A group of the merchants announced that it has formed Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX), a new company dedicated to offering consumers a versatile mobile-commerce experience that will combine the convenience of paying at the register with customizable offers.

“MCX will leverage mobile technology to give consumers a faster and more convenient shopping experience while eliminating unnecessary costs for all stakeholders,” said Mike Cook, corporate vice president and assistant treasurer, Wal-Mart. “The MCX platform will employ secure technology to deliver an efficiency-enhancing mobile solution available to all merchant categories, including retail stores, casual dining, petroleum and e-commerce.”

The initial group of MCX merchants "serve nearly every smartphone-enabled American and account for approximately $1 trillion in annual sales." The MDX website is located at www.mcx.com. The mcx.com domain is registered to First Data.

A great friend of Glenbrook’s is Broox Peterson, formerly Senior Vice President and Assistant General Counsel at Visa International and currently in private practice. In 2006, Broox wrote a great article that we shared on Payments News about regulatory implications that entrepreneurs may want to consider when building a new payments company - something that, in our experience, entrepreneurs do not always fully understand or appreciate. He’s just updated that article to reflect some recent changes – and we’re delighted to be able to share the updated version on Payments Views!

The Payment Cards Center of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia has published a discussion paper by Stephanie M. Wilshusen, Robert M. Hunt, and James van Opstal of the Payment Cards Center and Rachel Schneider of the Center for Financial Services Innovation (CFSI).

The Payment Cards Center and CFSI conducted this research project to develop a better understanding of how consumers use prepaid cards by examining their transaction behavior and the issuer revenue and cardholder costs generated by those transactions. Using data provided by Meta Payment Systems, this study focuses on open-loop reloadable prepaid cards and presents an analysis of more than 280 million transactions made on more than 3 million prepaid cards issued by Meta Payment Systems over a six-year period in over a dozen programs.

Online Resources Corporation (ORCC) announced it has partnered with Truaxis, a service provider that leverages transaction data to help financial institutions deliver personalized rewards, loyalty incentives and other services to their customers.

"StatementRewards gives financial institutions a way to differentiate themselves in the market while continuing to deliver great value and service to their customers,” said Schwark Satyavolu, CEO and co-founder of Truaxis. “Our personalized services deliver a cost-effective rewards program alternative that allows institutions to decrease customer churn, attract new banking customers and increase earnings potential all while helping customers save thousands of dollars each year.”

USA Technologies has announced the introduction of 'ePort Mobile', a mobile acceptance solution that gives retailers and other merchants the ability to accept credit and debit cards “on the go” through USAT’s turnkey ePort Connect service platform.

USA Technologies Chairman and CEO, Stephen P. Herbert, commented: “USA Technologies’ leadership position in the industry was predominately built by making it easy for traditionally cash-based businesses to go cashless by offering a seamless, secure and turnkey way to accept cashless payments. ePort Mobile is a natural extension of that value proposition. ePort Mobile customers will be able to benefit from the same high level of service USAT is known for, while having access to all the sales and margin-building benefits a mobile cashless payment system can provide.”

Text2Pay announced that is now enabling 1-Tap mobile billing for merchants selling virtual goods and services on mobile device. Director of Text2Pay, Mark Reiken, says Tap2Pay uses an identification process to recognize the user’s phone number, so the user will not have to input any information such as a password or PIN authentication. More info and a video demonstration are at www.tap2pay.com.

Onebip, the mobile payment division of Neomobile, announced it has launched a new “Transparent Authentication” capability for ISP Billing on SFR’s new platform.

ISP Billing is available for selling any kind of digital content, such as access to social network and dating sites, premium subscription to online news and media, access to audio and video streaming, premium content downloads, and virtual goods. Single transactions can be made up to 30 euros while recurring payments are also available on this system, with weekly transaction up to 7,5 euros and monthly transactions up to 30 euros.

On the web:

• The Interchange Settlement - Credit Slips
• Startup 'PaidThx' Launches Mobile Social Payment Network - Downtown Short Pump

On the wires:

• ACI Worldwide Adds Mobile Wallet Support to Retailer Payment Solution
• McDonald's to Accept 'Interac Flash' Contactless Debit Technology in Canada
• Colleges Choose Heartland Payment Systems for Electronic Financial Aid Disbursement
• Finland’s S Group Selects VeriFone’s Payments-as-a-Service Solution Across Market Segments
• Earthport to Enhance Cross-Border Payments Service in Alignment with Dodd-Frank
• Douglas Parking Partners With QuickPay for Mobile Parking Payments
• Razoo, Crowdfunding Site For Causes, Hits $100M Milestone
• hyperWALLET Announces a New Approach to Consumer Prepaid
• Payvision Partners with Virtual Piggy