Chase Paymentech has announced a joint initiative with VeriFone and Semtek to provide end-to-end encryption technologies for merchants to combat threats to security. The companies said they "will work together to market and distribute VeriFone’s VeriShield Protect solution to the Chase Paymentech base of retail merchants. The end-to-end encryption solution is designed to help merchants reduce the costs to comply with Payment Card Industry (PCI) requirements and associated security risk by protecting card information from the point of swipe to the Chase Paymentech authorization host." READ MORE

JP Morgan Chase has reported financial results for the third quarter of 2009 - reporting net income of $3.6 billion, compared with net income of $527 million in the third quarter of 2008.

Chase Card Services reported a net loss of $700 million, a decline of $992 million from the third quarter of 2008. End-of-period managed loans were $165.2 billion, a decrease of $21.3 billion, or 11%, from the prior year and $6.3 billion, or 4%, from the prior quarter. Card charge volume was $82.6 billion, a decrease of $11.3 billion, or 12%, from the prior year. Merchant processing volume at Chase Paymentech was $103.5 billion, on 4.5 billion total transactions processed.

Chase Paymentech and Revolution Money, operator of the RevolutionCard payment network, have announced that Chase Paymentech's processing platforms now enable the acceptance of RevolutionCard transactions for online and retail merchants. Revolution Money says it "currently operates the largest PIN-based acceptance network for credit card purchase transactions in the U.S." READ MORE

Web.com has announced an agreement with Chase Paymentech to offer merchant payment processing solutions to small and medium-sized businesses Web.com customers will have access to multiple secure payment processing services including all major credit, debit and customizable gift cards. READ MORE

Verifi, a provider of transaction risk management services for card-not-present merchants, has announced that the company has signed a preferred partner agreement with Chase Paymentech. "Verifi will recommend Chase Paymentech as a preferred merchant account provider to its merchant customers, and will provide its transaction risk management services, including chargeback prevention and management, to Chase Paymentech’s card-not-present merchants." READ MORE

With holiday shipping deadlines now history for most e-commerce retailers, the Chase Paymentech Cyber Holiday Pulse Index continues to show an increase from last year. The Index, an annual measurement of online shopping activity during the holiday season, tracks e-commerce spending activity across a sample of 25 of the leading online merchants as listed by Internet Retailer. The measurement indicates both sales volume and transaction count for online purchases crossing Chase Paymentech’s global processing platforms. READ MORE

Chase Paymentech's 2008 Pulse Index of online shopping activity shows that last Tuesday, December 16, was an all-time high record number of transactions. Since Tuesday, sales have tapered off, falling even below last year's and 2006's volumes on both Saturday and Sunday. The average ticket amount remains about 10 percent below last year's levels.

According to the 2008 Chase Paymentech Pulse Index, last Tuesday, December 2, was the peak online shopping day - surpassing sales on Cyber Monday, December 1. Both purchase transactions and sales volume were up significantly on Tuesday over last year's levels - but then fell off as the week progressed.

Yesterday, we highlighted Chase Paymentech's Pulse Index results for Cyber Monday - with ecommerce purchase transactions up 14.5% but actual sales volume up less than half of one percent. If you do the math on Paymentech's numbers, the average purchase amount has declined from $58.81 to $51.62 from 2007 to 2008.

This morning, Nielsen and comScore have both issued press releases talking about the growth in traffic to ecommerce sites on Cyber Monday. Nielsen is measuring web traffic, not actual purchases. comScore, however, is reporting a 15% increase in ecommerce sales - in conflict with the Pulse index results which is based upon seeing actual purchase activity from a sample of ecommerce merchants.

Chase Paymentech's Pulse Index reports that yesterday's Cyber Monday 2008 sales volume increased less than half a percent from last year, but transaction count was ahead of 2007 by 14.5 percent. This resulted in the average ticket size, or average dollar spent per transaction, decreasing 12 percent below last year.

"Cyber Monday was very interesting," said Aaron Press, Director of Market Analysis for Chase Paymentech. "Transaction volume was well ahead of last year for that day, but sales growth was meager. For the entire holiday season, the slower rise in sales volume compared to the steeper increase in transactions has resulted in the average ticket being lower on most days."

Chase Paymentech has launched its 2008 Cyber Holiday Pulse Index, an annual measurement of online shopping activity during the holiday season that tracks e-commerce spending activity across a sample of leading e-retailers. The measurement reflects the number of transactions and dollar value handled by Chase Paymentech’s global processing platforms. READ MORE

Chase Paymentech has announced the results of a survey commissioned to provide insight into consumers’ attitudes towards gift cards. "The study, which polled 850 American adults, found that gift card awareness and usage remains very high, with nine in ten respondents having received or purchased a gift card. Additionally, two-thirds of respondents have bought at least one gift card within the past 12 months." READ MORE

Chase Paymentech has announced the completion of its transition from a joint venture with First Data Corp to a wholly-owned unit of JPMorgan Chase. The assets of the joint venture owned by JPMorgan Chase have been integrated into the bank as a part of its card services division and will continue to operate under the name Chase Paymentech. READ MORE

JP Morgan Chase has reported financial results for the third quarter. In its Card Services business segment, the bank reported a 63% decline in net income on a year over year basis as its provision for credit losses was up substantially. Charge volume on its cards was up 5% year over year but essentially flat versus the second quarter. Merchant processing dollar volume at Chase Paymentech was up 9% with transaction volume up 14%.

JPMorgan Chase and First Data Corp. have announced that they have agreed to end their current joint venture, Chase Paymentech Solutions, a global payments and merchant acquiring entity, by the end of 2008. READ MORE

Although taken private by KKR last fall, First Data Corp. continues to announce its financial results - and today reported financial results for the first quarter of 2008. Consolidated revenues were up 16% to $2.1 billion while adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) were up 8% to $586 million. FDC also commented on Chase Paymentech, its largest merchant alliance, noting that it "expects the alliance to end prior to its existing expiration date in 2010." The company is holding a conference call tomorrow morning to review its results. READ MORE

JPMorgan Chase reported first quarter 2008 financial results this morning - its Card Services unit reported net income of $609 million, a decline of $156 million, or 20%, from the prior year. READ MORE

First Data Corp. yesterday reported its financial results for the fourth quarter of 2007. This morning, the company held a conference call to discuss the results (presentation available). Also today, FDC filed its Form 10-K Annual Report with the SEC. FDC's 10-K also includes the financial results of Chase Paymentech due to the size of Chase Paymentech's contribution to FDC's financial results.

Chase Paymentech has announced it has formally opened the doors of its European headquarters in Dublin, Ireland. Within three years, the new office will provide operational support for a 100-person team across Europe responsible for expanding Chase Paymentech operations, marketing initiatives and customer support activities outside the United States.

Chase Paymentech Solutions has launched a new website designed to help small and medium sized businesses affordably accept credit card payments.

JP Morgan Chase has reported financial results for the fourth quarter of 2007. In its Card Services business, net income declined 15% to $609 million primarily as a result of an increase in its provision for credit losses to $1.8 billion, up 40% over the same quarter in 2006. Noninterest expenses declined during the quarter. Its merchant processing (Chase Paymentech) reported processing card volume of $194.4 billion, up 9%, on 5.4 billion transactions.

Chase Paymentech reports that sales volume and the number of transactions conducted at 10 of the largest U.S. retail Web sites rose 29 percent during the 2007 year-end holiday shopping period according to data tracked by its Chase Paymentech Pulse Index.

According to Chase Paymentech, Americans rushed to the web on Tuesday, Dec. 18 to complete their 2007 online holiday shopping as Christmas delivery deadlines loomed, resulting in a single-day Chase Paymentech Pulse Index high of $169 million in sales and more than 3 million orders. This notable sales spike is more than 42 percent higher than Friday, December 15th, the peak Pulse Index shopping day in 2006.

Chase Paymentech has updated its Pulse Index - reporting that, building from a strong base established during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, online retailers continue to see growth in both the number of transactions and sales volume.

Chase Paymentech has announced it has launched an updated version of its Chase Paymentech Pulse Index to track online shopping activity throughout the 2007 holiday shopping season.

Chase Paymentech and Preferred Health Technology have announced A-Claim - calling it "the first fully-integrated healthcare payment solution designed to reduce accounts receivables for physicians and simplify claims payments for patients."

Chase Paymentech and Green Dot Corporation have announced an agreement to offer Chase Paymentech-processed merchants an alternative cash payment solution that gives them the ability to accept cash transactions through their existing online and phone interfaces by accepting Green Dot’s MoneyPak as a form of payment.

Chase Paymentech has announced an "expanded, multi-year contract to provide payment processing services for all Sears Holdings Corporation retail businesses, which include Sears, Kmart and Lands' End."

Discover Financial Services and Chase Paymentech have announced "the integration of Discover Network card acceptance into Chase Paymentech's payments network for small- to mid-sized merchants. Chase Paymentech is the world's largest merchant acquirer, with a customer base of more than 600,000 merchants in almost 1 million locations."

Verizon has announced Verizon Merchant Services, Payments Powered by Chase Paymentech - a new offering for small and medium-sized businesses with a broadband connection from Verizon Online.