just filed Field Report for more details!
Lending Club has announced closing a $24.5 million investment round led by Foundation Capital with participation by existing investors Morgenthaler Ventures, Norwest Venture Partners and Canaan Partners. READ MORE »
Mercury Payment Systems and Silver Lake Partners have jointly announced that "Silver Lake will make a strategic growth investment in Mercury and acquire approximately 60% of the Colorado-based business." Mercury founders Marc Katz and Jeffrey Katz, and existing investor Larry Stone, will collectively retain approximately 40% ownership in the company. They also will continue to serve on its board of directors and help guide Mercury's strategy. READ MORE »
JP Morgan Chase has reported financial results for the first quarter 2010. For its Card Services unit, Chase report a net loss of $303MM compared with a net loss of $547MM in 1Q09. The net charge-off rate (excluding the WaMu portfolio) increased to 10.54% in 1Q10 vs. 6.86% in 1Q09 and 8.64% in 4Q09 and nnd-of-period loan outstandings (excluding the WaMu portfolio) were $132.1 billion, down 12% YoY and 8% QoQ. Card sales volume (excluding the WaMu portfolio) was up 7% YoY to $66.9 billion.
Chase Paymentech merchant processing volume was $108 billion on 4.7 billion total transactions processed.
A new report, ‘The Way We Pay 2010‘, published by the UK Payments Council "shows a payments revolution occurred in the noughties, and this looks set to continue over the next decade. The last decade not only saw the rise of internet banking and shopping but it was also the decade where cards took control of our wallets as cheques and cash were increasingly replaced by a card – particularly the debit card."
Card usage has flourished as traditional payment means have withered. But credit card usage has actually fallen in real terms since 2005. Debit cards have become the payments workhorses. We have increased how much we spend on cards fourfold in ten years and will use them six billion times this year. Increasingly debit cards have taken over both higher value credit card payments, and lower value cash payments. By 2018, one in four of all transactions will be on a debit card, up from just one in twenty ten years ago.
Note: Throughout the day, as Payments News happens, this post is updated. For job opportunities available for payments professionals, visit PaymentsJobs.com. Employers looking to hire payments professionals can post their job openings there as well.
Upcoming Glenbrook Payments Essentials Webinar: Social Payments - A Scenario Analysis - a one hour webinar on May 5th at 10:30 AM Pacific - fee $149.
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.
Payments Boot Camps are also scheduled for October 6th and 7th in New York City, and October 20th and 21st in Santa Clara, CA.
Mobile Payments - Carol Coye Benson's Musings on Mobile Payments is available as an immediate eBook download for $19.95.
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Need help with a payments-related project? Glenbrook can help - tell us what you need!
As part of a broader announcement about enhancements to its MasterCard Easy Savings Program for small businesses, MasterCard is providing a free, location-enabled Easy Savings iPhone and iPod Touch application for the iPhone that enables small businesses to find participating MasterCard Easy Savings Program merchants "on the go."
The MasterCard Easy Savings Program app maps a user’s current location and displays participating program merchants with offers in the area. Offers are displayed with icons identifying the type of merchant and can be viewed on a “radar screen” with a user’s current location as the center, on a map with local streets and highways, or in list format. The app provides relevant merchant and offer details in a portable, easy-to-use format, making it easy for small businesses to save money on the go. The app is available for download through the Apple iTunes App Store.
CASSIS International, a provider of trusted services for smart payments, mobile commerce and near field communication (NFC), has announced the appointment of Allen Merrill as president of the newly formed CASSIS Americas based in New York City. Merrill joins CASSIS with more than 25 years of helping financial institutions and other service providers around the world to formulate and execute profitable payments strategies and programs. Merrill most recently served as group executive at MasterCard Worldwide, and was previously a partner at McKinsey & Company, a director at Bain & Company and head of A.T. Kearney's global financial services business. READ MORE »
Note: Throughout the day, as Payments News happens, this post is updated. For job opportunities available for payments professionals, visit PaymentsJobs.com. Employers looking to hire payments professionals can post their job openings there as well.
Toronto-based CPNI has announced the latest release of its Phone Authorized Transfer™ solution set saying that it "now offers the capability to address relationships established by social media services, like Facebook and Twitter, via the user’s unique social media identifiers. Simply by entering the recipient’s phone number, email address or social networking ID, bank customers can conveniently send money from their account to another person’s bank account domestically or internationally, using a mobile phone, the web or an ATM." READ MORE »
Merchant e-Solutions (MeS) has announced it has completed the acquisition of the Columbus Bank and Trust (CB&T) merchant business from Synovus. As part of the acquisition, MeS and Synovus have agreed to a 10-year joint marketing agreement to provide payment processing services for new Synovus bank merchant customers. READ MORE »
MasterCard has announced that Ajay Banga, currently MasterCard’s president and chief operating officer, has been named by the Board of Directors to serve as the company’s president and chief executive officer, effective July 1, 2010. The company also announced that Banga has become a member of MasterCard’s Board of Directors, effective immediately. READ MORE »
Note: Throughout the day, as Payments News happens, this post is updated. For job opportunities available for payments professionals, visit PaymentsJobs.com. Employers looking to hire payments professionals can post their job openings there as well.
In an article titled "Mobile payment systems gain traction", Brandon Bailey writes for the San Jose Mercury News about Bling Nation, MobiBucks and Obopay's approaches to mobile payments. Bailey quotes Bling Nation's Meyer Malka: "We're not going to bet on the technology. We're betting on the gesture," he said, tapping his phone.
See also this article: "Decoding the Mobile Ad Space" in MediaWeek. "PayPal, which is building its mobile payments network, knows what it is willing to pay to acquire an active mobile customer," writes author Jason Spero.
And, this article from the Sunday New York Times Week in Review section: Where a Cellphone Is Still Cutting Edge by Anand Giridharadas. "America’s innovators, building for an ever-expanding bandwidth network, are spiraling toward fancier, costlier, more network-hungry and status-giving devices; meanwhile, their counterparts in developing nations are innovating to find ever more uses for cheap, basic cellphones." Obopay is mentioned.
Interested in learning more about mobile payments in the US and Canada? See Musings on Mobile Payments by Glenbrook's Carol Coye Benson - $19.95 immediate ebook delivery.
Alipay, which claims to be China’s largest online payment network, has announced that Alibaba Group will invest a total of RMB5 billion (equivalent to US$732 million) over the next five years.
The company said in a press release that the new investment "will be used to enhance infrastructure security; develop products to improve ease of use and convenience for customers; continue to grow a massive number of consumer accounts; build a comprehensive network of merchants; and retain and attract top-tier talent from the payments industry." READ MORE »
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