On the web:

• The Future of Money and Bitcoin by Chris Larsen, CEO of OpenCoin - CitizenTekk - "Who will be the Google, Facebook, or Alibaba of the math-based money era? We don't know yet, but we know they're coming. And when they get here, they won't be using ACH."
• iWallet: What Apple left out of its WWDC presentation - Fortune - "Of course, just because Apple patents a technology doesn't mean it will develop it. But at this point the company has amassed quite an arsenal of patents covering mobile payments."
• So, what happens to Passbook in iOS 7? - GigaOm - "If Apple is cooking up such a service, it’s possible there will be a hardware element involved in it."
• Apple Granted Patent for iWallet Parental/Employee Controls - Patently Apple - "The technology which uses Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and likely a little Apple magic, negates the need for NFC which Phil Schiller had stated last September."
• Weve to launch NFC payments in the UK in 2014 - NFC World - "We want to be mass market straight away — which means at least 50 per cent of consumers by the end of next year."
• Regulators Turn Up Heat Over Bank Fees - Wall St. Journal - "The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, in a report set for release Tuesday, plans to criticize the U.S. banking industry for practices that it says range from confusing rules on overdraft fees..."
• Banks Seen as Aid in Fraud Against Older Consumers - New York Times - "Indeed, banks across the country, from some of the largest to smaller regional players, help facilitate billions of dollars of fraud each year…"
• Mobile Wallets: What’s The Value Proposition? - Snarketing 2.0 - "The value proposition of the so-called mobile wallet – whatever that means, considering there’s no consensus on its definition — isn’t clear just yet."
• Google Wallet’s Osama Bedier Confirms That Google Lost Money With Every Transaction. (Good News: It Didn’t Get Many.) - Storefront Backtalk - "…what got short-shrift was finding a way to get shoppers to use its app."
• The continuing battle over interchange fees - Financial Services Club Blog - "In fact, ... Poland has some of the highest interchange fees of any European country…"
• Social Commerce Startup Chirpify to Power In-Stream Credit Card Purchases - AllThingsD - "Previously, the only payment method was PayPal."
• 46 Bitcoin APIs: Bitstamp, Bitcoin Charts Markets and 50BTC - ProgrammableWeb - "Our API directory now includes 46 bitcoin APIs."
• Freicoin’s attempt to free the economy - CoinDesk - "What I realized is that Bitcoin is the most revolutionary technology, I would say ever."
• QR code-enabled virtual stores support merchants’ mobile shopping strategies - Mobile Commerce Daily - "Walmart is one of the retailers that has been a big proponent of leveraging QR codes for virtual shopping."

On the wires:

• Visa and Ethoca Collaborate to Help eCommerce Merchants Reduce Fraud - "Using near real-time information from Visa on confirmed fraud transactions, Ethoca is able to send secure alerts to the affected merchants in the critical 24-72 hour window between when eCommerce orders are placed and when they are fulfilled or shipped…"
• UK Payments Council announces customer guarantee for new current account switch service - "The new service aims to increase competition in banking by making it simpler and hassle-free for customers to switch their current account."
• First Data Releases May 2013 SpendTrend® Analysis - "Dollar volume growth increased 6.0% in May compared to April’s 5.1% growth."
• Text2Pay Now Accepting Bitcoins – The New Social Currency - "Bitcoins are the equivalent of Internet cash. Users can send Bitcoins over the Internet to anyone worldwide with no middle-man or institution to take fees."

Upcoming from Glenbrook:

• Summer Camp! - A special summer session of our popular Payments Boot Camp - in Half Moon Bay on August 6th and 7th... Also, an optional half day course on Data In Payments - August 8th, also in Half Moon Bay. Join Carol, Scott and Russ for lively, interactive sessions - register now!
• Follow Glenbrook Partners on LinkedIn! -

Glenbrook's Elizabeth McQuerry sends this note along:

Here at Glenbrook we’re closely following the moves toward faster payments taking place around the world. Nearly a year has passed since the NACHA community said "no" to speeding up the U.S. ACH (see Carol Coye Benson’s take on that vote here) but the discussion has not let up.

Now the folks at Digital Transactions have picked up the debate in their June edition, presenting views on why the NACHA initiative did not pass, why there is a need for speeding up the payments process, and the risks associated with faster payments.

What’s next? Recently we presented the views of other "payments geeks" on this topic as you had shared them with us. The article cites NACHA CEO Jan Estep: “Developing a ubiquitous solution, available to all financial-institution endpoints, is the goal”.

On the web:

• Visa, MasterCard Fire Back on Card Fees - Wall St. Journal - "The world's largest payment networks asked a federal judge Friday to rule that their practices for setting fees paid by merchants that accept credit and debit cards aren't anticompetitive..."
• Rejecting $7 Billion Deal, Retailers Sue Visa and MasterCard - American Lawyer - includes link to the complaint.
• Credit Union: Bitcoin's New Best Friends? - IEEE Spectrum - "Assuming they get approval from their lawyers and regulators, Modell says the Internet Archive Federal Credit Union would like to help both the people who are setting up bitcoin exchanges and those who want to do business with them…"
• Surety Bond FAQ’s for Bitcoin Exchangers and Administrators - MSB Talk - "Since the Bitcoin 2013 conference, I have been bombarded with questions regarding surety bonds."
• Google Enters the P2P Fray, and It's a Good Thing - Fiserv's Point Blog - "As P2P payments rise in the national consciousness, it's time for financial institutions to make their move."
• MasterCard Prepares to Offer PayPass on Embedded Chips in Samsung NFC Phones - NFC Times - "The embedded chips would enable banks or other service providers to avoid working with mobile operators…"
• Apple now allowing Paypal payment for Apple Store purchases (in Germany) - TUAW
• Kenyans Find the Unintended Consequences of Mobile Money - BusinessWeek - "Adopting mobile money, however, is not as straightforward as substituting a phone account for cash in a jar."

On the wires:

• NACHA Issues Position Statement Supporting Use of Expanded Federal Reserve Same-Day ACH Service - "NACHA encourages financial institutions to adopt the Fed service as a stepping stone to a broader, more ubiquitous offering in the future…"

According to a study of 1,000 billers released by NACHA, Direct Payment via ACH is the leading method consumers in the US currently use to pay their bills.

The study found that the great majority of billers – more than three-quarters of those that offer electronic payment options – offer Direct Payment via ACH with almost 50% of consumer bills paid through this method. Of the rest, 42% percent of consumer bills are still paid through the mail, and 11 percent are paid with credit/debit cards.

The findings also show that billers prefer receiving ACH payments over cards 48 percent to 21 percent. Specifically, billers prefer recurring ACH payments, citing this option as the most favorable payment method.

Consumers, on the other hand, prefer one-time ACH payments for bill pay. Of the 47 percent of consumer bills paid via Direct Payment, 25 percent are one-time ACH payments, 11 percent are recurring ACH payments, and another 11 percent are ACH payments originated by biller service providers.

Direct Payment via ACH provides the control, security, and simplicity that consumers are looking for when paying their bills,” said Janet O. Estep, NACHA president and CEO.

“Additionally, for billers, Direct Payment via ACH transactions provide costs savings, improve operating efficiencies, and make a positive impact on the environment. There are still many checks being mailed today, so there is a significant opportunity to increase Direct Payment adoption, and during May – Direct Deposit and Direct Payment via ACH Month – we direct both billers and consumers to the available resources and proven practices expanding Direct Payment usage.”

On the web:

• Apple Advances their Future Shopping App Again & More - Patently Apple - "Today's patent application adds at least five major aspects to the "Shopping" apps patent claims."
• Half of Visa’s payments will be via mobile by 2020, says Visa Europe VP - The Drum - "...Hawkett said that Visa views mobile as the opportunity to “redefine” payments."
• How to build trust in the Bitcoin ecosystem - Jeremy Liew - "So what is needed to create trusted Bitcoin companies?"
• Can Google Be The Amazon.com For The Rest Of The Web? - ReadWrite - "Virtually every other payment provider lacks the social integration that Google includes."
• New Cash Registers Are Sexy, But What’s Beneath the Counter Matters More - Wired - "Payments are really the only online connection into every retail store that matters..."
• mPOS: Our Latest Disruptive Device For QSRs - GoPago Blog - "Our new mPOS will debut on the Nexus 4 with a card reader, rugged case and with our POS software already loaded for $49 a month."
• Safeway CEO has big plans for payment program that avoids bank debit card fees - San Francisco Business Times - "...Safeway is already hearing from other retailers eager to avoid fees associated with accepting debit cards carrying the MasterCard and Visa logos."
• The Revolution Will Not Be Televised - Udayan Goyal (commenting on Google Wallet) - "In terms of wider industry impact, I think that incumbents will have to completely rethink how they make money around payments."
• Blimpie expands mobile repertoire with gift cards - Mobile Commerce Daily - "…40 percent of Blimpie’s traffic comes from mobile devices."
• The Road Ahead for Mobile Payments - Mobile Future Institute - "Overall, I came away with the impression there’s still quite a ways to go for mobile payments…"
• PayPal, Groupon, Square focus on traditional POS to boost mobile strategies - "In order for consumers to ditch their physical wallets in favor of digital wallets, merchants need to get rid of their old cash registers…"
• The mobile money paradox – if everyone wants it, why is it doing so badly? - Tomorrow's Transactions - "There are in excess of 160 live MM services being operated around the world right now, but despite high expectations created by success in Kenya, only a handful have thus far reached critical mass."

On the wires:

• Marqeta Online-to-Offline Commerce Engine Powering the Multi-Retailer Facebook Card - "We are very proud that Facebook has adopted our technology, and look forward to a lasting partnership with them…"
• Marqeta Raises $14 Million Series B to Accelerate Wide Adoption of its +M Platform - "Instead of receiving points and product rewards, Marqeta merchants simply give consumers more money to spend in grocery, restaurants, dry cleaning and beyond."
• BitPay Raises $2 Million led by Founders Fund - "Businesses selling electronics, precious metals, and other low-margin products over the internet are seeing a large increase in profitability by accepting bitcoin payments."
• Mobile Banking Explodes and Keynote Announces Who Does It Best – One Billion Mobile Banking Consumers Expected by 2017 - "Chase achieved its third consecutive win for Overall Score, while also repeating were Wells Fargo in second place and Bank of America in third."

On the web:

• Possible Fed Successor Has Admirers and Foes - NY Times - A look at Janet L. Yellen, Vice Chair of the Federal Reserve, by Binyamin Appelbaum.
• Federal Judge Threatens to Hold Merchant Trade Groups in Contempt Over Swipe-Fee Websites - WSJ - Judge John Gleeson is irritated about the website: http://merchantsobject.com/
• The Future of Mobile Payments: How to Make Sure You’re Ready
• PW Interview: Amber Feng, Stripe API, The Payment Web - Programmable Web - "Before Stripe, online payments mainly consisted of decades-old banking infrastructure grafted onto the web, resulting in an exceedingly complex process for businesses and a cumbersome experience for their customers..."
• Tesco: NFC payments are too complex and offer too few benefits - NFC World - "NFC was revolutionary 10 years ago but I think it just might have passed its sell-by date…"
• The Redesigned US$100 Note - coming October 8, 2013
• NACHA Positions the ACH Network To Be a P2P Payments Player - Digital Transactions - "...NACHA last August submitted an ACH P2P payments proposal for for comment last August and gave it final approval March 7."
• NACHA PAYMENTS 2013: Highlights from Day One and NACHA PAYMENTS 2013: Day Two Highlights - GXS' All About B2B Blog - Patty Hines
• 2013 Advanced Payments Report - Edgar Dunn - "The Advanced Payments Report 2013 … is based on a review of the global payments landscape, surveys of payments industry stakeholder opinion…"
• Total System Services Management Discusses Q1 2013 Results - Earnings Call Transcript - "…on the issuing side of our business, we kicked off what I would describe as our most significant business and technology initiative since, really, the launch of TS2."
• American Express streamlines expense tracking via mobile app - Mobile Commerce Daily - "The ReceiptMatch program is being rolled out for American Express Open business card users…"
• Prepaid Popularity on the Rise - The Members Group Blog - "The American Bankers Association study also found that more than 50 percent of U.S. FIs currently offer, or plan to offer, prepaid or reloadable debit cards."
• Visa Survey: Prom Spending Surges 33% Nationwide - "Prom season spending is spiraling out of control as teens continuously try to one-up each other…"

On the wires:

• Tabbedout Launches Powerful Merchant Marketing Tool 'Periscope' - "Periscope gives merchants the ability to monitor customer use of Tabbedout, review their customer's purchase history, collect and respond to guest reviews and create mobile marketing campaigns…"
• CPI Card Group Expands EMV Card Manufacturing Capabilities to Support EMV Migration in the U.S. - "The migration to EMV in the U.S. is unprecedented in terms of size and scale."
• Consult Hyperion joins Open Identity Exchange - "OIX is a non-profit trade organization driving the adoption of new and existing online identity products and services through the development of trust frameworks and listing services."
• FactorTrust Launches Underbanked Index - "Every three months, the Underbanked Index will provide a range of data points including demographic, loan behavior, seasonal effects and others, to help shed light on underbanked consumers."
• Too Busy to Save Money: Research at Stanford Graduate School of Business Examines Why Consumers Pass Up Store Discounts - "Seiler's look at individuals' purchases over time likewise suggests they're trying to minimize search costs."
• PULSE and fisoc Announce Agreement to Provide Buzz Points Rewards Program to Financial Institutions - “In this digital age, our solution enables PULSE to offer its financial institution participants a fully turn-key rewards program. This will provide a distinct advantage to PULSE in the highly competitive debit industry.” (See: Buzz Points)
• NCR Introduces Anti-Skimming Technology to Help Banks Increase Consumer Trust and Reduce Costs - “There were approximately 20,000 skimming incidents in the United States last year. The average cost per incident approached $50,000 and skimming costs across a U.S. bank’s entire ATM network is equivalent to about $2,500 per ATM each year."

The Independent Community Bankers of America® (ICBA) has released a new white paper - “Same-Day ACH: An Opportunity for Leadership” - expressing its support for same-day ACH capabilities and encouraging community banks and other institutions to adopt same-day ACH services.

“Same-day ACH capability helps community banks stay at the center of serving their customers’ payment needs, particularly as they strive to remain competitive in their marketplace, where same-day payments are already supported in many cases,” said Bill Loving, ICBA chairman and president and CEO of Pendleton Community Bank in Franklin, W.Va. “ICBA strongly believes that an accelerated transition to same-day ACH is vital to all financial institutions and customers.”

NACHA's Payments 2013 Conference is underway this week in San Diego. Glenbrook's Erin McCune, Elizabeth McQuerry and George Peabody are attending - be sure to reach out to them if you're also attending Payments 2013!

Lots of tweets are coming today on Twitter from Payments 2013 attendees - you can follow along by searching for the hashtag #payments2013 and by following @NACHA_Payments.

On the web:

• Fed Survey Shows Growth in Mobile Banking, Payments - "Americans are increasingly using their mobile phones to access bank accounts, credit cards, and other financial accounts…"
• Bitcoin Investors Hang On for the Ride - WSJ
• Why Libertarians and gold hoarders love Bitcoins - PandoDaily - "What kind of people use Bitcoins, the digital currency designed by cryptographers to be untraceable?"
• Microsoft Account Gets More Secure - The Official Microsoft Blog - "This release enables optional two-step verification for your entire Microsoft account."
• Amazon Patent Describes A Mobile Payment System That Keeps Transactions Anonymous - TechCrunch - "The patent describes a way to sub in unique identifiers for information like name and email address…"
• Zuora: Faster Time to Commerce? Check Out Our New REST APIs - "Zuora has introduced 22 new REST API calls focused on enabling website commerce integrations."
• Authentication a barrier to online commerce for most people - Computing.co.uk - "Inadequate authentication and the plethora of user names and passwords people need to remember is a rising barrier to online commerce"

On the wires:

• NACHA’s Council for Electronic Billing and Payment to Launch Industry Evaluation of the QR Encoding for Consumer Bill Pay Guidelines - "Industry input is vital as we work to establish a single QR code specification so consumers can easily view and pay bills from a mobile device…"
• First Data Enhances its Vision Payment Solution’s Global Capabilities with VisionPLUS® Flex - "In a single platform, the VisionPLUS Flex solution supports issuing and acquiring of credit, debit, prepaid, consumer and commercial cards for private label, American Express®, JCB, MasterCard® and Visa® global brands, as well as consumer loans."
• American Express Reports First Quarter EPS of $1.15, up 7% From A Year Ago; Revenues and Cardmember Spending Rise, Credit Quality Remains Excellent - "We are off to a strong start in 2013, thanks to our ability to grow revenue in a slow growth economy, control expenses and maintain a strong balance sheet…"
• New Sign-up Process - payleven Opens Doors to Private Individuals in UK - "Today marks a major milestone for payleven on that journey as we have solved two long-standing problems faced by the payments industry- designing a simple, instant signup process and empowering individuals as merchants."
• Toshiba Integrates Isis SmartTap™ into ACE Point-of-Sale - "Integration of Isis SmartTap with the ACE POS platform can fundamentally transform the way consumers and retailers interact at the POS."
• MCX Selects Gemalto for Mobile Commerce Platform - "The initial MCX wallet, which will be primarily barcode and cloud-based, will run on Gemalto’s Allynis Mobile Payment platform."
• Fiserv Makes Real Time Person-to-Person Payments a Reality with Popmoney Instant Payments - "We believe real-time payments are increasingly important to consumers in many day-to-day situations, and that includes sending money to people they know or owe."
• ACI Worldwide Empowers Financial Institutions to Increase Efficiency of Card Issuing and Account Management - "ACI Issuer is designed to help financial institutions lower operating costs with expected reductions in new product development, long-term maintenance and infrastructure costs."
• Western Union Continues to Expand in Mexico - "We see a great opportunity to expand in Mexico through existing and new Agent relationships such as Bancoppel…"

NACHA — The Electronic Payments Association has published its annual summary of the largest originators and receivers of ACH payments in 2012. Wells Fargo was the #1 originator in 2012 while Bank of America was the #1 receiver.

Total ACH payment volume grew to over 21 billion transactions in 2012, up 4.19 percent over 2011 representing a total of $36.9 trillion, an increase of 8.76 percent. That rate equates to over 660 ACH transactions per second over the full year with an average ACH ticket size of about $1760 per transaction.

Native electronic payments — those payments which start as an electronic payment (i.e., non-check conversion applications) — increased 6.38 percent over 2011. These payments now make up 85 percent of total ACH Network volume. Conversely, check initiated transactions decreased by 6.75 percent.

“This data clearly shows that consumers and businesses choose electronic payment options over paper checks,” said Janet O. Estep, president and CEO of NACHA. “Direct Deposits and Direct Payments via ACH provide the convenience, control, and flexibility that end users want. As end user needs evolve, the ACH Network will continue to enable the innovation necessary to meet the changing needs of ACH Network participants.”

The Federal Reserve has announced that, effective April 1, 2013, it will offer an expanded FedACH SameDay service for same day clearing of ACH transactions. The expanded service will feature the following modifications:

• Permits all SEC Codes except International ACH Transactions (IAT), Check Truncated Entry (TRC) and Check Truncated Entries Exchange (TRX)
• Allows credits as well as debits
• Accommodates business as well as consumer transactions
• Places no dollar cap limits other than those set by NACHA on check-conversion transactions

Participation in the service will continue to be on an opt-in basis, and there will be no changes to pricing or deadlines.

On the web:

• 1-800-Flowers Testing Credit Card-Free Mobile Payments - Mashable
• Fast Identity Online (FIDO) Hunts for Online Password Alternatives - PCMag.com
• Stripe Rival Paymill Reveals $5M More Funding, From Blumberg Capital - TechCrunch
• Bucking the dongle, Buck launches mobile invoicing MobilePaymentsToday.com
• Balanced Launches A Standalone API For Next-Day ACH Payments - TechCrunch
• France Plans To Prohibit Cash Payments Over €1,000 - Forbes
• Isis Releases Utah Mobile Payments Usage Stats - NFC World

On the wires:

• Alliance Data Retail Services Expands Offering to Include Fiserve eBill Distribution
• Thales and Miura Help Reduce the Cost of Mobile Payments (Germany)
• Lack of Local Currency Pricing Suppresses Global eCommerce Sales (Survey)
• ACI Worldwide Arms Financial Institutions to Fight Accelerating Fraud

NACHA announced that its membership has adopted a new health care payments rule as part of the NACHA Operating Rules.

“Any health care provider with a bank account will be able to receive a health care electronic funds transfer (EFT) via ACH, just like a Direct Deposit,” said Janet O. Estep, NACHA president and CEO. “Providers will benefit from faster deposits and access to funds, and cost savings from not having to deposit paper checks. Payers will also benefit from replacing the printing and mailing of paper checks with electronic payments via ACH.”

The rule supports health plans’ and health care providers’ use of the ACH Network for electronic health care claims payments, and the electronic “reassociation” of these payments with electronic remittance advices (ERAs).

Glenbrook is pleased to announce availability of a new private payments workshop on Global Payments.

Focused particularly on cross-border payments, the course is designed to help payments professionals understand this rapidly changing, and highly lucrative, sector of the industry. The Global Payments course is an addition to Glenbrook's extensive list of available private workshops.

Glenbrook's Global Payments course is available as a one-day or two-day session, and can be conducted in person at your premises and/or via a private webinar to reach your global staff groups. The agenda includes:

• Overview: Key Concepts, Regulation, Foreign Exchange
• Country Payments Systems - Commonalities and Differences, Key Country Focus
• Cross-Border Payments: Wires, ACH, Cards, Money Transfer Systems
• Cross-Border Use Cases - Supplier Payments (B2B), Cross-Border eCommerce, Global Payouts (B2C and G2C), International Remittances

Private workshop clients can choose particular countries they are interested in for the "Key Country Focus" section, as well the particular use cases they want to concentrate on.

Interested? Please take our global payments survey to give us your general feedback. And contact Glenbrook's Elizabeth McQuerry to discuss scheduling a Global Payments workshop for your company.

Glenbrook's Carol Coye Benson is disappointed at the lack of banking industry support for moving to same day ACH. According to Carol, she files this kind of banker thinking in her “don’t worry about online music, CD’s work just fine” folder. Read Carol's full commentary on this issue over on our PaymentsViews.com sister site.

Guardian Analytics has announced FraudMAP ACH, a new product that automatically analyzes ACH batches and transactions and prioritizes the highest risk payments for review.

"With ACH transaction volumes growing and criminals more eloquently tampering with ACH files, financial institutions are expending significant resources monitoring for fraudulent transactions and in many cases failing," said Craig Priess, founder and vice president of Products and Business Development at Guardian Analytics. "This is not a sustainable model. FraudMAP ACH fundamentally changes both the manner in which and how successfully a financial institution manages ACH payments risk."

On the web:

• Africa’s Mobile Money Boom - African Business Review
• ACH Transaction Volumes Might Be Headed for a ‘New Normal’ - Digital Transactions
• Bar Code-Based Mobile Payments: Mcommerce’s Newest Darling - Mobile Commerce Daily
• Paying to Play: Planned Isis Fees Rankle Some Issuers - NFC Times
• drchrono Introduces Square Payments for Doctors - BetaKit

On the wires:

• Payments with PayLane Now Available in the UK and Ireland
• Bill.com Introduces Certification Program for Accounting Firms
• Mattersight Announces Fraud Analytics Solution For Call Centers
• Upromise by Sallie Mae Launches New Credit Card Rewards with the Ability to Earn 10% or More Cash Back for College
• Western Union and IBInvestor to Expand Small Business Access to Global Payments Platform
• Brightwell Payments Adds EMV Euro Card to its OceanPay Program

The ACH Network handled over 20.2 billion transactions in 2011, up 4.35% over 2010, according to new statistics released by NACHA. ACH payment volume was reported as $33.91 trillion.

“These statistics show that more and more consumers and businesses are making the conscious decision to use electronic payment options over paper checks or cash,” said Janet O. Estep, president and CEO of NACHA. “As advancements within the payments industry continue, ACH payments also continue to adapt to meet various needs of both consumers and businesses alike.”

Citigroup has announced that its Global Transaction Services unit is expanding its premier cross-border payment solution, WorldLink® Payment Services (WorldLink), into eight new countries for local payments.

This expansion sees the traditional Automated Clearing House (ACH) offering increase from 21 countries, primarily in Europe, to 29 countries spanning Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas.

Over on our sister blog, Payments Views, Glenbrook's Carol Coye Benson has posted some thoughts on NACHA's recent Request for Comment about its proposed rule change to support "Expedited Processing and Settlement" of ACH transactions.

On the web:

• What’s in Their Wallets? - AllThingsD
• Goodbye, Paper Savings Bonds - New York Times
• BillGuard’s ‘Anti-Virus’ For Bills And Credit Cards Is Now Free - TechCrunch
• Prospects for Same-Day ACH Brighten As Software Emerges And NACHA Eyes Rules - Digital Transactions

On the wires:

• Bayern Card-Services (BCS) Protects Credit Cards with FICO Fraud Solution
• New Aite Group Report on Cross-Border Consumer Money Transfers
• Souheil Badran is Named SVP and GM of Digital River World Payments

S1 and Fundtech have announced a definitive agreement to combine businesses through a stock-for-stock merger, creating an industry leader in transaction banking solutions. Fundtech operates the world's largest SWIFT service bureau. The combined company will be headquartered at S1's headquarters in Atlanta and will be called Fundtech.

On the web:

• More Hurdles Crumble for Same-Day ACH Payments - American Banker
• Is a National Data Breach Notification Law on the Horizon? - Portals and Rails
• FinovateSpring 2011 Demo Videos are Now Online - Finovate
• Durbin 'Ripple' for Community Banks - BAI Banking Strategies
• Little Interest Among U.S. Consumers for Mobile Wallets - Computerworld
• Mobile Payments Startup Calls it Quits, Hires Auctioneer to Sell Off Assets - dBusinessNews

On the wires:

• Turkish Bank Kuveyt Turk’s ATMs to Dispense Gold
• MICROS Simphony Certified to Elavon’s Fusebox Payment Gateway
• TapBase Introduces the Tap Mobile Payments, Loyalty and Rewards Platform
• Coolidge Corner Merchants Association to Offer PXT Money App as Member Benefit
• PAY.ON Continues to Cover Latin America: New Cooperation with DineroMail

Two-thirds of small businesses in the United States don’t offer Direct Deposit to employees, according to a new study from NACHA and eCom Advisors. "That is just over three million companies that are still issuing payroll by check and 18 million employees who don’t have the option to be paid electronically."

On the wires:

• Fees For Most Prepaid Cards Higher Than Basic Checking Accounts
• VeriFone and Hypercom Announce Agreement to Sell Hypercom’s US Payment Systems Business
• J.P. Morgan Treasury Services Ranks First in ACH Originations for 2010
• FIS Introduces New Terminated Originator Database for Risk Mitigation
• Viewpointe’s Services for Third-Party Senders Help Meet New NACHA Requirement
• Laru Corporation to Introduce ACH Vision RDFI at Payments 2011

On the web:

• Techworld: MasterCard Australia Outlines EMV-based Card Security Roadmap
• Portals and Rails: Atlanta and Boston Fed position paper promotes U.S. adoption of mobile payments
• The Asset Magazine: China Construction Bank and China UnionPay Offers Dual Currency Credit Card

Heartland Payment Systems has announced that it has added Automated Clearing House (ACH) functionality to its Express Funds check management platform, which is powered by transmodus. "The consolidation of the ACH feature with Express Funds allows businesses to process all check transactions — paper, online and over-the-phone — from one location in a cost-effective way."

On the wires:

• Vesta and Jibe Mobile Deliver Integrated Mobile Payments Application
• Banks Launch Integrated Mobile Banking Solution from First Data
• VeriFone’s VeriShield Total Protect Integrated with ISD’s Card Data Security Suite
• iSmartCheck Identifies Why Merchants Need to Add Electronic Checks to Their Payment Options
• Naked Facts Report: QR Code Use Explodes by 1200% in the Last Half of 2010

On the web:

• BAI Banking Strategies: Crossing Borders with ACH
• Bank Systems & Technology: Debit Card Fee Caps May Be No Big Deal
• Wall Street Journal: KT to Become Largest Stakeholder in BC Card in Korea
• Inside Mobile Apps: Android Opens Up More NFC Access for Developers
• RCR Wireless: DoCoMo and KT announce NFC Joint Venture in Asia/Pacific
• RFP Connect: Ukash Extends Its Presence into Brazil and Argentina
• Wall Street Journal: Chargebacks Create Small-Business Headaches
• WebProNews: PayPal Digital Goods Payment Product Released

Headline News is compiled by Glenbrook Partners:

• First Data Announces Big Brand Additions to its eGift Social Marketplace
• American Express to Eliminate Foreign Currency Transaction Fees on U.S. Platinum and Centurion Cards
• WesPay and Northwest Clearing House Association announce intention to merge operations
• Visa Europe launches new contactless payment solution for London’s black cabs

• New York Times: Fed Proposes Rules to Cut Debit Card Fees
• BusinessWeek: Ingenico Gets EU1.44 Billion Offer From Undisclosed Buyer
• globeandmail.com: Rising Credit Card Fees Raise Merchants' Ire In Canada
• Bloomberg: American Express to Buy Munich-based Loyalty Partner

Headline News is compiled by Glenbrook Partners:

• New Aite Group Report on Open Payment Platforms
• MoreMagic Solutions Provides the Technology Behind Voilà and Unibank’s Mobile Money Service in Haiti
• Secure Vault Payments Network Adds Checkgateway
• iQmetrix Partners With Bill Payment Processor TIO Networks

• TechCrunch: Fortumo lets Android Developers Offer In-App Carrier Billing via SMS
• Portals and Rails: Numbers don't back up fears about WEB and TEL
• Wall Street Journal: Banks Look to Prepaid Cards to Replace Lost Revenue
• New York Times: Gift Cards With Bells and Whistles
• TechCrunch: Google Bought Stealthy Mobile Payments Startup Zetawire

Headline News is compiled by Glenbrook Partners:

• New Mercator Report on Co-Branded Consumer Credit Cards
• Credit Unions Continue to Move Item Processing In-House
• Bling Nation Taps Merchant360 to Support Rapid Growth
• SmsCoin Now Connects 87 Countries

• Business Insider: Eric Schmidt (Google CEO) Shows Off New 'Nexus S' Payment System
• Wall Street Journal: The New Bank Fees — Lenders' Latest Tricks
• Mobile Marketing: CreditCall Launches Smartphone Chip & PIN Payments Trial in UK
• iStockAnalyst: China to Stop Issuing Magnetic Stripe Cards After 2015
• The Bozeman Daily Chronicle: Layaway Back In Style
• MIT Technology Review: Connecting Credit Cards with the Social Web
• Portals and Rails: Retail Payments Risk Forum publishes white paper on mobile payments
• Treasury & Risk: ACH Settlement Accelerates
• AZcentral.com: Denver Card-Processing Firm Wins Battle for Phone Number