On Twitter:

Here's my new @paypal card - yes, PayPal is issuing cards. It's too cool to have an account number on it. #payments twitter.com/joxman/status/…

— Jason Oxman (@joxman) May 7, 2013

On the web:

• The Banking Industry's Tech Nightmares Are Coming True - Motley Fool - "In the end, big banks and credit card companies need to realize that their era of dominating global payments could be coming to an end."
• Google Wins a Surprising Design Patent for a New Tablet based Credit Card Reader - Patent Bolt - "Google's design patent is for what appears to be a commercial tablet computer with a built-in credit card reader."
• Visa Plants a Seed for Growth Abroad - Wall St. Journal - A look at Visa's efforts in Rwanda.
• In Tomorrow’s Retail Universe, the Destination Is ‘You’ - StreetFight - "Based on clues we can see all around us, it is my belief that retail, as we’ve known it for at least the last two millennia, is coming to an end."
• More regulation of Bitcoin is a good thing - Lightspeed Venture Partners (Jeremy Lieu) - "Am I naive, am I a tool of the government overlords, or is more regulation an inevitable part of the path towards widespread Bitcoin adoption?"
• US financial regulator: We could regulate Bitcoin “if we wanted” - Ars Technica - "The American financial regulator for derivatives trading has told multiple news outlets that it is considering new rules for Bitcoin."
• Showrooming: Retailers Fight Back With New-Fangled Apps & Old-School Marketing - "Retailers, it appears, are getting better at keeping customers buying in the store, no matter what they are finding on their phones and tablets."
• Protecting Seniors from Identity Theft - Google Public Policy Blog - "Google’s Good to Know site is designed to help educate consumers of all ages about online threats and tools they can use to protect themselves…"
• The Next Phase of Social Business is the Collaborative Economy - Jeremiah Owyang - "That’s where brands will rent, lend, provide subscriptions to products and services to customers, or even further, allow customers to lend, trade, or gift branded products or services to each other."
• Mobile Payments Marked by Fragmentation and Increasing Channel Convergence, Says Fed - "While the U.S. mobile payments market continues to gain taction, it has not grown as steadily as expected, and the likelihood of mass adoption is not high…"

On the wires:

• Payments Veteran to Lead North America Business Development for ReD - "25-year payment services veteran John Lees is the company’s new North America vice president of sales."
• American Express Organizational Announcement – Daniel T. Henry, Chief Financial Officer - "Over the last few months Dan Henry and I have been discussing his plans for the next chapter of his personal and professional life."
• New AARP® Credit Card from Chase Offers Customers Cash Back on Every Purchase, Every Time - "By receiving 3 percent cash back on gas station and restaurant purchases and 1 percent on all other purchases, the average family can easily earn more than $250 cash back every year just by using the card."
• CPI Card Group Awarded US Patent for Innovative Secure Card Packaging Technology Utilized in Its Ultra Secure Pack™ Products - "The technology allows CPI to offer a superior, tamper proof, cost effective product for point of sale card activation applications including open loop prepaid cards."
• AIRTAG Enables Magento E-Commerce Sites to Mobilize in Native Mobile Wallet Apps - "For all retailers starting to think about how they are going to go mobile, we have created a solution that significantly eases the transition to digital commerce, without sacrificing the user experience."

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."

American Express has announced that it will begin issuing Corporate Cards with EMV chip & signature technology to its U.S. Corporate Cardmembers.

“In some countries, chip technology is becoming standard for card authorizations. By providing a chip-enabled solution, the new chip & signature Cards will help U.S. Corporate Cardmembers avoid disruptions while traveling internationally” said Darryl Brown, President, Global Corporate Payments Americas, American Express.

On the web:

• Silicon Valley firms claim new California data disclosure bill is “overbroad” - ArsTechnica - "If passed, the bill would allow an unprecedented amount of access to individuals to find out what companies know about us."
• The Man (Jack Dorsey) Who Made the Cash Register Obsolete - Inc. - "One guiding philosophy at Square is that technology should be so intuitive that no one stops to question how difficult it must have been to create. That philosophy is paying off."
• With Tablets, Businesses Ring Up at More Fanciful Cash Registers - New York Times - "With the advent of tablets, particularly the iPad, many stores have traded in their clunky cash registers for mobile devices."
• "Bankalytics" – Banks and Analytics - BankInnovation - "I feel the future of banks depends on how relevant they stay to the target market, based on how they analyse the Big Data in their databases."
• Bitcoin’s Last Mile Problem - TechCrunch - "The world needs Bitcoins to exist, even if the mass of humanity doesn’t use it."
• Online Sales-Tax Bill Could Get Senate Votes This Week - Storefront Backtalk - "The bill, known as the “Marketplace Fairness Act,” would allow states to require online retailers to collect sales tax, even if the e-tailer doesn’t have a physical presence in the state."
• Dunkin’ Donut email campaign showcases ongoing mobile payment endeavors - Mobile Commerce Daily - "Mobile payments are on the rise. And, this campaign helps the company solidify its place in the space."
• Are You the Weakest Link? - Retail Payments Risk Forum - "A basic tenet of security that we often mention in Portals and Rails is that experienced criminals attack the weakest points in the system."
• Small Banks Lead the Innovation Agenda: Are They Making the Elephants Dance? - "Today, we are witnessing numerous instances of smaller players spawning innovations across social media, self-service channels, mobile banking, pricing, payments etc. to deliver customer delight."

On the wires:

• American Express OPEN Simplifies Expense Tracking for Small Business with Launch of ReceiptMatch
• Clear2Pay and Earthport partner on low value clearing - "With the OPF Earthport Connect module, clients of the Open Payment Framework (OPF) will have out of the box connectivity to Earthport’s global payments infrastructure in over 50 countries."
• Consumers Want a More Seamless and Personalized Customer Experience From Their Bank - Cisco - "Overall, the report demonstrates consumer interest in more personalized, timely and valuable connections with banks…"
• ACI Worldwide Paves the Way to True Enterprise Payments with Universal Payments Platform - "The Universal Payments Platform is a solution that provides purpose-built payments functionality to orchestrate all aspects of payments processing for any payment type, any channel, any currency and any network."
• With Consumer Optimism Rising, Chase Blueprint Unveils New Initiative to Reinforce Positive Spending Habits - Drawing upon the expertise of Chase and respected experts, the Resource Center for Mindful Spending is a free knowledge center available at Chase.com/MindfulSpending.
• USA Technologies To Demonstrate Two New Cashless Payment Devices at NAMA OneShow - "The ePort G9 represents a redesigned, feature-rich offering for USAT’s popular JumpStart program. It will include all of the functionality of USAT’s NFC-enabled ePort G8, plus new features…"
• Boulder Valley Credit Union Introduces Tyfone Mobile Banking Financial Services - "One Tyfone client has reported more than a 10 percent mobile adoption from non-PC bankers, which in turn increases the ROI for the financial institution."

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…"

American Express has announced the promotion of Edward P. Gilligan to president, effective immediately. The company’s global consumer, small business, merchant, network, risk and banking groups will continue to report to him.

Mr. Gilligan, 53, has served as vice chairman of American Express since 2007 when he was named head of a Business-to-Business group responsible for the company’s relationships with merchants, corporations and bank partners globally. He took on his current responsibilities in 2009.

Mr. Gilligan continues to report to Kenneth I. Chenault, chairman and chief executive officer. Also continuing to report to Mr. Chenault are Daniel H. Schulman, group president, Enterprise Growth; Stephen J. Squeri, group president, Global Services; and the executive officers who head the company’s staff groups.

On the web:

• CMU students show fingerprints may be way to buy - "With PayTango, a swipe of the finger links users' personal information to their credit or debit card in less than 15 seconds, making for a quick and easy-to-use system."
• Do Cyberattacks Threaten Confidence in Our Payment Systems? - FRB Atlanta Retail Payments Risk Forum
• Atlanta a Key Talent and Business Market for Square's Payments Business - MidtownPatch - "The company, which launched its Atlanta presence by hiring eight former Google Inc. engineers, expects to have a staff of 35 infrastructure engineers and customer support staff by the end of the year."
• Alipay Launches Sound Wave Mobile Payments System In Beijing Subway - Techcrunch - "Alipay has launched a new payment system in the Beijing subway that uses sound waves to connect smartphones with ticketing machines."
• American Express mobile advertising campaign generates 95pc view-to-completion rate - Mobile Commerce Daily - "A big part of American Express’ mobile and digital initiatives center around narrative storytelling, from both marketing and consumer perspectives."
• The real cause of the Bitcoin bubble and burst - Financial Services Club Blog - "Bitcoin is an experiment. Treat it like you would a promising Internet start-up company: Maybe it will change the world, but recognize that investing your money or time in new ideas is always risky."
• Consultation on a new payments regulator for the UK - Consult Hyperion's Tomorrow's Transactions Blog - "Will PayCom work? It's impossible to say, since I don't know what it is supposed to do."
• Will Bitcoins make you rich? - Sydney Morning Herald - "…indeed, I don't care at all for Bitcoin as a currency. Instead, I wanted to buy Bitcoins as pure, shameless speculation. I wanted a chance to ride a rocket ship."

On the wires:

• Discover Card Leads the Way in Customer Loyalty for the 17th Consecutive Year - "Discover has managed to create the highest levels of loyalty by leveraging real, emotional category values…"
• UL first lab selected to provide testing for mPOS solutions for the Visa Ready Partner Program - "UL was selected as the first lab to guide mPOS solution providers who want to ensure their products are ‘Visa Ready’ through all of the certification processes required by Visa."

American Express and Walmart have announced expanded security and funding capabilities to Bluebird, a debit and checking alternative that provides Americans with a better way to manage and control their everyday spending.

Bluebird Accounts(1) will now be eligible for FDIC insurance, providing an extra layer of security. As a result, permanent Bluebird Accounts will now have the ability to receive direct deposit of government payments, such as social security payments, military pay, and tax refunds. Customers can also balance their Bluebird checkbook in real-time with pre-authorized check writing, add checks to their Bluebird Account by mail and add funds up to $100,000 annually.

(1) Available to a Bluebird member who registers with American Express for a permanent account. These new features are not available with the temporary Bluebird card sold at Walmart retail locations.

On the web:

• Payments Company Stripe Makes First Acquisition, Buys Kickoff - TechCrunch
• PayPal Launches Next Generation Developer Tools Mobile Payments - PayPal Blog
• Payments Startups Take The Data, Design And Development Route To Reengineer The Credit-Card Business - TechCrunch
• Retailer Sues Visa Over $13 Million 'Fine' for Being Hacked - Wired.com
• The ATM: Disappearing Soon from a Location near You? - Portals and Rails

On the wires:

• Elavon Launches Mobile Innovation Center
• Western Union Continues Mobile App Expansion
• Early Warning Advances Mobile Banking by Reducing the Threat of Duplicate Deposit Fraud
• Discover Announces International Alliance with Nigeria’s Interswitch Limited
• Fiserv Multiplies Consumer Mobile Payment Options by Combining P2P Payments and Mobile Banking
• FirsTech Accelerates Electronic Payments Growth With the Fusion Bill Pay Platform
• Earthport Signs American Express for its Cross-Border Payments Service
• Net Element International to Acquire Unified Payments

On the web:

• Product Crack: American Express Launches ezeClick in India - Livemint
• PayOne sues Home Depot for PayPal In-Store Checkout - Silicon Valley Business Journal
• Bitcoin Processor Links Web Shopping Carts To Amazon.Com's Shipping - Network World
• Isis Revamps Its Mobile Wallet And It’s Actually Fixing What’s Broken - StorfrontBacktalk
• Why The Swipe Fee "Settlement" Is Far From Settled - Retail's BIG Blog
• GroupMe’s Mobile Apps Now Let Users Split Payments - TechCrunch

On the wires:

• CyberSource 2013 UK eCommerce Report Out Now
• Fiserv Makes it Easy for Small Businesses to Enroll for SpotPay and Accept Cards and Checks

American Express announced a new social commerce experience that turns Twitter #hashtags into online purchases from Amazon, Sony, Urban Zen and Xbox 360.

"Based on the initial success of Amex Sync for offers, we know there is significant power in combining our assets with Twitter's platform to bring value to Cardmembers and merchants," said Leslie Berland, Senior Vice President, Digital Partnerships and Development at American Express. "Now, we're leveraging our unique technology and closed-loop network to introduce a seamless solution that redefines what's possible in the world of social commerce."

See sync.americanexpress.com/twitter for more details.

American Express has reported financial results for the fourth quarter 2012, including net income of $637 million, down 47% from $1.2 billion a year ago. Net income from the quarter included the restructuring charge, rewards expense and cardmember reimbursements that were previously announced.

“With higher fourth quarter revenues and cardmember spending, we ended 2012 in strong shape,” said Kenneth I. Chenault, chairman and chief executive officer. “Against the backdrop of an uneven economy, we capitalized on opportunities and continued to stay ahead of the trends that are reshaping our industry."

AmEx announced earlier that it would be eliminating 5,400 jobs, mainly from its travel business unit.

FIS announced that American Express has selected FIS’ InstantFunds Mobile technology to provide mobile-driven remote check capture for Bluebird accounts.

“Consumers are increasingly mobile and tech-savvy and constantly seek convenience. They want the option to perform any financial or purchasing transaction with a mobile phone,” explained Gary Norcross, president and chief operating officer, FIS. “We recognized the opportunity to offer a mobile solution that brings more secure, self-service capabilities to consumers and we’re excited that American Express has teamed with FIS to support its innovative Bluebird offering.”

FIS InstantFunds Mobile enables consumers to use their smartphones to scan a check and add funds into their account, thus limiting fraud by leveraging FIS’ analytics and payment guaranty technologies.

American Express has announced that Cardmembers can now use Membership Rewards points for smartphone-enabled gift cards and use them instantly to pay with their smartphones.

“We know our Cardmembers want the flexibility to use the points they’ve earned for rewards they want, when and how they want them,” said Christopher Besendorfer, Vice President Loyalty and Membership Benefits, American Express. “As the worlds of online and offline converge, we're finding new ways for Cardmembers to use points, whether at home, on the run, and now instantly in-store with a Mobile Gift Card.”

Mobile Gift Cards are currently available for eight different retailers including: Banana Republic, Gap, Old Navy, PBteen, Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn Kids, West Elm and Williams-Sonoma.

Judge John Gleeson of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York has granted preliminary approval in the U.S. merchant litigation. Reuters has a nice write up of the hearing:

During a packed hearing on Friday, lawyers for dozens of objectors -- including Target Corp and Home Depot Inc -- told the judge that the settlement offered meaningless relief for merchants saddled with an estimated $30 billion in annual swipe fees. They also argued that releases shielding Visa and Mastercard from new litigation over the same claims would violate their legal rights and give the two companies protection from for any future anti-competitive behavior.

The National Retail Federation said that is will continue to oppose the settlement and look at other legal options.

In other legal news, the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to AmEx's bid to force merchants to arbitrate antitrust claims over it fees.

Isis has announced the availability of the Isis Mobile Wallet in Austin and Salt Lake City. Consumers can visit their AT&T, T-Mobile or Verizon retail location and select from nine Isis Ready handsets, with an expected 11 additional handsets coming to market by year end.

“The launch of the Isis Mobile Wallet in Austin and Salt Lake City represents a milestone for both Isis and the mobile commerce industry,” said Ryan Hughes, chief marketing officer, Isis. “With as many as 20 Isis Ready handsets headed to market by year end, we are experiencing an unprecedented level of support for NFC and consumer choice.”

American Express, Capital One, and Chase are the card issuing partners.

American Express has reported financial results for the third quarter 2012, including net income of $1.3 billion, up 1% from a year ago.

“We generated solid results this quarter against the backdrop of a very uneven global economy,” said Kenneth I. Chenault, chairman and chief executive officer. “Cardmember spending rose 8% in the U.S. from a year ago and 6% globally (8% fx-adjusted). That’s a healthy pace in the current environment and an improvement from earlier in the quarter. Nonetheless, it represents slower growth than we were generating earlier in the year, a trend that we’re seeing among major card issuers."

On the web:

• Isis Mobile Wallet lands on the Play Store for T-Mobile - Android Community
• American Express Launches Mobile App for its Bluebird Prepaid Card - NetBanker
• PayPal Opens Up 'Bill Me Later' To Small-to-Medium Online Businesses - GigaOM
• Payments Platform Braintree Raises $35M From NEA, Accel - TechCrunch

On the wires:

• Netsuite Integrates with Worldpay to Offer Merchants End-to-End Commerce
• Leading Social Gaming Platform Developer Huzutech Selects Virtual Piggy for Secure Payments
• LevelUp Integrates With Merchant Warehouse's Genius Customer Engagement Platform

Walmart and American Express have announced the launch of 'Bluebird', an "alternative to debit and checking accounts designed to help consumers better manage and control their everyday finances."

“The financial services landscape is changing. Technological advances, regulatory changes, and evolving consumer needs are redefining payments ranging from prepaid, to checking and debit. Bluebird is our solution to help consumers who currently may be poorly served by traditional banking products. It allows them to easily and safely move, manage, and spend their money. In an era where it is increasingly “expensive to be poor,” we have worked with Walmart to create a financial services product that rights many of the wrongs that plague the market today,” said Dan Schulman, group president, Enterprise Growth, American Express.

Bluebird members can deposit money in a variety of ways including payroll direct deposit, remote check capture via the Bluebird mobile app, using cash at any Walmart register, or by linking a checking, savings, or debit card to the account. There are no minimum balance, monthly, or overdraft fees. Bluebird is based on the Serve platform.

On the web:

• Pay-By-Keyword Startup Seconds Refocuses As A Way To Make Anyone A Merchant - TechCrunch
• Summer Is Gone, but ACH Fraud Remains - Portals and Rails
• The World’s First Cashless Country (Somaliland) - Consult Hyperion
• Flat-Fee, Dongle-Free Mobile POS Startup Emu Opens For Business In U.K., Registrations In Europe -TechCrunch

On the wires:

• Valpak Integrates Local Coupons in New Apple Passbook
• Citi Launches New Payroll Payment Solutions
• Virtual Piggy Signs Up toddland
• TIO Networks Surpasses $100 Million in Mobile Bill Pay Transactions
• Direct Insite to Deliver Electronic Payments Platform to Major Hotel and Hospitality Company
• AmEx Announces Settlements with Bank Regulators Related to U.S. Card Practices
• VeriFone Unveils Next-Generation Media for Gas Stations and C-Stores
• MoneyGram Announces New Money Transfer Agreement with Walmart
• Salt Lake City Introduces Mobile Parking Payments With QuickPay
• eMerchantPay Offers a Prepaid Card for Online Gaming
• Heartland Payment Systems Credits Merchants with More than Quarter Billion Dollars in Durbin Debit Reform Savings

On the web:

• Tello Launches PassTools To Help Businesses Build Their Apple Passbook Passes - TechCrunch
• AmEx Launches Integration With Apple’s Passbook - VentureBeat
• Starbucks: We'll Be Passbook-Ready Before October - CNET News
• Alternative Financial Services Grow, So Do the Unbanked and Underbanked - Portals and Rails
• WeChat App Aims at Social, Cash-Less Mobile Payments in China - Tech in Asia

On the wires:

• Digital River to Acquire LML Payment Systems in Canada
• Bango Goes Live With Facebook Mobile Payments
• AJB Announces Mobile Payments Strategy for Retailers
• Chase Cardholders Can Now Use Ultimate Rewards Points to Pay for Merchandise at Amazon.com
• Net Element Partners with Russia's MegaFon to Provide Payment Processing Services
• Paylane Launches World’s First 'Payments Just For Startups'
• Payza Market Share Skyrockets in Bangladesh

On the web:

• Policymakers, Regulators Keep a Watchful Eye on Mobile Payments - Portals and Rails
• Oops! American Express Never Agreed To Be Part Of Google’s Big Wallet Upgrade - TechCrunch
• The Current State of Daily Deals (infographic) - Truaxis

On the wires:

• Virtual Piggy Adds Security Service for Online Youth Market
• Citi to Sell Diners Club UK and Republic of Ireland Issuing Businesses
• Datacard Group Announces Upgrade Package for U.S. Card Issuers to Become EMV Compliant
• New Mercator Report on Next Generation Debit Products
• TD Bank Chooses CheckFree RXP from Fiserv

American Express has reported financial results for the second quarter 2012, including net income of $1.3 billion, up 1% from a year ago.

“Consumer, small business and corporate cardmember spending, along with the business volumes generated by our network of bank partners, remained healthy despite a very uneven economy,” said Kenneth I. Chenault, chairman and chief executive officer. "Overall cardmember spending rose 7%, or 9% adjusted for foreign currency translations. That’s slower than the increases we’ve seen in the recent quarters, but it comes on top of a very strong performance a year ago, and continues to grow faster than most of our large issuer competitors.

On the web:

• Chirpify is Building a Payments Company Around Twitter - American Banker
• Credit Cards No Longer Accepted At Medical Pot Dispensaries - MSNBC
• India’s Prizm Payments On Track To Hit $50B In Transactions - TechCrunch
• Inside Apple's Go-Slow Approach to Mobile Payments - WSJ.com
• Wal-Mart Said to Halt Amex Prepaid Card Pilot - American Banker

On the wires:

• C-SAM Extends Mobile Transactions Expertise Into User Experience
• Smart Card Alliance Launches 'EMV Connection' Website Dedicated to U.S. EMV Migration
• Brightwell Payments Acquires Directo and Expands Presence in U.S. Paycard Market
• UBPS to Acquire, Consolidate Three Payment Companies in Proposed $179 Million Transaction
• Virtual Piggy and Marmalade to Bring Youth Payments to the Gaming World
• Digital River White Paper on Global Spending Habits and Payment Preferences of Online Gamers
• Fifth Third Bank Launches RevLink Collect

American Express has announced its network roadmap to advance EMV chip-based contact, contactless and mobile payments for all merchants, processors and issuers of American Express-branded cards in the U.S.

“The payments industry is continuing to evolve rapidly, and American Express recognizes the growing demand for chip-based contact and contactless payments in the U.S.,” said Suzan Kereere, Senior Vice President and General Manager, American Express Global Network Business. “We also fully recognize the complexities involved in migrating to EMV chip-based technology, and our first priority is to provide choice and flexibility for merchants and our card-issuing partners so they can adopt the EMV solution that best meets their needs.”

American Express recently announced the launch of PAYVE, a new payment service that enables large and mid-size companies to centralize the processing of multiple payment methods through a single electronic platform.

“Clients are increasingly asking us to help solve more of their payments challenges. They want to focus less on operations and more on extracting financial value from their payments. With PAYVE, we can help them do that,” said Andrew Jamison, Vice President, Global Corporate Payments, American Express. “Supported by American Express’s world-class customer service, proven payments expertise, and in-house supplier enablement team, PAYVE will help companies streamline payments processes and better manage cash flow.”

Payment methods include check, ACH, international wire and American Express’s web-based payment solution, Buyer Initiated Payments (BIP).

On the web:

• Google Wallet Launches Support For Subscriptions - Computerworld
• Wallaby Launches the Cloud Wallet Based on a Smart Universal Payment Card - PandoDaily
• NetSpend To Sell Prepaid PayPal Cards At 7-Eleven Stores - Austin Business Journal
• China Mobile, China UnionPay Join Forces For Mobile Payments - NFCNews
• Facebook Rolls Out Currency Conversion API For App Developers - AllFacebook
• BII to Start JCB Platinum Credit Card Issuing in Indonesia
• The High Cost Of Paying By Phone - Discovery News

On the wires:

• American Express OPEN Enhances the Plum Card for Small Businesses
• Orange Launches Nationwide Deployment of NFC SIM Cards with Gemalto Solution in France
• LightSpeed Launches New iPad Product Enabling Interactive Cross-Selling in Retail Stores
• Scotiabank Connects With Cardtronics to Extend ATM Access Into Canadian 7-Eleven Stores
• MAGIC Card - A Reloadable Prepaid MasterCard(R) From Earvin "Magic" Johnson

American Express and Zynga have announced the launch of Zynga Serve Rewards, a new program that is tied to the Serve digital wallet.

“We’re thrilled to expand our relationship with Zynga and provide an easy way for players to earn Zynga virtual game cash by learning about Serve and signing up to receive the many benefits of our digital wallet,” said Dan Schulman, President of Enterprise Growth, American Express. “As the commerce landscape continues to change, and online and offline spending converges, Serve is focused on partnering with companies like Zynga to create unique value for our customers in the environments they love.”

American Express has launched a mobile offer engine that recommends and ranks relevant merchant offers in real time for US Cardmembers based on their spending history and location – a Cardmember’s “spend graph.”

“In an increasingly crowded marketplace, where consumers are bombarded with daily deals, we saw an opportunity to help our Cardmembers save time as well as money by curating meaningful offers for them,” said Josh Silverman, president of the U.S. Consumer Services Group at American Express. “At the same time, we can help our merchant partners build their business by helping them reach the right Cardmembers with the right offers at the right time. We developed our mobile offer engine with three key points of differentiation in mind: relevance, convenience and value.”

American Express and Isis have announced an agreement to make American Express’ U.S. Consumer, OPEN Small Business and Serve Cards available in the Isis Mobile Wallet, starting in Salt Lake City, Utah and Austin, Texas later this year.

“Now our Cardmembers and merchants can benefit from the ease and convenience of a tap-and-go experience on a mobile phone and still enjoy the benefits, services and support of American Express,” said Josh Silverman, President, U.S. Consumer Services for American Express.