Visa and Better ATM Services have announced the ability to dispense Visa Gift cards in addition to cash at existing ATMs.

With this introduction, ATM menu screens now include a “Purchase Visa Gift Card” option and prompt to designate the value to load on each card. Cards are available with no activation fee in $25 denominations during the pilot. The new ATM-dispensed Visa Gift card is made of a durable yet thinner material, which allows cards to easily pass through the cash mechanisms of ATMs.

An in-market pilot program is currently underway offering Visa Gift cards at walk-up and drive-through ATMs in select locations throughout Arizona.

Intuit has announced that it plans to take its free GoPayment mobile credit card app and card reader hardware global, with the first implementation in Canada. In addition, Intuit will soon begin shipping a free, newly-designed GoPayment Card Reader in both the U.S. and Canada.

This innovative card reader is a compact, cylinder-shaped device that helps maximize sales with new features that increase the accuracy of each card swipe. Providing greater security than available on other devices, it includes best-in-class, end-to-end encryption that protects a customer’s sensitive credit card data from the moment a card is swiped.

GoPayment for Canada and the new GoPayment card reader will both be available in early 2012.

ControlScan has released the results of a study it recently completed with acquirers on Level 4 Merchant PCI Compliance.

94% percent of acquirers have a PCI program in place for their Level 4 merchants with 57% saying their merchants see value in their PCI program. More importantly, 70% of acquirer respondents believe their PCI program reduces small merchant data breaches.

The survey was completed in October 2011 by 146 banks, processors and ISOs with Level 4 merchant portfolios ranging from less than 1,000 accounts to more than 50,000.

ThreatMetrix has announced that it has acquired the Australian-based company TrustDefender, a "recognized leader of secure browsing technology to stop man-in-the-browser (MitB) attacks and provide malware protection." The combined companies will operate under the ThreatMetrix name with global operations in the United States, Australia and Europe. The corporate headquarters will be located in San Jose, California.

Secure Vault Payments announced it has added Regions Financial Corporation to the Secure Vault Payments (SVP) Network. Regions will offer the online payment option to customers in 16 states across the South, Midwest and Texas.

“Merchants and consumers alike are increasingly seeking convenient and secure online payment options, particularly for large dollar transactions,” said James Hicks, head of Treasury Services for Regions Financial. “Regions’ participation in Secure Vault Payments will allow us to provide additional payment choices and benefits to our customers.”

Secure Vault Payments is the only online payment method that links consumers directly to their bank account without a middleman. Secure Vault was developed by NACHA — The Electronic Payments Association and eWise, a provider of online and mobile payment solutions.

First Data has released its First Data SpendTrend analysis for the full month of December 2011 compared to December 2010.

Dollar volume growth on cards overall was a healthy 6.9% in December. However, strong auto sales, driven by low interest rates, likely diverted consumer spending to car sales from other retail areas. Auto sales are not captured in SpendTrend figures. Overall year-over-year average tickets declined 0.1% in December, the first negative reading since January 2011. Merchants resorted to steep discounting to spur holiday traffic. Consumers responded favorably to bargain pricing, as overall transaction growth was up 7.0% in December.

SpendTrend tracks same-store consumer spending by credit, signature debit, PIN debit, EBT cards and checks at U.S. merchant locations.

Visa Inc and Visa Europe have jointly announced that NFC-enabled smartphones from Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics and Research In Motion (RIM) have been certified for use with Visa’s mobile application for payments at the point-of-sale, Visa payWave.

“This is an important step for Visa, its financial institution partners and the mobile industry,” said Bill Gajda, Global Head of Mobile Product, Visa Inc. “In addition to issuing plastic magnetic stripe or chip-enabled payment cards, financial institutions can now consider offering their accountholders a way to transform their smartphones into fully functional mobile payment devices.”

On the web:

• Hefty Profit Seen for Card Issuers - WSJ.com
• Kount Offers Free Device Fingerprinting to New Customers - Internet Retailer
• PayPal Partners With POS Software Company AJB To Scale In-Store Payments Option To Big Box Retailers - TechCrunch
• Intel at CES 2012: Future Ultrabooks to Sport NFC - Digital Trends

On the wires:

• TSYS Signs Payment Services Agreement with Pivotal Payments
• Tabbedout Launches Beta Offers Feature for Austin Consumers
• BluePay, a Provider of Merchant Processing Services, Offers New Plugin for QuickBooks Point of Sale