The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago has published a working paper titled "Consumer Choice and Merchant Acceptance of Payment Media" by Wilko Bolt and Sujit Chakravorti.   » Continue Reading

The Fourth Quarter 2008 edition of Economic Perspectives from the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago includes an article titled "Economics of payment cards: A status report" by Wilko Bolt and Sujit Chakravorti.

From the abstract: "This article surveys the recent theoretical literature on payment cards (focusing on debit and credit cards) and studies this research's possible implications for the current public policy debate over payment card networks and the pricing of their services for both consumers and merchants."

In an article titled "Retailers Offering New Payment Choices", Kelli B. Grant writes for the Wall St. Journal about payments options available to consumers this holiday shopping season.

APACS, the UK payments association, has announced the launch of Payment Profiles, taking a look behind the statistics of 12 separate age and gender profiles within England, Scotland and Wales to show the differences that exist when it comes to managing money.   » Continue Reading

With the slogan "Keep Your Cash", Southwest Airlines has announced that beginning September 9th, you'll not be able to use cash in the cabin to purchase onboard drinks, etc. [Hat tip: CreditCards.com]

APACS has released its latest quarterly statistical summary of UK card payment activity.

"In the second quarter of 2008 there were 1.8 billion plastic card purchases made in the UK totalling £92.6 billion. The number of purchases was 7.8% higher than in the second quarter of 2007, and spending was 7.5% higher. Debit cards accounted for 73.4% of all plastic card purchases compared with 71.6% in the second quarter of 2007."

Deloitte's Center for Banking Solutions has published a new paper titled "Building Consumer Trust in Retail Payments" .

Eric Konigsberg and Sewell Chan report for the New York Times on failures on Monday and Tuesday of New York City MetroCard machines that were unable to handle credit and debit cards. They write: "The malfunction raised questions for riders about not only the efficacy of the MetroCard machines but also the larger notion of the American commercial culture’s movement toward an increasingly cashless existence." The outage also provoked this New York Times editorial complaining about the overall design of the MetroCard machines.

On September 20-21, 2007, the Payment Cards Center and the Research Department of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia co-sponsored the fourth in a series of joint research conferences focusing on important issues in consumer credit and payments. The discussion brought together academic scholars and industry experts to present and discuss the latest research on these topics. The conference included both theoretical and empirical papers. The PCC has just published a conference summary .

In April, the Reserve Bank of Australia released the preliminary conclusions of its 2007/08 review of the payments system reforms undertaken by its Payments System Board. Interested parties were invited to make written submissions by June 30th on these conclusions and the analysis underpinning them. The RBA has made those submissions available online.

In a press release this morning, payment processor Equens and supermarket chain Albert Heijn have announced they will begin a pilot with Tip2Pay - pay with your fingertip. Both a debit card and your fingertip must be presented at the point-of-sale.   » Continue Reading

On the Digital Money Forum blog, Dave Birch posts about Harry Leinonen's paper titled "Payment Habits and Trends in the Changing E-Landscape 2010+" . From the foreward: "This book is the summary of a project undertaken in the Bank of Finland with the objective of discovering business and technological innovations, with which possibly new payment approaches could be introduced to the market and changes in future payment habits could be brought about. Payments habits have changed slowly in the past and therefore the time period selected for the study is 2010+, ranging to about 5–10 years beyond then. According to the findings we appear to be heading towards a new era in payment technology."   » Continue Reading

Celent has published a new report titled 'Disruption in the Payments World' saying that 'the current euphoric era for many issuers will be disrupted and quite possibly eliminated over the next three years.' Why? Celent's reasons include a forecast that interchange rates will begin to decline, that a large payments company will launch an alternative network to MasterCard and Visa, and that credit card issuers will need to diversify their payments mix by adding decoupled debit payment options.   » Continue Reading

Just listened to a fascinating talk at today's Digital Money Forum in London by Ronnie O'Toole, Chief Economist of the National Irish Bank. Last November, the bank provided a pre-budget submission to the Irish Department of Finance that contained four recommendations about how to reduce inefficiencies in the Irish payment system (Dave Birch blogged about it here). One of the four recommendations was to require that taxis in the country be equipped to for card-based payments as a compulsory measure. We've seen other examples of where transit payments have been the focal point for shifting from cash to electronic payments. Glenbrook's Carol Benson blogged about her experience with card-based taxi payments in New York City late last year.

Marianne Crowe, Vice President, Emerging Payments Research Group, at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, gave a presentation last week titled "Emerging Payments - The Changing Landscape" to the Maine Association of Community Banks and to the New Hampshire Community Bankers Association. Crowe's presentation discusses the growth in debit card payments, the emergence (and potential threats to banks) of decoupled debit cards, prepaid cards for the unbanked, and the use of the Internet for bill payment, ecommerce purchases, and person-to-person or account-to-account money transfers. She also discusses contactless payments and mobile banking.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston has announced the availability of a new publication, Consumer Payments Research Reference Guide - Supplement , providing an addendum to the original Consumer Payments Research Reference Guide. The Supplement includes new organizations that have conducted studies on consumer payments topics or support other research efforts to collect data on consumer payments. While the original Guide focused on private sector companies, the Supplement focuses primarily on organizations engaged in public policy research.   » Continue Reading

The Reserve Bank of Australia has released preliminary conclusions from its 2007/08 review of the payments system reforms undertaken by the Payments System Board. The Bank is now seeking submissions on these conclusions, before finalising the review later in the year.   » Continue Reading

A reminder that the Airline Payment Summit is coming up in Toronto, Ontario on April 9-10, 2008. "As airline yields come under downward pressure, Airline Payment Summit (APS) will examine leading-edge low-cost payment solutions within the landscape of traditional forms of payments such as credit cards."

Dave Birch writes on the Digital Money Blog about a presentation given by Julian Niblett of Boots, one of the UK's largest retailers, at the New Payments Channels conference in London. Interestingly, Boots studied where in their stores contactless made economic sense, and where it didn't. But, perhaps even more interesting were Niblett's comments on the costs of cash acceptance vs. the cost of cards.

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has released the latest edition of its annual publication "Statistics on Payment and Settlement Systems in Selected Countries". "This version of the statistical update contains data for 2006 and earlier years. There are detailed tables for each individual country as well as a number of comparative tables. This year the tables have been expanded to include detailed data on securities trading, clearing and settlement systems. The statistical methodology has been updated accordingly."

APACS, the UK payments association, has announced that "donations to charitable organisations on plastic cards reached £1.013 billion in 2007- up from £842 million in 2006. This is the first time donations on plastic have gone through the £1 billion barrier."   » Continue Reading

The International Journal of Central Banking's March issue includes the article "Transaction Pricing and the Adoption of Electronic Payments: A Cross-Country Comparison" by Wilko Bolt, David Humphrey and Roland Uittenbogaard. From the abstract: "After safety, the efficiency of a nation's payment system is a primary concern of central banks. Since electronic payments are typically cheaper than paper-based or cash payments, pricing these transactions should speed up the shift to electronics. But by how much? Norway explicitly priced point-of-sale and bill-payment transactions and rapidly shifted to electronic payments, while the Netherlands experienced a similar shift without pricing. Controlling for terminal availability and differences between countries, direct pricing accelerated the shift to electronics by about 20 percent. The quid pro quo was the elimination of bank-float revenues."

TRX and COA Solutions Ltd have announced the launch of a joint Card Management Services solution for airlines desiring to lower their distribution costs and credit card fees. According to the two companies, "the solution supports the airlines' corporate direct invoicing and payment solutions as well as the Universal Air Travel Plan (UATP) network. In production since October 2007, the system is already processing approximately $600 million on an annualized basis in UATP and various payment products for a major North American airline."   » Continue Reading

The Airline Payment Summit is being held in Toronto, Ontario on April 9-10, 2008. "As airline yields come under downward pressure, Airline Payment Summit (APS) will examine leading-edge low-cost payment solutions within the landscape of traditional forms of payments such as credit cards."

37signal's Jason Fried writes about the process they use for handling credit cards for payment for their online services (including Basecamp, Highrise, Backpack, etc.). Fried writes: "So, credit card processing and set up and all that stuff is a real pain in the ass. It’s definitely intimidating to get started. The industry just feels dirty."

MasterCard Advisors' SpendingPulse, a macro-economic report tracking retail sales nationally, has reported summary results for the 2007 Holiday shopping season concluding that, for the period between Black Friday and December 24, retail grew by a seasonally adjusted 3.6% over the same period in 2006.   » Continue Reading

Anthony Ramirez writes for the New York Times about New York City's cab drivers and their disdain for accepting credit cards. The head of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance says "The whole technology is economically disastrous for the drivers."

The 2007 Federal Reserve Payments Study released today concludes that "in 2006 more than two-thirds of all U.S noncash payments were made electronically. From 2003 to 2006, the period covered by the study, all types of electronic payments grew while check payments decreased. The Federal Reserve’s 2004 Payments Study found that the number of electronic payments and check payments were roughly equal in 2003."   » Continue Reading

In an article titled 'Charge the Rent, but Only if You Don’t Need To , Janet Morrissey writes for the New York Times about programs that allow "homeowners and renters to pay their monthly housing bills with a credit card. For the cash savvy, the program is a potential windfall, allowing users to rack up rewards points that qualify them for free trips and other perks."

As part of its2007–08 review of the reforms to Australia's payments system, the Reserve Bank of Australia co-hosted a Payments Systems Review Conference (several papers available for download) today in conjunction with the Centre for Business and Public Policy at the Melbourne Business School.   » Continue Reading

The Electronic Payments Coalition says that, "with holiday spending expected to top $470 billion, the National Retail Federation predicts more than 70 percent of shoppers will primarily use electronic payments for their holiday purchases. Whether using a debit or credit card this holiday season, electronic payments provide a safe, reliable and convenient form of payment that benefits both consumers and merchants."   » Continue Reading

According to MasterCard's Worldwide Holiday Shopping Insights Report, "Black Friday was the busiest day for holiday shopping last year in the top five traditional gift-buying categories (brick-and-mortar department, discount, clothing, electronics/appliances and sporting goods/toy stores), with more than one- third of MasterCard payment transactions occurring before 10 AM Central."   » Continue Reading

Six European card payment schemes have joined together to establish the "Euro Alliance of Payment Schemes s.c.r.l. (EAPS)". Based in Brussels, the new company will "facilitate pan-European transactions, effectively creating a new European card scheme, generating more choice in this market. Cardholders will be able to use their cards at more places throughout Europe, while retailers will gain more and better opportunities for card acceptance under the uniform EAPS acceptance mark."   » Continue Reading

Mercator Advisory Group has published a new report titled "Account-Level Processing: Taking a Swipe at Payment and Loyalty Convergence". "The report focuses on Account-Level Processing (ALP), alternately known as Account-Level Management (ALM), which has the potential to revolutionize the payments landscape by optimizing the value that inherently exists within the data created by card-based electronic payments, thereby fundamentally changing the way consumers and merchants transact, as well as the way the general card payment services industry functions."   » Continue Reading

In much of the work that we do, we're fascinated how often the notion of market segmentation emerges as a dominant theme. Dave Birch blogs about that idea, Clayton Christensen and more in his post about how a "one size, fits all" approach to thinking about card payments "might be rather old-fashioned."

First Data’s STAR Network has announced highlights from its 2006/2007 Consumer Payments Usage and Segmentation Study that "includes a segmentation analysis of specific market groups based on their payment tendencies at the point of sale. The six segments found in the research include the signature debit, PIN debit, cash/PIN debit, cash, check and credit card segments. The segments — determined by an analysis of payment behavior, demographics, attitudinal characteristics, payment preference and value-based characteristics — provide a new way to look at the point of sale payments landscape."   » Continue Reading

The Department of the Treasury and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System have announced the release of a joint proposed rule to implement the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. The Act prohibits gambling businesses from accepting payments in connection with unlawful Internet gambling, including payments made through credit cards, electronic funds transfers, and checks.   » Continue Reading

The Deloitte Center for Banking Solutions has published a hew paper titled “Is the retail payments industry headed for disruption?” . The paper "focuses on how retail payments for consumers and merchants is in overshoot and vulnerable to “disruptive innovation” — our term for an innovation that changes the competitive framework within an industry. The study also provides insights on how retail payment players can leverage their brand recognition, infrastructure, volume and profitability to help turn the search-to-purchase experience to their advantage."

More and more merchants are finding cash less attractive. "American Airlines today announced a three-week test on flights departing from San Francisco in which it will only accept major credit cards or debit cards for onboard purchases, including headsets, snacks, fresh light meals and alcoholic beverages."   » Continue Reading

Elizabeth Douglass of the Los Angeles TImes reports on how more gas stations are offering consumers discounts for paying with cash instead of credit cards. According to Douglass, the merchants are trying "to dodge the rising fees that credit card companies tack onto transactions."

PayPal's Dan Schatt (formerly an industry analyst for Celent and thirty days into his new strategy role at PayPal) blogs about his views on three important payment trends: 1) Cash continues to become electrified; 2) Convenience is spurring debit; and, 3) In a saturated market, rewards matter. Dan welcomes comments about his views over on the PayPal Blog.

In an article titled 'Cash rules at some pumps", Elizabeth Douglass writes for the Los Angeles Times about how "at more and more gas stations, it pays to be part of the cash crowd."

While on a recent family vacation, one of our visits was to the San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park just outside of Escondido, California. A wonderful experience indeed - except when it came to buying things. The card acceptance practices and technology at the Wild Animal Park could sure use some work.   » Continue Reading

Dave Birch blogs about research done by the Swedish central bank looking into the costs of various forms of payments in that country. He goes on to discuss some recent McKinsey numbers saying "European banks lose a lot of money on the non-SEPA payment instruments (ie, cash and cheques), they make reasonable money on SEPA instruments and they make a lot of money on payment-related (rather than direct payment) revenues."

Mercator Advisory Group has published a new report titled "Sizing Canada's Growing Card Market" that presents an overview of the current state of the Canadian payment card market, an analysis of recent market trends and metrics, a discussion of EMV compliance, and a review of contactless payment and new products and reward programs.   » Continue Reading

The Emerging Payments Research Group of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston has published "Consumer Behavior and Payment Choice: 2006 Conference Summary" (PDF) by Margaret Carten, Dan Littman, Scott Schuh, and Joanna Stavins.   » Continue Reading

Carly Weeks writes for the Vancouver Sun about increasing merchant concerns about chargebacks -

According to a new report from APACS titled "The Way We Pay 2007: UK Plastic Cards", £321 billion was spent on plastic cards in the UK in 2006 representing a three-fold rise in the last decade. Cards now account for just under one third of total consumer spending in the UK. Debit cards accounted for 61 per cent of the plastic card spend (£195 billion and over five times that spent in 1996) and credit cards 39 per cent (£126 billion and over twice that spent in 1996). In 2005, cards exceeded cash in all retail spending for the first time and the gap between cards and cash accelerated in 2006 with cash spending of £274 billion.   » Continue Reading

Sam Hodges writes for the Dallas Morning News about how payment cards are displacing cash and checks at churches and charities.

Aneace Haddad of Welcome Real-Time blogs about a recent Gartner report titled "Banks' Retail Payment Operations at a Tipping Point" saying that he found it so interesting that he "obtained the right for you to view it." Aneace cites a couple of comments from the report suggesting what bankers should do including "Introduce PIVAS [Payment Information Value-Added Services] to reduce pricing pressure from merchants and initiate a virtuous circle for retail payment operations. Merchants must actively support card programs and emerging payment solutions, but they are challenging the pricing model for the interchange. It's time to introduce services such as PIVAS to convince them of the real value of bank-sponsored retail payment networks.”

A global study of banking, retail and payment services executives' attitudes towards the burgeoning Chinese payments market conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit on behalf of First Data International has revealed that the vast majority of respondents are optimistic about the prospects for electronic payments in China. Eighty-five percent of respondents, for example, believe the prospects for credit cards are either highly or somewhat promising. While bankers recognize the considerable challenges, they are bullish about the opportunities and are committed to this rapidly growing market.   » Continue Reading

Phoenix Payment has announced the results of its tenth annual Consumer Payments Preferences and Usage Study examining consumer preferences and usage of payment methods at point-of-sale and for recurring bills. According to Phoenix Payment, this year’s study "delved more deeply than those of prior years into the shift to debit card usage and consumers’ attitudes toward both PIN and signature debit payments."

“Debit card usage is growing, and consumers clearly prefer PIN to signature debit,” stated Ken Kerr, Vice President of Phoenix Payments. “Our analysis shows clients the reasons. We also break down changes in payment behavior by customer segments. Everyone has a cell phone, but the phone as a payments channel is being over-hyped. Consumers have serious security concerns, and few see a compelling reason to switch from cards to phones for payments. The analysis reveals consumers’ appetite for phone and other payment methods, and it identifies barriers to cell phone adoption that must be addressed.”

Elizabeth Olson writes for the New York Times about the increasing use of payment cards for small ticket purchases. She writes "more consumers — especially younger ones — are shunning cash and paper checks almost entirely."

The U.S. General Services Administration has named JPMorgan Chase winner of a GSA SmartPay2 charge card service contract, certifying that the company can offer its charge card services to any U.S. federal entity.   » Continue Reading

MasterCard has announced that it will introduce what it is calling the "MasterCard Worldwide Centers of Commerce program, a unique research effort to present bold new perspectives on the role cities play in linking and enabling commerce around the world."   » Continue Reading

Heartland Payment Systems has announced results of a recent survey conducted as part of its Merchant Bill of Rights initiative, a proposed industry standard intended to "inform and educate business owners about card processing costs and drive savings for small and mid-sized businesses." The survey found that many small and mid-sized business owners don't understand credit/debit/prepaid card processing costs, the fees and surcharges they pay, and how these charges impact their bottom line.   » Continue Reading

Bonna De La Cruz writes for the Gannett News Service about the cashless, contactless society ahead - asking "what's the fate of the Salvation Army's familiar red kettles and the tip jars that performers depend on?"

Kim Leonard reports for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review about what some businesses in the Pittsburgh area feel about payment card interchange fees. Leonard reports that "as merchants have watched interchange fees rise from an average 1.5 percent to around 2 percent in the past five years or so, they've tried to enlist consumers, courts and political leaders in their campaign for changes."

Bonna de la Cruz writes for the Gannett News Service reports on how cards are displacing cash for purchase payments - reporting that "in the amount of time it takes to reach into your wallet, you could wave a credit card in front of a sensor and be halfway to the exit."

Reuters India reports that "electronic transactions in India are set to double in the next three years with the Reserve Bank of India, the banking system, aggregators and merchants pulling out all stops to promote it."

Paul Craig writes for The News-Review from Roseburg, Oregon about how "a check won’t buy a Big Mac. It can’t necessarily be used to purchase a bagel, either." He also reports that "paying with cards is not only faster than writing a check, it actually leads to quicker service than using cash, since all a teller has to do is scan the card."

"Pointing to a recent survey that found 21 million Americans will purchase more on Mother's Day because they pay with a debit or credit card, the Electronic Payments Coalition today reaffirmed its core message that payment card options are increasingly preferred by consumers and an important part of retailer sales."   » Continue Reading

Alyson Ward writes for the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram about Secure Give, a company that provides card accepting kiosks for churches.

TransUnion and Edgar, Dunn & Company have announced initial findings from the PaymentDynamics 2007 Preferred Payments Study on consumer payment preferences, attitudes and behavior - concluding "that more consumers prefer debit cards than any other type of payment for point of sale purchases."   » Continue Reading

Cyndia Zwahlen reports for the Los Angeles Times about how credit card companies are focusing on increasing the payment card usage of small businesses - saying that "Although small-business owners spent $4.9 trillion in 2006, less than 5% of that was with the aid of a credit or debit card, according to Visa USA research."

Vivian Wai-yin Kwok writes from Hong Kong for Forbes.com about the growth in debit and credit card usage in China - reporting that "30% of consumer purchases were made with debit and credit cards last year in China’s biggest cities, according to the People’s Bank of China."

Shriya Bubna reports for India's Business Standard about IndiaPay, a new domestic card payment settlement company that would rival global payment systems Visa and MasterCard. “India Pay would provide national infrastructure to be used with a minimum of cost and allow a wider reach. If we look at it from the perspective of benefits, the costs would be justifiable,” said Sanjay Sharma, chief technology officer, IDBI Bank.

TowerGroup has issued a research note titled "Micropayments: Turning Nickels and Dimes into Profits" that "illustrates how card use for micropayments reinforces and can deepen issuers' relationships with their customers, thereby indirectly enhancing profitability. Customer retention is directly linked to product usage. Ideally, frequent use of cards for small everyday transactions will lead consumers to use the cards for larger and more profitable transactions."

Financial Insights has announced the results of a consumer survey of over 1,000 U.S. adults revealing their usage of a variety of new and emerging payment methods - finding a downward shift in the use of closed-loop (single merchant) gift cards, a shift to open-loop (multi merchant) gift cards, the rapid adoption of online payment security systems, and the decline in the influence of rewards programs in card usage outside of a niche demographic.   » Continue Reading

Bank of America has announced Emergency Relief Cards - what the bank calls "a suite of prepaid card products that will assist corporations and government entities to prepare for catastrophic events. The special-use cards are designed to be incorporated into contingency plans to enable continuing business operations and to provide relief measures during times of critical need."   » Continue Reading

Jeff Randall writes an opinion piece for the UK's Telegraph about BT's plan to charge consumers extra fees (£4.50 per quarter - billing is done quarterly) when they pay their bills by cash or cheque - or any other way except direct debit. According to Randall, "BT's goal is to cajole as many people as possible to sign for direct debits. This helps push up profits, by cutting down administration costs." Dave Birch blogs about the change on the Digital Money Blog.

The Federal Reserve System’s Payments System Policy Advisory Committee has published a summary of results from a forum on "Transforming U.S. Retail Payments" that was held at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta on November 2, 2006 to discuss payments system developments and barriers to innovation with the payments industry and relevant payments system participants. "During the forum, industry experts representing depository institutions, payment processors, and nonfinancial corporations provided a variety of perspectives on strategic issues and opportunities associated with the changing U.S. retail payments system."

The Center for Financial Services Innovation has published a white paper titled "Cardholder Use of General Spending Prepaid Cards: A Closer Look at the Market" (PDF) written by Sherrie L. W. Rhine, Katy Jacob, Yazmin Osaki, and Jennifer Tescher. From the executive summary: "To gain a clearer understanding of the transaction behavior of cardholders, CFSI explored trends in the general spending prepaid card market as understood from four card providers that participated in this study. With transaction data provided by the participants on a total of nearly 2,000 cardholders, this study seeks to define how consumers use branded general spending cards."

The Center for Financial Services Innovation has published a new white paper titled "Card-Based Remittances; A Closer Look at Supply and Demand" (PDF) written by Manuel Orozco, Katy Jacob and Jennifer Tescher. From the executive summary: "This report presents the results of an analysis of the supply and demand for card-based transfers among migrants. We analyze a nationwide study of Latin American and Caribbean migrant remittance senders and their access and use of card products of all kinds. Coupled with extensive interviews with card-based remittance providers, this analysis allows us to investigate the relationship between the supply for card-based remittances and remittance senders’ demands for financial products."

The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston has released a new Study of Consumer Behavior and Payment Choice (PDF) based on a survey of payment behavior and attitudes taken by Federal Reserve employees in 2004. The authors include Marques Benton, Krista Blair, Marianne Crowe, and Scott Schuh. Among the findings: "Cost, convenience, and timing are the three most important fundamental characteristics that determine respondents’ adoption and use of all payment methods. Safety and privacy also are important for methods more susceptible to consequences like identity theft that are costly to consumers."   » Continue Reading

This week's Economist contains an article titled "The end of the cash era" (subscription required) and subtitled "Welcome the coming age of electronic money, but safeguard the anonymity of cash". A interesting quote: "Some Japanese merchants have already begun to offer discounts to people using electronic cash. Others will follow."

Visa USA says that American consumers are likely to stock up on much more than just food, beverages and electronics this Super Bowl weekend (Friday, Saturday and Sunday) - according to historical Visa data, jewelry and floral retailers also are likely to experience large increases in consumer spending.   » Continue Reading

APACS has issued December 2006 spending figures for the UK showing that spending on plastic over the Christmas period reached a record £31 billion. There were 669 million plastic card transactions in December 2006, six per cent more than during December 2005, equating to a record 250 transactions per second - day and night - through the month. Spending on plastic cards accounted for 63 per cent of total retail sales.   » Continue Reading

In an article in CSO Magazine, Scott Berinato writes an "Elegy for Cash" - saying that "an inconvenient truth for card issuers and merchants is that cash is a lot safer for consumers."

Global Cash Access has provided more information about its Arriva Card, the first credit card designed for use in casinos.   » Continue Reading

Duncan Solutions and Peppercoin have announced that the City of Detroit is "among the first wave of cities to let drivers pay for on-street parking with their credit or debit cards instead of searching for loose change. Detroit recently replaced old, traditional parking meters with 175 new multispace meters, covering nearly 1,225 parking spots. This is one of the largest deployments of parking paystations that accept credit cards in the United States."   » Continue Reading

In a front page story in today's Wall St. Journal, Robin Sidel writes about the steps card accepting merchants are taking to reduce their payment card acceptance costs - including encouraging their customers to use PIN-based debit cards for payment instead of signature. Sidel describes the merchants as "fed up with the rising cost of accepting plastic."

Auriemma Consulting Group has announced the results of some recent research that concludes that "whether naming the best or worst credit card in their wallet, consumers call it by the network―Visa, MasterCard, American Express or Discover―rather than the bank brand. Consumers tend to more readily identify network brand even though networks do not control card features, pricing or service."   » Continue Reading

Dave Birch picks up the discussion about the question we asked a few weeks ago in our Creating Wealth from Payments Innovation post: why isn't there a Wal-Mart for payments? Dave blames regulation - and that's certainly a factor. Reminds me of the days when airline fares in this country were heavily regulated, preventing a Southwest from emerging. On the other hand, the most successful new entrant in payments in recent history - PayPal - navigated the regulatory waters (state money transmitter laws primarily) relatively easily. One could argue regulation wasn't much of a barrier for their entry. Google Checkout - acting not like PayPal as a money transmitter but, rather, as a master merchant - seems to have avoided any financial regulatory issues. On the other hand, mobile payment provider Obopay's job description for a VP Treasury Operations includes being responsible for "compliance with Federal banking regulations such as Anti Money Laundering, Patriot Act, Regulation D and E, and the FFIEC guidelines" and for "state money transmitter regulations".

Bankrate.com's Ellen Cannon has been posting on her Plastic Rap blog about the recent publication by the U.S. Census Bureau of its 126th Statistical Abstract of the United States - and some of the numbers regarding Americans, their debts, and their use of various payment methods and online bill payment based upon age.

Zhu Wang of the Payments System Research Department of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City has written a new paper titled "Market Structure and Credit Card Pricing: What Drives the Interchange?" (PDF) that "presents a model for the credit card industry, where oligopolistic card networks price their products in a complex marketplace with competing payment instruments, rational consumers/merchants, and competitive card issuers/acquirers. The analysis shows card networks demand higher interchange fees to maximize card issuers' profits as card payments become more efficient. At equilibrium, consumer rewards and card transaction volume also increase, while consumer surplus and merchant profits may not. The model provides a unified framework to evaluate credit card industry performance and government interventions."

Fumiko Hayashi of the Payments System Research Department at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City has written a preliminary new paper titled "Pricing and Welfare Implications of Payment Card Network Competition" (PDF) that examines how competition among payment card networks—three-party scheme networks and four-party scheme networks—affects pricing as well as the welfare of various parties.   » Continue Reading

Banksys sends word this morning from Brussels that on Saturday, December 16th, the milestone of 1 billion electronic transactions for 2006 was reached in Belgium. Banksys continues - saying "armed with their debit cards, Belgians have set a new record on December 16th. One week before Christmas, Banksys, the Belgian electronic payment services provider, recorded a yearly total of more than one billion transactions, for the first time in our country’s history."

TowerGroup's Colin Kerr is out with a new report titled "Where's My Payment? Using Logistics Management to Drive an Enterprise View of Payments" - saying that "now is the time for banks to shift their view of payments processing - treating it as an enterprise-wide business rather than a service function."   » Continue Reading

Visa USA says it anticipates that Dec. 23 will be the busiest shopping day of the 2006 holiday season followed closely by Dec. 22, as consumers take advantage of an extra shopping day and deeper discounts at retail outlets.   » Continue Reading

MasterCard's Chris Thom writes a perspective for CNET on the 40 years MasterCard's been around - concluding by predicting "not far off is the day when, through the assignment of an ever-changing access code, every transaction will be unique, incapable of being replayed and utterly useless to the criminal fraternity."

Merchants might not agree with that headline, but it's used over a letter to the editor written by Peter T. Madigan, Director of the Electronic Payments Coalition, and published today in the Albany Times Union. According to Madigan, "the cost for merchants to accept electronic payments is small compared to the merchant's ability to offer customers the convenience, reliability and security of electronic payments."

One of our research initiatives at Glenbrook this fall has been exploring innovation in electronic payments - how payments innovations happen, the characteristics of the most important drivers of them (including the impacts of key people, industry structure, and any important technologies) that enable innovations, and how to best measure and define their success.   » Continue Reading

Cards&Payments, SourceMedia's monthly publication covering credit cards, debit cards, electronic and mobile commerce, and other forms of electronic payment, has announced it is launching a new industry awards initiative in 2007.   » Continue Reading

More than 67 million Americans have used a credit or debit card for a purchase of less than $5 in the past 30 days according to the fourth annual comprehensive, quantitative survey on the small payments market released today at the 2006 Micro and Small Payments Conference in New York City.   » Continue Reading

Bruce Mohl reported last week for the Boston Globe that the City of Boston has discontinued the acceptance of Visa and MasterCard cards at newly installed multispace parking meters - because they were requiring card users to purchase a minimum of 2 hours of parking time for $2, in violation of credit card rules prohibiting card accepting merchants from requiring minimum payments on card transactions.

According to The Conference Board, U.S. households are expected to spend an average of $449 on gifts during the holiday season, down moderately from last year's estimate of $466.   » Continue Reading

The European Central Bank has published a progress report entitled “The Eurosystem’s View of a “SEPA for Cards” (PDF). "In this report, the Governing Council of the ECB provides its views on some critical issues concerning the migration of card schemes to the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA), and at the same time alerts the market to some developments which could be suboptimal for European citizens."   » Continue Reading

Discover Card has released its first "Holiday Shopping Survey, assessing consumers’ spending trends and patterns for the 2006 holiday season. The findings show that a majority of shoppers plan to spend up to $500 this holiday season and one in four intends to spend from $500 to $1,000."   » Continue Reading

Bankrate.com takes a look at some positive (for consumers) trends in the US payment card market including the continued growth in debit cards, the use of home equity loans, higher minimum payments allowing faster repayment of credit card debt, prepaid cards, no-fee cards, revised reward programs, and savings cards.

Yuka Hayashi reports for the Wall St. Journal on the shift that's taking place as J