On the web:

• Bitcoin vs. Ben Bernanke - WSJ - "The chief scientist for the digital currency talks about its appeal—and pitfalls—in a world of fiat money."
• Square sets its sights on Foursquare: 'We can do something better' - TheVerge.com - "Lots of apps and web services make recommendations for places to eat, drink, and shop, but Square is betting its payment data will give it a decisive edge."
• Mobile payment entrepreneurs need inspiration - Taking Charge (CreditCards.com) - "I thought about that dilemma earlier this week while reading the obituary of … Stanley A. Dashew … who was the first to come up with the idea of plastic cards in place of paper…"
• What's your mobile wallet recipe? - FastCasual - Commentary by Cardfree's Chuck Davidson - "…establishments that are competing in the mobile market space would be wise to build from their existing POS infrastructure…"
• Visa’s TechCrunch Disrupt Hackathon Generates Fresh Thinking on Payment Security Education - Visa Viewpoints Blog - "Visa joined in on the fun by sponsoring the Disrupt hackathon, where 700 developers descended on New York City for a chance to win $8,500 from Visa."

On the wires:

• Ingenico Secures Deal With Heartland Payment Systems® for Heartland's Next Generation E3™ End-to-End Encryption and EMV Terminals

Heartland Payment Systems and LevelUp announced they are partnering nationwide on the first national roll out of a mobile payment solution.

“The biggest challenge facing mobile payment companies right now is scale,” said Chris Mahl, LevelUp’s chief revenue and strategy officer. “LevelUp has been able to reach 1 million users and 5,000 merchants relatively quickly, but we need even wider consumer and merchant adoption before LevelUp hits the mainstream. Our partnership with Heartland Payment Systems will allow us to fire up our growth rate as we begin a phased roll-out with Heartland’s impactful sales force selling LevelUp and our white-label solutions to businesses and consumers across the country.”

Heartland will distribute LevelUp's mobile payment and loyalty platform to merchants; LevelUp will use Heartland for processing.

Heartland Payment Systems announced that it has expanded its Campus Solutions division by acquiring ECSI, "a leading provider of cost-effective, customized payments processing solutions for the higher education industry."

“As the Heartland Campus Solutions division grows to become a more significant portion of Heartland’s business, we’re confident that acquisitions such as ECSI will better position us for faster growth,” said Michael A. Lawler, president, strategic markets group, Heartland Payment Systems. “Our combined suite of products, services and solutions offers higher education institutions opportunities to streamline processes and increase operational efficiency while providing enhanced convenience and value to students.”

On the web:

• Google Wants to Be a Bank Now - The Atlantic Wire
• NYC MetroCards Go on Sale with Ads for Gap on Both Sides - NYTimes.com
• DOJ Seeks Documents on Debit-Card Market From Discover - Fox Business

On the wires:

• New Celent Report on State of Consumer RDC 2012
• Heartland Payment Launches Mobuyle Mobile POS Solution
• Valero Corner Store Selects VeriFone PAYMEDIA for Secure PumpPAY
• MasterCard Enhances Customer Expense Reporting and Management Tools
• MCR Virtual Business Center Now Offers Checkgateway ACH Solutions
• Dynamics and UMB Increase Experience Provider Rate to 0.5% for the ePlate Payment System
• SubscriberWise Protects Cable Operator From Fraudulent Service Requests
• Endorse and PayPal Team to Let Shoppers Access Cash Back for Buying Favorite CPG Brands
• Gaxsys Launches gaxWallet at DEMO Fall 2012
• Optimal Payments Launches NETBANX Checkout

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:

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

On the wires:

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

On the web:

• A Failure For Visa's Contactless Olympics Holds A Warning For Mobile Money - Forbes
• The Future Of Facebook Is Mobile Payments - Seeking Alpha

On the wires:

• Vindicia Launches CashBox DataBridge
• Class Action Lawsuit Against Green Dot Corporation
• Moneris Offers a New Mobile Cash Register Experience
• U.S. Bank Acquires TransCard's Heavy Truck Fuel Card Network
• MasterCard Notes Growing Trend in Government Adoption of Electronic Payments
• Zappli Launches InstaBuy, a Universal 2-Click Mobile Payment Solution for Shopping Applications
• Heartland Secures 15 New Higher Education Institutions for Its Campus OneCard Solution
• Mobile POS War Heats up as new Entrant mPowa Offers Europe-wide Solution
• Shift4 and FoundryLogic Partner to Provide Mobile POS Solutions

Heartland Payment Systems announced its Mobuyle Restaurant solution, which enables restaurateurs to accept credit, debit and gift card payments through Android smartphones and mobile devices.

"Restaurant merchants are finding mobile to be an outstanding alternative to traditional terminals and Heartland is leading the charge in providing a secure and comprehensive mobile payment acceptance solution," said Mike English, Heartland's executive director of product development. "By accepting credit, debit and gift card payments through Android smartphones and mobile devices, Mobuyle enables restaurateurs and their staff to enhance the overall customer experience."

On the web:

• China Will Be No. 1 Mobile Payment Market By 2015 - Bank Systems & Technology
• Capital One Add Rewards to Mobile App, Includes Ability to Redeem for PREVIOUS Travel - NetBanker
• The Sign Of POS Hardware End Times: IBM Sells All Of Its Point Of Sales To Toshiba - StoreFrontBackTalk
• Google Wallet: We're In It For The Long Haul, Says Search Giant - NFC World
• No slowing down: Square processing $5 billion a year - GigaOM
• What Facebook Really Wants from Payments - American Banker

On the wires:

• Acculynk Announces Digital River World Payments as a New PaySecure Client
• PaySpan Introduces Virtual Card Reimbursement Solution for Healthcare Payers and Providers
• Heartland Payment Systems Unveils Latest Version of WaveRider Laundry Payment System
• PULSE Provides Participants Web-Based Access to Essential Account Data
• New Mercator Report on Tools for Managing Commercial Card Programs
• iovation Finds 60 Percent Increase in European Fraud Online
• 12 State and County Governments Join doxo

On the web:

• Google Leans On Developers to Use Payment Service - iTnews.com.au
• How Do New Faces Affect Risks in Money Transfer Business? - Portals and Rails
• Mobile Industry Naysays Bullish NFC Forecasts - Rethink Wireless

On the wires:

• PaymentOne Rebrands Itself to 'PayOne'
• The Bancorp Bank and NetSpend Announce Prepaid Card Program Distribution Relationships
• Study Says Despite Growing Supply Chains, Top Companies Can Still Reduce Cost and Pay Quicker
• Sentenial to power Barclays’ Pan-European SEPA Direct Debit Mandate Management Solution
• InComm and The Bancorp Bank Renew Contract, Extending Relationship into Second Decade
• Heartland Extends Mobuyle Mobile Payment Acceptance Solution to Apple iOS Devices
• New Celente Report on Remote Cash Capture Market

On the web:

• Girl Scouts Adds Mobile Payments to Drive Cookie Sales - Mobile Commerce Daily
• German P2P Lender Auxmoney Sees Growth - Peer to Peer Lending News
• Here’s How PayPal Is Pitching Mobile Payments to Major Retailers (Slideshow) - AllThingsD
• Facebook Teams up With Bango for Mobile Payments - PCWorld

On the wires:

• Plastic Jungle and InComm Announce Strategic Gift Card Partnership
• Ceridian Introduces Virtual Terminal Enabling Web-based Transactions
• New Aite Group Report on Big Four U.S. Payment Card Networks
• Heartland Handles Nearly 44,000 Transactions as Official Concessions Processor of Super Bowl
• Computop Paygate 5.0 To Expand Support for International Payments

On the web:

• A Guide to PayPal Alternatives in Asia - SGEntrepreneurs
• Contactless ATMs: The New Wave of Banking? - Think Money
• Obama Campaign Is Using Square For Fundraising - TechCrunch
• Google Wallet Struggles to Gain Acceptance - Mobile Commerce Daily
• Is the U.S. Payments Industry Following in the Footsteps of the Netherlands? - Portals and Rails
• Green Dot to Launch Bank Account This Year - American Banker

On the wires:

• PayLane Becomes a Certified American Express Partner
• GE Capital Extends Consumer Financing Program with Art Van Furniture
• MusicSkins Partners With Virtual Piggy Offering Innovative Youth Purchasing System
• South Carolina Selects Heartland as Preferred Provider for Electronic Financial Aid Disbursement
• GE Capital Retail Bank and ShopNBC Announce Renewal of Consumer Credit Card Program
• Canada's Payfirma Updates Its Mobile Payment App

On the web:

• Invasion of the Star-Studded Debit Cards - WSJ
• Bank of America, Citigroup Face Billions In Losses in (Interchange) Antitrust Case - TheStreet
• Spanish Banks Prepare Barcelona and Madrid for Mobile Payments - NFC World

On the wires:

• Valve Rewards Outstanding GlobalCollect Service with Contract Renewal
• Twenty Colleges Choose Heartland Payment Systems for Financial Aid Disbursement Services
• Eastern Mountain Sports Blazes New Trails with VeriFone iPad Retailing Solution
• Ingenico and Voltage Security Partner on End-to-End Encyrption
• NCR Launches its Highest Performing POS Terminal to Date

Heartland Payment Systems has released the state-specific data about the legislation’s actual effects on business owners in various states across the country.

“Merchants are wondering how the percentage of regulated versus non-regulated transactions in their states would impact their savings, and this data provides insight into exactly that,” said Bob Baldwin, Heartland’s president. “By providing business owners a frame of reference for how much money, on average, their peers across their state are saving from Durbin, they have an idea of what their own savings may be."

Heartland School Solutions, a division of Heartland Payment Systems, announced that it has acquired School-Link Technologies, a privately held provider of comprehensive K-12 school nutrition and point-of-sale (POS) solutions.

“Heartland’s strategic acquisition of these premier K-12 service providers positions us as the market leader and will have a meaningful impact on our future growth,” said Bob Carr, Heartland’s chairman and chief executive officer. “Heartland School Solutions provides a single, powerful suite of payment processing solutions to help take K-12 school nutrition programs to the next level of ease of use and innovation.”

On the web:

• Letter to Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin
• Citi Announces New Fees on Checking Accounts - CNNmoney.com
• Nine Ways To Avoid Debit Card Usage Fees - Fox Business
• Skrill, Born Moneybookers, Extends Rebranding Campaign - AuctionBytes
• Beggars Can be Choosers (Panhandlers Taking Plastic) - Dave Birsch Blog
• Coming Soon To A Store Near You: Tagtile, A Square-Like Mobile Loyalty Service - TechCrunch

On the wires:

• Heartland Payment Systems Releases First Actual Durbin Impact Statistics
• Weather Underground Inc. Chooses Recurly for Subscription Billing Management
• NEBA Introduces SMS Text Messaging System for Credit and Debit Card Issuers
• Pandora One Gift Cards Now Available for the First Time
• Dynamics Inc. Announces Multiple Volume Launch Agreements for Next-Generation Magnetic Stripe Payment Cards
• PenFed Eliminates Foreign Transaction Fee From Remaining Credit Card Programs in Card Portfolio
• BluePay, a Leading Chicago Credit Card Processor, Announces Acquisition of Primax Merchant Portfolio

Heartland Payment Systems announced that it will pass the debit swipe fee cost savings from the Durbin Amendment directly to its merchants.

“Business owners work hard for every penny they earn, and Heartland is helping them keep more of their money,” said Bob Baldwin, president at Heartland. “It’s easy for a processor to say it will pass the savings along to its merchants, but the reality is, many won’t. As a result, unfortunately many merchants will miss out on some or all of Durbin’s financial benefits, ultimately costing them thousands of dollars.”

Heartland Payment Systems has announced Mobuyle, a new mobile payments acceptance solution that combines a Mobuyle Android app and a Mobuyle Encrypting Reader that plugs into the audio jack (ala Square).

Mobuyle is designed for brick and mortar businesses looking for off-premise processing capabilities or on-site flexibility, including the ability to easily add extra point-of-sale (POS) payment terminals to dispel long checkout lines or “line-busting.” It is also ideal for mobile businesses that want to provide customers convenient payment options.

It also features electronic signature capture, GPS location capture, merchandise picture storage, and voice authorization capabilities, and enables merchants to accept card payments even if they are out of network range with Store and Forward (SAF) functionality.

On the web:

• BillGuard Warns You About Questionable Credit Card Charges - Lifehacker
• Confrontation between Visa and China UnionPay Intensified - Investors.com

On the wires:

• Heartland Payment Systems Takes Higher Education Institutions to the Cloud with WĒPA Wireless Printing
• Memento Helps Financial Institutions Meet New FFIEC Guidance
• Avant-Garde Introduces Anytime, Anywhere Payments with Hypercom Mobile Solutions
• Intrix Technology Provides Payment Gateway Solutions to Companies of All Sizes
• New Mercator Report on Prepaid Benefit Cards

On the wires:

• Heartland Payment Systems Introduces the Next Generation of Its WaveRider Laundry System
• JCM Global and Techfirm Sign MOU to Bring Pay-by-Mobile Phone Technology to Bill Validators
• Mitek Systems Granted Four More Patents for Mobile Deposit
• EFT Source Introduces New Option for Instant Card Issuance
• NCR Healthcare Selects EPX As Its Preferred Payment Provider

On the web:

• Portals and Rails: Who Does What Fighting Payments Crimes? Agencies Acronyms and Roles
• American Banker: Google Wallet to Require Investments in Terminals
• Digital Transactions: Forget PayPal And Google; Acquirers Most Worried About Visa, MasterCard
• Credit Slips: Dodd-Frank Gotterdämerung: The Durbin Amendment Rollback
• Digital Money: Jamie Henry, Walmart (Podcast Interview)
• India InfoLine: PayMate powers Inter Bank Mobile Payment Services in India

On the wires:

• CHARGE Anywhere Turns Google Nexus Phone into NFC Payment Acceptance Terminal
• hyperWALLET Announces Support for SEPA Credit Transfers across Europe
• Litle Vault PayPage Removes All Merchant Exposure To Card Data During Online Acceptance
• Accertify is Selected by Abercrombie & Fitch for Online Fraud Prevention
• Nine Credit Unions Select Fiserv for Account Processing
• Fifth Third Processing and Planet Payment to Launch 'Pay in Your Currency' on ATMs
• Heartland Delivers Wait Management and SMS Marketing Solution to Restaurants with Freshtxt

On the web:

• Springwise: Snap a Photo of a Bill, Then Click to Pay
• Mobile Commerce Daily: PayPal Mobile Payments Growth
• Mashable: Starbucks Card Mobile Is a Hit: 3 Million People Pay Via Phone App
• New York Times: As Phones Become Wallets, Many Have Hands Out

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."

Two payment-related themes are emerging from NRF conference being held this week in New York: POS encryption/tokenization and mobile payments acceptance. For retailers, end-to-end encryption and tokenization are all about reducing PCI scope:

• Heartland's End-to-End Encryption Solution Reduces PCI Scope by up to 69% for Merchants
• BevMo! Retail Chain Reduces PCI Scope with VeriFone’s VeriShield Protect
• Fifth Third Processing Solutions and MTXEPS Partner to Support ServerEPS Encryption Solutions
• Ingenico and Merchant Link Partner on Point-to-Point Encryption and Tokenization Solution

• VeriFone Announces PAYware Mobile Enterprise Solution and Services for Large Retailers
• GoPayment Gives Small Businesses Free Credit Card Reader and No Monthly Service Fees
• Xsilva Systems Demonstrates that Mobile Point of Sale is Accessible to Retailers of all Sizes

Heartland Payment Systems has announced the commercial launch of its new payment card security technology. According to the company, "Heartland has spent more than two years developing and ten months beta testing and iteratively improving this end-to-end encryption technology — called E3™ — that is designed to protect cardholder credit and debit card data, rendering scrambled data useless to cybercriminals." READ MORE »

Javelin has announced a new report titled "End-to-End Encryption, Tokenization, and EMV in the US: Vendor Analysis of Emerging Technologies and Best Hybrid Solutions" that "assesses the capabilities of end-to-end encryption, tokenization, virtual terminals, magnetic-stripe security and the EMV standard as solutions to combat payment-related data breaches." READ MORE »

The Payment Cards Center of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia has published a discussion paper titled "Heartland Payment Systems: Lessons Learned from a Data Breach" by Julia S. Cheney.

From the abstract: "This paper summarizes discussions from a workshop hosted by the Payment Cards Center on August 13, 2009. The workshop examined the changing nature of data security in consumer electronic payments. The center invited the chairman and CEO of Heartland Payment Systems (HPS), Robert Carr, to lead this discussion and to share his experiences stemming from the data breach at his company in late 2008 and, as important, to discuss lessons learned as a result of this event. The former director of the Payment Cards Center, Peter Burns, who is acting as a senior payments advisor to HPS, also joined the discussion to outline HPS's post-breach efforts aimed at improving information-sharing and data security within the consumer payments industry."

Thales and Voltage Security have announced a "technology integration and partnership centered around delivering end-to-end encryption and key management solutions for the payments industry and broader enterprise security applications. Through the partnership, the two companies have worked together to integrate Voltage SecureData technology with Thales hardware security modules (HSMs) for customers, Heartland Payment Systems being an example." READ MORE »

Heartland Payment Systems and Visa have announced "a settlement agreement under which issuers of Visa-branded credit and debit cards will have an opportunity to obtain a recovery from Heartland with respect to losses they may have incurred from the 2008 criminal breach of Heartland's payment system environment. Heartland will pay up to $60 million to fund the settlement program, which is subject to certain conditions, including a specified level of participation by U.S. Visa issuers. Visa will present details of the settlement to eligible issuers in the coming days." READ MORE »

Heartland Payment Systems has announced a settlement agreement with American Express related to the 2008 criminal breach of Heartland's payment system environment. Under the agreement, Heartland said it will pay American Express $3.6 million, resolving all intrusion-related issues between the two parties.

“We are pleased to have reached an equitable settlement with American Express,” commented Bob Carr, Heartland’s chairman and chief executive officer. “This settlement marks the first agreement with a card brand related to the intrusion.”

Hypercom and Heartland Payment Systems have announced a strategic relationship to deliver integrated, high-security payment systems to retailers nationwide and implement Heartland’s end-to-end encryption E3™ solution. READ MORE »