On the web:

• Starbucks: Mobile payments now 10% of all U.S. transactions - Fierce Mobile Content - "Mobile payments now account for more than 10 percent of all transactions across Starbucks stores nationwide, the coffeehouse chain said Tuesday."
• Retailers to Forge Uber-Like Mobile Payment Pacts, Collison Says - Bloomberg BusinessWeek - "Mobile payments companies and retailers will forge more partnerships where they retain customer identities, making it unnecessary to re-enter credit-card information..."
• iZettle Takes Its Mobile Payment Service To Mexico, Its First Market Outside Of Europe, And One Step Closer To Square - TechCrunch - "De Geer notes that 95% of cards in Mexico are chip-based. That, in fact, may be one reason why Square, whose dongle reads the magnetic stripe for transactions, may have yet to make a move here."
• Voicekey unveils biometric iPhone app - Finextra - "Voicekey has already launched an iPhone app, called OpenSezMe..."
• Mobile Money Maths - Mobile Money Asia - "Creating a viable mobile money service is fundamentally a question of marketing (driving appropriate use cases tapping into clear customer pain points) and distribution (creating a sufficiently dense, liquid agent network)."
• Indian firm enters Nigeria's mobile money sector - Economic Times (India) - "Nigeria's central bank has been campaigning for a cashless economy whereby citizens can use electronic means to transfer funds and make payments."

On the wires:

• MasterCard Announces Leadership Changes in its Latin America and Caribbean Region - "MasterCard announced today the appointment of Gilberto Caldart as president of its Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) business…"
• Portico Private Residence Collection to Provide Special Membership Benefits to MasterCard Cardholders - "MasterCard and pioneering vacation brand Portico™ today joined to provide MasterCard cardholders with access to unique vacation home experiences beyond traditional hotels and resorts…"
• ACI Worldwide Survey: EMV Will Accelerate Adoption of Mobile Technologies, Industry Monitoring Mobile Wallet Adoption - "According to the survey, nearly half of all respondents (49 percent) believed the U.S. migration to EMV will result in consumers turning away from card-based transaction in lieu of mobile payments."
• MasterCard and Western Union Launch Dedicated International Payments Service for Small and Medium-Sized Businesses - "We view the introduction of this service to American small-business owners as the first of several opportunities across the globe to support this segment’s money-transfer needs..."

Upcoming from Glenbrook:

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

On the web:

• Malka, Rickards Debate Bitcoin Utility, Longevity - Bloomberg TV - "Micky Malka, founder and general partner at Ribbit Capital, and James Rickards, senior managing director at Tangent Capital Partners, debate the advantages, disadvantages and longevity of bitcoin, an alternative currency."
• Payments – Wrapping, Rules, Acquiring and Tokens - FinVentures (Tom Noyes) - "The exec summary of this blog: don’t ever bet your business on someone else’s rules… particularly if they themselves don’t own them."
• UK Consumers Warm to Mobile Payments - eMarketer - "Awareness of places where UK consumers can use mobile payment technology has more than doubled during the past year..."
• Banks Turn to Fees to Make Mobile Pay - Bank Technology News - "Yet evidence is starting to mount that retail banking fees, so unpopular in areas like checking accounts, may be palatable for mobile banking services."
• 5 Things I Learned Reading Visa's Annual Report - Motley Fool - "I knew Visa was the biggest player in the industry, but I didn't realize that by most measures, it's nearly twice the size of rival MasterCard."
• What It’s Like to Work Inside Jack Dorsey’s Brain - "Square wants work to be anything but punching the clock. It wants life at the office to be a designed experience."
• Moving cheques into the fast lane - Canadian Payments Association - "Through a multi-year project, the CPA has created the opportunity for Canadian financial institutions to exchange and clear images of cheques electronically..."

On the wires:

• Dynamics ePlate® Card Continues To Shatter 1% Credit Card Reward Status Quo - "Known by early adopters as the card that "lights up," the ePlate® card is equipped with two "Experience™ buttons" that literally light up when pressed, giving cardholders a more active role in deciding which rewards they want to earn and when."
• Dream. Dare. Do…American Express Launches the #PassionProject - "Today, American Express kicked off a new program designed to enable, inspire and encourage people to pursue their passion projects."
• Amazon Announces Amazon Birthday Gift – A New Way to Make Gift Giving Simple, Social and Fun - "Amazon Birthday Gift lets you join a social gift that will grow as more friends participate, which makes giving and receiving birthday messages on Facebook even more fun."
• Citibank Small Business Pulse® Reveals Three-Year High in Owners’ View of Business Conditions - "Nearly half of small business owners (48%) rate conditions as good or excellent, up from 43% in May 2012 and twice the rate three years ago (24%)."

Upcoming from Glenbrook:

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

On a slow news day today in the world of payments, we noticed an interesting juxtaposition between a commentary titled "Back in the real world (well, West London)" that Consult Hyperion's Dave Birch posted about paying with PayPal at The Farmery frozen yoghurt shop in West London and an article by PayPal's CEO David Marcus on Huffington Post titled "So Long Cash Register, Hello Innovation".

Dave told the story about paying for for his yoghurt purchase using PayPal on his iPhone linking to The Farmery's PayPal Here app on their iPhone. Dave went on to say that "PayPal have made a real effort to produce a slick customer experience, and it makes you wish that other more conventional players in the retail payment world would do the same. There seems to be an attention to detail in what guys like this do, to be honest."

Dave is then compelled to ask: "Is it better than NFC?" He answers: "Yes it is better than NFC is, but it's not better than NFC could be." He goes on to describe how that better NFC experience might work: "Instead of opening my PayPal application, finding the shop and checking in, I could have just tapped the phone on the PayPal Here logo and had all three steps done for me." But, alas, it doesn't work that way today - in spite of "years of work and hundreds of millions in investment."

Meanwhile, PayPal's Marcus describes another version of the future - one that "can easily and cost-effectively transform a legacy cash register into an interactive point of sale solution that makes it easier to operate a business and adds to a truly enjoyable consumer experience rather than a mundane transaction."

Where do you think NFC fits into mobile payments? Feel free to add your comment below.

iZettle has announced Banco Santander, the Eurozone’s largest bank by market capitalization, is making a strategic investment of more than €5 million in the company.

Millions of small business owners and professionals in the markets where we operate need an alternative to conventional credit card terminals, and simple software to manage and analyze their transactions,” said Ramón Tellaeche, head of Santander Cards at Banco Santander.

“We are strongly committed to innovation that satisfies emerging needs of our customers, we believe iZettle’s innovative mobile technologies will be crucial to those merchants’ near and long term success.”

Separately, iZettle also announced a partnership agreement with Santander UK for Santander's Business Banking unit to "offer a solution that includes the iZettle Chip & PIN reader, to its small business customers at a preferential rate, enabling them to accept card payments using their smartphones and tablets in a far more cost effective and flexible way than traditional card terminals."

On the web:

• PNC to add deposit, balance requirements for free checking - Chicago Tribune - "According to the Web site of the Pittsburgh-based bank, free checking will no longer be available for new accounts as of Aug. 18."
• Accelerating the migration to electronic payments through mobile acceptance solutions - "At Visa, we see great potential to accelerate the migration to electronic payments through mPOS solutions."
• “Life on Bitcoin”: These newlyweds plan to live for 90 days entirely on bitcoin, and film the whole thing - PandoDaily - "As someone who has used bitcoin in the digital world but never in the physical world, I’m fascinated to see how this plays out."
• Who is your Edward Snowden? - The Bankwatch - "The core assumption, which is flawed, applies to the NSA and to Banks, as well as all businesses. That assumption is that business information is opaque to the information system handlers."

On the wires:

• MasterCard and Kount Join Forces to Help Merchants Fight e-Commerce Fraud - "Kount is the first company to offer the MasterCard Expert Monitoring API to merchants."
• Moneris Solutions names Angela Brown, President & CEO - "Brown’s mandate is to continue to position Moneris as the leading merchant services and card processing provider in North America."
• CardConnect Announces Launch of CoPilot - "CoPilot brings every aspect of running a successful, growing ISO to each agent’s fingertips…"
• MoneyGram Joining Forces with Lebara to Offer International Money Transfers on Mobile Devices - "MoneyGram’s money transfer platform is now integrated within the Lebara Money iPhone and Android mobile payment platform solutions and the Lebara Money website…"
• Taco John's Chooses FreedomPay Commerce Platform to Enable Growth - "The new Taco John’s Platform is a virtual transaction superhighway with the power to enhance the customer experience in-store, online and across any mobile device."
• <Oberthur Technologies Partners with HID Global to Carry Seos Digital Keys on NFC SIM Cards for Mobile Access - "Oberthur Technologies’ dragonFly NFC SIM cards and its secure elements in general are interoperable with Seos from HID Global…"

SEC Filings:

• Green Dot Bank to Acquire Wal-mart Prepaid Cards Agreement from GE Capital Retail Bank

Upcoming from Glenbrook:

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

New book for eCommerce merchants - available for pre-order:

• Introduction to Online Payments Risk Management by Ohad Samet - "If you’ve been tasked with building a team to handle risk management for online payments, this practical introduction provides a framework for choosing the technologies and personnel you need. Author and financial services executive Ohad Samet explains the components of payments risk management, and presents a coherent strategy and operational approach."

On the web:

• U.S. Bank offers a wave of the phone to replace a swipe of the card - StarTribune - "The bank’s Go Mobile Payment Service requires an iPhone 4 or 4S that is equipped with a special app and a custom iPhone protective case that contains a computer chip."

Upcoming from Glenbrook:

• Summer Camp! - Join Glenbrook's Carol Coye Benson, Scott Loftesness and Russ Jones for a special summer session of our popular Payments Boot Camp in Half Moon Bay on August 6th and 7th - register here. Also, an optional half day course on Data In Payments on August 8th, in Half Moon Bay - register here.
• Follow Glenbrook Partners on LinkedIn! -

On the web:

• Google Wallet Is Leaking Money - BusinessWeek - "After two years, most consumers still can’t use the app."
• Why Google Is Missing Out on the Mobile-Payments Boom - BusinessWeek - "NFC’s poor take-up represents one of the bigger whiffs by the mobile industry in recent years."
• Visa Doesn't See Big Impact From Retailers Opting Out of Settlement - Wall St. Journal - "Mr. Scharf said it appears roughly 25% of merchants won't participate in the settlement."
• Payments: 'tap and go' is so 2012 - Sydney Morning Herald - "You’ll be able to visualise the prices of items as overlays when you walk through a store and the customer will tap the side of the glasses to make a purchase."
• New York Merchants Sue to Stop Ban on Card-Fee Surcharges - Bloomberg - "Five merchants including a hair salon, ice-cream parlor and liquor store filed a complaint today in federal court in Manhattan demanding that the law be declared unconstitutional."
• China’s romance with Bitcoin continues - CoinDesk - "The country’s increased interest in the currency has shown no signs of abating over the past couple of months…"
• Bitcoin payments could be a landmine for companies - CSO Online - "The problem is in the way the Bitcoin peer-to-peer network works."
• How Bitcoin Lets You Spy on Careless Companies - Wired - "…because all transactions are recorded publicly on the Bitcoin peer-to-peer network, once you know the Bitcoin address of the person you’re paying, it’s possible to track all other payments made to that address."

On the wires:

• NXP and SES Achieve Breakthrough for Mass Adoption of NFC in Retail - "Embedding NFC tags into electronic shelf labels enables retailers to offer a number of different services to brands, from digital marketing and social media integration to personalized cross-selling, up-selling and loyalty schemes."
• INSIDE Secure and CPI Card Group Announce Availability of MasterCard M/Chip Advance in the U.S. - "These new card products give issuers the greatest flexibility in migrating to EMV. One product has been optimized to support online-only EMV card programs, while the other supports both online and offline payment transactions."

On the web:

• Bitcoin's a Revolution, Not a Convenience - Bloomberg - "Bitcoin's cryptographic network also solves for a problem that digital cash schemes have faced in the past: double-spending, which is when users try to use a single token twice."
• Personal Capital Raises $25 Million Financing - "Jim Feuille of Crosslink Capital led this financing and has joined the company’s Board of Directors. Crosslink and BlackRock, the world’s largest asset management firm, are new investors in the company..."
• Stripe Makes It Easier For Marketplaces To Collect And Distribute Payments To Multiple Accounts - TechCrunch - "The company is debuting a technology that allows for payments to be distributed to multiple bank accounts."
• Mobile Wallet Kuapay Gets An Upgrade, Reaches 600 Locations Through Trials With KFC & Others - TechCrunch - "The company is running a pilot program with KFC here in the States, which includes trials in more than 100 KFC stores..."
• EBay to open 'shoppable windows' in New York - "Shoppers will be able to touch the screens to order and have products delivered to them within an hour via courier. Payment will be accepted by the couriers through PayPal Here, a mobile payment service developed by eBay."
• US mobile wallet users spent $500M in 2012 – nearly all of it at Starbucks - GigaOm - "According to Berg Insight, the vast majority of in-store mobile wallet transactions occurred in a Starbucks using the coffer giant’s own smartphone card app."

On the wires:

• FTC Sues Payment Processor for Assisting Credit Card Debt Relief Scam - "…the agency sued a payment processing business that allegedly assisted and facilitated a telemarketing credit card interest rate reduction scam."
• Visa Teams with ICBA Bancard to Bring Real-Time Visa Offers Programs to Community Banks - "We are committed to customizing Visa’s products and services, such as Visa Offers, to help our partners provide the greatest value to their customers in ways that are both scalable for their business and relevant to their local communities."
• Bell ID Launches Secure Element in the Cloud - "The solution manages keys, certificates and NFC credentials in a secure remote environment rather than in the mobile device, providing application issuers with the independence and control to manage their credentials without the need for third party involvement."
• Signature Card Services Makes EMV Migration Easy and Affordable - "With all major card brands supporting the US migration to EMV, Signature Card Services is preparing its merchants for an easy and affordable transition. In addition to free terminals, they are providing support and education to help merchants embrace the change."
• USA Technologies and NEXCOM to Pilot Availability of Cashless Payment Vending Options at Selected Navy Bases in the U.S. - "NEXCOM will be utilizing USAT’s ePort NFC enabled cashless payment technology and ePort Connect service…"
• Wells Fargo Joins with LGBT Organizations for Pride 2013 to Amplify Anti-Bullying Efforts - "Wells Fargo team members will march alongside several organizations focused on raising awareness for anti-bullying efforts to support LGBT and non-LGBT youth who face harassment."

On the web:

• Fed Studying Risks at Online Payment Providers - Wall St. Journal - "This is very much on our radar screen and we are carefully trying to identify where the risks are…"
• New partners, new cards and TV commercials at Dynamics - Pittsburgh Business Times - "Next generation payment card company Dynamics is unveiling a second tier of its ePlate card."
• The Time For A Stateless Global Reserve Currency Is Fast Approaching - The Genesis Block - "The problem is not that the reserve currency is issued by the United States, the problem is that it’s tied to any state at all."
• NFC payment services 'struggling to gain traction': Gartner - Computerworld - "Gartner predicted that NFC would account for only 2 per cent of total worldwide mobile payments this year and only increase to 5 per cent in 2017."
• PayPal challenging BPAY - ITworld (Australia) - "PayPal has announced a deal in Australia with utility company Australian Power & Gas and Telstra to allow bill payments via PayPal online and on mobile."
• Facebook banking in Turkey - Financial Services Club Blog - "Turkey is in fact a hotbed of innovation in banking, not just because of its growth market status, but also due to government deregulation to encourage more competition in banking."
• M-Pesa upgrade to ease payment of electricity bills - Business Daily Africa - "The mobile firm has already awarded Chinese telecoms giant Huawei the tender to migrate M-Pesa to the new platform…"

On the wires:

• ZTE Joygor Partners With Fortumo For App Billing and In-App Purchasing - "ZTE Joygor will use Fortumo's billing connections in 80 countries for monetizing users on ZTE Joygor's app platform, which comes preloaded on millions of ZTE devices worldwide.
• Merchant Warehouse Partners with Retail Pro International to Enhance Customer Experience - "Genius allows retailers to accept any type of payment in a low-risk manner, and turn basic transactions into deeper interactions with their customers."
• Financial Services Industry Leaders and Entrepreneurs Gather to Examine Market Trends and Consumer Needs

On the CGAP Blog Kabir Kumar writes:

CGAP commissioned Carol Benson and Scott Loftesness of Glenbrook Partners to glean lessons from more developed payments markets, like the United States and Japan, that could be relevant for interoperability questions in global branchless banking markets.

On the web:

• Disrupting payments - Bdaily - "The spark for iZettle came from a conversation between the founder, Jacob de Geer and his wife."
• CFPB exodus: Brain drain or growing pains? - Politico - "There is both a push and a pull on these folks."
• Consumer Complaints on Checking Accounts Show Need for Action - Pew Charitable Trusts
• Mobile money making its mark with major groups: Millicom, MTN, Vodafone, and Orange - GSMA - "The four telecom groups represented in this blog post account for over 55 million mobile money subscribers according to their latest published figures."
• The cash-free challenge... are contactless cards a safe way to pay? - London Evening Standard - "People will argue forever that they don’t own contactless cards and then will open their wallet and find one…"
• Banks Battle Telcos for Cash in South African Townships - Bloomberg BusinessWeek - "Mobile-phone payment services like M-Pesa have blossomed in east Africa, while in South Africa they have struggled because of regulation and a lack of a network to deposit and withdraw cash…"
• Consumers ready for biometric payment methods - Cards International - "Instead of entering a PIN, users only had to place a finger on a reader to be authenticated."
• Calculating The Long-Term Value Of A Bitcoin - TechCrunch - "First, I agree with the common sentiment that in 10 years, bitcoins will either be worth nothing, or a lot more than they are now …"
• Do Digital Currencies Need Bank Secrecy Act Regulations? - Portals and Rails - "At the heart of the issue with this particular digital currency is its anonymous nature. "

On the wires:

• Silicon Valley Bank Hires New Chief Information Officer (Beth Devin) - "Beth is a great addition to our team with experience that will help us better serve our clients, and take advantage of disruptive financial tools…"
• i-Free, Tinkoff Credit Systems Bank and MasterCard come together to introduce first NFC wallet with remote Mobile MasterCard PayPass® issue in Russia and CIS - "This launch of the first NFC service in Russia that supports remote Mobile MasterCard PayPass card issue and personalization is a milestone event in the development of NFC infrastructure and services available to Russian banks and their customers…"
• Gemalto delivers micro-banking technology in Bangladesh - "This is a great example of how digital security can benefit a developing market and bring essential financial services to the world’s under-banked…"

In a new white paper titled "Structures and Approaches: The Changing Face of the Mobile Wallet", the Mobey Forum says that "banks and financial institutions launching mobile wallets in the immediate future should expect to enter a hotly contested market, crowded with own-brand solutions that are limited to the delivery of proprietary services only."

The paper outlines the current range of mobile wallet structures coming to market and outlines some of the key considerations that financial institutions should take into account when evaluating which approach is the most appropriate for them. The paper contends that the majority of financial institutions will, in the short term, attempt to develop their own proprietary wallets in a partner-independent manner. Only when a secure element (SE) is required, or when core functionalities become too difficult for financial institutions to achieve alone, are they likely to open their solutions and seek to cooperate with other stakeholders.

On the web:

• Why I Invested in Bitcoin - Bloomberg - "There is no central server, no central authority and no owner. Bitcoin can be slowed but not shuttered."
• Google adds in-app payments to the latest Chrome build as it prepares to bundle Google Wallet in its browser
• Anonymous Payment Schemes Thriving on Web - New York Times - "The real concern, security experts say, are private payment services that claim to do due diligence, but do not do even the most basic verification."
• Feds Wrongly Demonize Privacy in Liberty Reserve Case - American Banker (Marc Hochstein) - "I've previously argued that some payments should remain anonymous after physical cash fades away..."
• Is the Government Trying to Kill Digital Currency? - American Banker - "Government officials insist they are not trying to curtail the growth of digital currency."
• Digital currency for the general public - Tomorrow's Transactions - "It seems to me that as the currency iceberg slips under the waves of the cyber-sea, we’re going to see a new world of choice between currencies that embody different values, and that's a good thing."
• Disney gets into wearable tech with the MagicBand - The Next Web - "Disney is introducing a new MagicBand device that ties into a new service that allows theme park visitors to make purchases and reserve experiences."
• Banks’ existing relationships give an advantage in mobile payments - Ovum -
• Will Amazon Become Universal Login for Ecommerce? - eCommerce Bytes - "…it may give shoppers confidence that a merchant using Amazon credentials is more trusted…"
• Overstock and Newegg win an e-commerce patent ruling - Internet Retailer

On the wires:

• CaixaBank, Santander and Telefónica to create first joint venture between banks and telecom operators in Europe to develop new digital businesses - CaixaBank - "This is the first alliance in Europe between financial institutions and telecom operators to innovate jointly in the creation of new digital services."
• CardSpring Partners with VeriFone to Increase Availability of Card-Linked Services - "Through this partnership, retailers and third-party developers will be able to leverage VeriFone’s industry-leading open payment platform to create a new generation of applications that bring the power and accountability of digital commerce tools to hundreds of millions of retail shoppers."
• Discover’s PULSE Network Selected as JCB’s Preferred Choice for Global ATM Transactions - "This expansion strengthens our already successful relationship by offering JCB cardmembers the ability to access cash at PULSE U.S. ATMs."
• TSYS Signs Payments Agreement with KeyBank - "As we move aggressively toward expanding our presence in the consumer credit card market, we need a partner who can provide us with strong card industry insight, flexibility and speed-to-market..."
• Cardlytics Granted First Patent - "This patent cements our position as the true creator of this industry. ..."

Over on PaymentsViews.com, Glenbrook's Elizabeth McQuerry writes about her recent visit to Brazil in her post "The Bill from Ipanema: A Foundation for Brazilian Mobile Payments".

I’m just back from a trip to Brazil and while I was there, the government introduced long-awaited legislation on mobile payments. This is an important task as Brazil now has 265 million mobile subscribers – more than 1 per inhabitant. Needless to say, the machinations of politics kicked off immediately and there will undoubtedly be many amendments before the bills passes through Congress. Nevertheless, the core legislation presented by the government is worth noting.

On the web:

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

On the wires:

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

On the web:

• First Look: Google Wallet "Pay by Gmail" (and the Pain of Authentication) - NetBanker - "Bottom line: This is a brilliant play by Google, taking everyone by surprise."
• PayPal Here in Japan: One year, 2,700 stores and thousands of happy merchants - PayPal Blog - "Via SoftBank retail shops and through SoftBank's business sales network across Japan we can now reach 80% of the Japanese small businesses that still do not accept credit card transactions today."
• The $45M Heist Heard ‘Round the World - 41st Parameter's Blog - "Given the scale of the global credit card networks, it is almost impossible to detect every kind of attack."
• GiftCards.com Agrees To Buy Giftly To Grow A Mobile Platform - TechCrunch - "Giftly built a platform that avoided the hassle of individually dealing with merchants and point-of-sale systems."
• Shoppers start adding digital gift cards to Apple’s Passbook wallet - Internet Retailer - "Cash Star says. 30% of e-mailed e-gift cards are opened on a smartphone, and 50% of those smartphones run iOS6."
• The End Of Monthly Bills - Snarketing 2.0 - "Monthly bills are so 20th century. There’s no need for them."
• Here are the videos in the Commerce track (including Google Wallet) from last week's Google IO Conference
• iZettle wants to 'fundamentally change the process of becoming a customer' - "A good example might be that an auto dealer doesn't try to sell a Ferrari to everyone. That's essentially what banks have been doing for a while and most small cafes aren't looking for Ferraris…"
• Do Prepaid Cards Spell the End of Cash? - TMG Blog - "Did you know that March 1, 2013, marked “the end of cash” for the U.S. government?"
• Phone Firms Sell Data on Customers - Wall St. Journal - "…carriers are coming to see subscribers as sources of data that can be mined for profit..."
• Bank innovation: this time there's commitment - Financial Services Club Blog - "Are banks truly committed to innovate? Will they invest without a business case? Will they allow failure? Will they let the innovation cannibalise the existing business model?"
• Wallet Wars – Coming to a Mobile Near You Soon - Gemalto Telecom Blog - "Consumers want help managing their lives; banks, retailers and mobile network operators want customer loyalty; it’s down to all of us to work together, securely, to offer the best possible consumer experience for mobile wallets."
• SumUp, One Of Europe’s Many Mobile Payments Startups, Launches In Russia - TechCrunch - "SumUp said Russian businesses can now sign up to its service in Svyaznoy stores as well as on its own website..."
• Not just contactless, but M&S contactless - Tomorrow's Transactions - "It was a brilliant plan, and we might have got away with it if it hadn't been for you darn kids."

On the wires:

• Hastings Entertainment Adds Payment by PayPal and Bill Me Later Options to goHastings.com - "PayPal is used by millions of consumers and we feel that in addition to the added security benefits, our customers will also enjoy a simpler, more convenient checkout process when using PayPal."
• Wells Fargo Leads Fraud Management by Launching 3-Domain Verification for Commercial Card Customers - "In a related enhancement, Wells Fargo is also issuing EMV-compliant WellsOne Commercial Cards with an embedded microprocessor chip and traditional magnetic stripe to customers…"
• NCR to Make Mobile Ordering Easier for Jamba Juice Customers - "Working with NCR and PayPal we are using mobile ordering and payment technologies to align with our brand essence of a healthy, active lifestyle and help us deliver more value to our customers."
• American Express Offers Promotion of Free Two-Day Shipping with ShopRunner to U.S. Consumer Cardmembers - "Shipping costs can really add up when shopping online and with this new offer, our Cardmembers can benefit from the savings that ShopRunner provides at many of their favorite places to shop."
• Wake Up and Smell the Coffers! Mobey Forum gets Bullish with Banks at MobeyDay 2013 - "Many financial institutions still do not appreciate the revenue generating power offered by the mobile channel."
• France Overtakes UK as Europe’s Top Card Fraud Victim, FICO Map Reveals - "For the first time in years, the UK did not have the highest card fraud losses in Europe — France took its place, with 29 percent of the region’s losses, compared to the UK’s 27 percent."
• NCR Installs First EMV Compliant ATM in U.S. at People’s United Bank - "The upgrade of U.S. ATMs – including those at People’s United – includes an upgrade to the card reader hardware inside the machines as well as a software upgrade."
• Dynamics Inc.'s New LifeCode™ Electronic Card Empowers Consumers to "Save Your Own Life(SM)"
• Citi Invites Its Cardholders to Upgrade with Hotel Privileges - "Hotel Privileges provides special access to more than 1,000 luxury hotels around the world…"
• Oberthur Technologies’ dragonFly NFC SIM Card Certified by MasterCard and Visa - "As the fastest card on the market, it offers speedy download of new services and files through an integrated “NFC Turbo Engine”…"
• Net Element to Acquire Aptito, a Next Generation Cloud-Based Point of Sale Payments Platform - "Restaurants equipped with Aptito have experienced key benefits including increased revenue per table, higher customer service scores and now have a tool to drive acquisition and retention of new customers…"

PayPal has published the results from a global consumer study that it says "paints a dim future for the wallet. A vast majority (83%) of respondents across five countries indicated they wished they didn’t have to carry a wallet."

It’s not about replacing cash or your credit card with a new payment method, it’s about using technology to solve real shopping pain points,” said David Marcus, PayPal President.

“PayPal is at the forefront of developing products that make life easier, help shoppers be more efficient, and untether consumers from their wallets forever.”

On Twitter:

Proud to be working with Google --> "Google closes Checkout, pushing thousands of merchants to Braintree" pandodaily.com/2013/05/20/goo…

— William Ready (@williamready) May 20, 2013

On the web:

• Square will challenge PayPal with its own peer-to-peer cash service - GigaOm - "We reached out to Square to get more details on the mysterious service, but the company isn’t revealing any more details for now."
• Google closes Checkout, pushing thousands of merchants into Braintree’s arms - PandoDaily - "For customers without their own way to process payments in-house, Google has partnered with Braintree, Shopify, and Freshbooks to offer discounted migration programs."
• Email Money to Friends With Square Cash (But Only if You Work For Twitter, Pinterest or Box) - AllThingsD - "Ultimately, this could be a faster way of getting more people to link up their checking accounts to Square’s service…"
• Bitcoin 2013 in review - CoinDesk - "The more than 1,000 Bitcoin enthusiasts who converged on San Jose were an impassioned bunch — some fired with the excitement of getting in on something big the ground floor…"
• ATM Cash-Outs: A Major Escalation - Portals and Rails - "This highly sophisticated and coordinated attack is a game changer for the security controls of all types of card management applications." Google I/O payment announcements: is a revolution with no insurgency possible? - TekFin (Yann Ranchere) - "The more interesting announcement was in my view Google Instant Buy…"
• How Amazon's Rising Headwaters Could Threaten Google - ReadWrite - "I’m convinced the day will come — sooner rather than later — when Amazon unleashes its data and announces itself as an advertising powerhouse."
• Google takes lessons from PayPal, Apple’s Passbook to drive mobile wallet adoption - Mobile Commerce Daily - "Google Wallet Objects is similar to Apple’s Passbook in that it enables developers to integrate their loyalty programs and offers into Google Wallet…"
• Apple retail revenues per visitor reach new record - Asymco - "In the US, on a sales per square foot basis, Apple retail continues to perform twice as well as Tiffany & Co…"
• NFC mobile payments – fixing the big issues - Mobile News - "The widespread introduction of NFC-based mobile payments could be delayed for years as retailers, operators and finance firms continue to disagree on how best to implement the system and the logistics of making payments."
• Mobile Payment Startup Payvia Buys Mogreet To Add Messaging-Based Marketing To Its Payment Platform - TechCrunch - "Payvia says that it has the largest direct carrier connected messaging and mobile payments platform in the U.S..."
• GrubHub to Merge With Seamless as Food Orders Go Mobile - Bloomberg - "Food-delivery sites and mobile applications are gaining in popularity as more people order their meals online..."
• Harnessing the Remittance Boom - "Adding up the cost of the transfer, travel, and time, remittances are far too expensive for people living in poverty."

On the wires:

• Intuit Realigns Organization to Accelerate Growth - "The new structure comes as the company increases its focus on two strategic outcomes: being the world’s small business operating system, and providing winning solutions to do the nations’ taxes in the U.S. and Canada."
• Tabbedout Now Offers Google Wallet as a Payment Option - "For a limited time, when a user pays with Google Wallet in the Tabbedout app, they'll get $7 off their next tab."
• Huntington Bank Introduces Commercial Card Featuring Payables Automation and Monthly Rebates
• NCR and LevelUp to Take Mobile Payments to More Restaurants - "NCR understands what it takes to help restaurants keep pace with technology, and by integrating LevelUp, we are helping them get the great tools they need to run their businesses better."
• PayAnywhere Launches Phase Two of Aggressive Retail Channel Rollout - "The partnership takes the PayAnywhere mobile point of sale (mPOS) solution beyond the big box retailers the company announced partnerships with in 2012…"
• CorFire™ and OLO Partner on Integrated Mobile Commerce Solution for Restaurants - "Instead of requiring separate mobile apps for mobile payment and mobile ordering, this integration will provide brands with a one-stop shop for all forms of mobile customer engagement through the industry’s proven, best-of-breed providers."

On Twitter:

We're hosting a payments meetup at @gumroad with talks by @airbnb and @square —come by! gumroad.com/meetup

— Sahil Lavingia (@shl) May 17, 2013

On the web:

• The future of Bitcoin: 3 predictions from experts - GigaOm - "Casares explained how some people in his country are using “old Android phones” to acquire and exchange Bitcoins at a time when the government is clamping down on the trade in U.S. dollars."
• Inside Mastercard’s Social Command Center - Digiday - "For Mastercard, diffusing social in the organization, ironically, meant centralizing it."
• High-Profile VCs Caught up in Bitcoin Mania - PEhub - "As big as the bitcoin opportunity is, it is equally rife with risk."
• Black-hat bitcoin’s days are numbered - Quartz - "Bitcoin has a lot of problems as a currency—its tendency for spasms of crazy volatility, most notably—but fewer as a payments system."
• Bitcoin’s consumerization continues with Perk, a rewards platform and Web browser for normal people - PandoDaily - "Now the only problem is figuring out how to get bitcoin into the hands of the masses."
• Google in Payments: Why Yesterday was BIG News - FinVentures (Tom Noyes) - "Osama and the Google team have done great work getting this out to market. Congrats."
• T-Mobile’s Twitter Account Explains Why Carrier Won’t Support Google Wallet - TmoNews - “We’re supporting ISIS, the wireless payment standard for mobile devices.”
• Square launches faster card swipe machine - Taking Charge - "Sure, we could make payments work better, but why should we when everyone really seems to like plastic?"
• Moving Upstream, PayPal and Square Make a Play for the Local Merchant’s POS - Street Fight - "The gist of PayPal’s and Square’s long-term aspirations is fairly clear: create a two-sided network with a consumer-facing mobile wallet on one end and a merchant processing network on the other, creating a system that gives them control over the entire payment stack."

On the wires:

• International Payment Networks Facing Emerging Threat from Domestic Competition and m-POS - "…the real threat comes when the successful m-POS solution providers follow the PayPal model and enable their own digital wallets and P2P transactions which could completely cut the international networks out of the equation.”
• What is the Killer App for Mobile NFC? It May Not Be Payments, Executives Agree at the 2013 NFC Solutions Summit - "When asked the question "Is NFC dead?" compared to alternate technologies such as cloud payments, Glenbrook Partners Consultant Allen Weinberg stressed that all these technologies are still in the early days and it is too soon to make judgments on what mobile commerce technologies will be the winners and losers. "At the end of the day, we don't have a widespread, commercialized anything yet," he said."
• sweetgreen rewards App an Immediate Success - "Representing the first white-label app from LevelUp, sweetgreen rewards has been an immediate success, allowing guests to earn dollars that can be redeemed at any of sweetgreen's 17 locations and offers various perks that can be unlocked over time…"

On the web:

• Lessons From the New York ATM Heist - Steptoe Cyberblog - "This case should be a wake-up call to anyone who underestimates the sophistication and determination of today’s cyber-criminals."
• QFPay, The Square of China, Is Processing Close To $400M Per Year - TechCrunch - "They have 30,000 merchants all over China and recently picked up funding from Sequoia China…"
• Ahead of I/O, Google Wallet Drops Plans to Introduce a Physical Card - AllThingsD - "The dumping of the physical card plan was certainly abrupt, since it had actually been built into the new update of Google Wallet..."
• Barclaycard takes on Groupon with 'daily deals' - Telegraph - "Barclaycard is aiming to stand above other loyalty and deals offers by offering this personalised service…"
• Cover Raises $1.5M From OATV And Others To Bring Uber-Like Payments To Restaurants - TechCrunch - "Users simply check in to a restaurant at the start of their meal, and when it’s time for them to pay the final bill, it’s immediately charged to their credit card."
• Lessons from the Mcommerce Summit: State of Mobile Commerce 2013 - Mobile Commerce Daily - "Why does engagement matter? Because it drives customer satisfaction, utility and value."
• It’s Official: Foreign Bitcoin Operators Servicing Texas Residents Must Obtain a Texas Money Transmitter License - Contrarian Compliance - "As of May 1, the state of Texas became the second US state to explicitly require foreign-located money transmitters (including Bitcoin exchangers and administrators) to obtain a state money transmitter license if their customers are residents of Texas."
• US Regulator’s Confusion Around Bitcoin Is Exactly Why No One Wants Them Involved - The Genesis Block - "To many people besides Mr. Chilton, bitcoin’s legal color is not as clear: bitcoin still lives in the grey area between a currency and a commodity…"

On the web:

• California Sues JPMorgan Chase Over Credit Card Cases - NY Times - "JPMorgan Chase … deluged the courts with dubious lawsuits to collect soured credit-card debt."
• How hackers allegedly stole “unlimited” amounts of cash from banks in just hours - ArsTechnica - "Prosecutors didn't identify the payment processors except to say one was in India and the other in the United States."
• PayPal exec aims to “obliterate passwords from the face of the planet” - ArsTechnica - "Our intention is to really obliterate, within a certain number of years, both passwords and PINs..."
• One good reason to accept Bitcoins: It screws credit card companies - Pando Daily - "Merchants should enjoy it while it lasts."
• Mobile Gift Card App Gyft Partners With BitPay To Start Accepting Bitcoin Payments In Its Android App - TechCrunch - "Bitcoin is hard to use today, and that’s a good thing. There are still bugs and it is too risky for the average consumer."
• WePay Debuts Veda, An Intelligent Risk Engine That Leverages Social Media Data To Prevent Merchant Fraud - TechCrunch - "A traditional credit score only shows a sliver of who you are, but an online profile allows us to assign our users a more accurate ‘WePay credit score’ based on their personal history of verified, social data."
• No big bang for mobile payments - Business Spectator - "Key to this is understanding that mobile payments are not a vertical market. Players must understand how the different participants in a payment system – the merchant, issuer, and consumer – can all benefit through mobile."
• Adam Smith, Paul Krugman and Bitcoin - Tomorrow's Transactions Blog - "There won't be a single world currency (whether the Dollar or the Remibi) and there won't be a single virtual currency (whether Bitcoin or MintChip). There will be lots of currencies and we will all be better off because of it."
• Free banking at risk as EU wants us to bank anywhere in Europe - Telegraph - "European proposals that would allow Britons to switch to a bank account in another country could hasten the demise of free banking, experts have warned."
• Mobile Payments Service Wins Bill and Melinda Gates Innovator Award - eCommerce Bytes - "Boleto is a unique barcode payment ticket that contains the customer's unique purchase data and Trak's bank information."

On the wires:

• Eight Members Of New York Cell Of Cybercrime Organization Indicted In $45 Million Cybercrime Campaign - "A four-count federal indictment was unsealed in Brooklyn charging eight defendants with participating in two worldwide cyberattacks that inflicted $45 million in losses on the global financial system in a matter of hours."
• Value-Based Payment Models Expected to Reach Tipping Point by 2018 - "Transitioning to payment models that base compensation on outcomes requires physicians and health plans to exchange new kinds of information – different than what is required under today’s predominant fee-for-service arrangements."
• Retailers, Listen Up: High Rates of Mobile Shopping Cart Abandonment Tied to Poor User Experience - "While the majority of smartphone and tablet owners (68%) have attempted to make a purchase on their device, two-thirds (66%) failed to complete a transaction due to obstacles encountered during checkout."
• First Data Releases April 2013 SpendTrend® Analysis - "Year-over-year dollar volume growth increased 5.1% in April, a slowdown from March’s 6.0% growth."

On the web:

• India: Oxigen ties up with NPCI to unveil instant remittance service OxiCash for unbanked people - TechCircle.in - "OxiCash is a mobile wallet service through which people can make money transfers to any bank and also receive funds using the IMPS (Immediate Payment Service) platform of the NPCI…"
• Google Wallet chief leaves the company - VentureBeat - "Osama Bedier, the head of Google Wallet is out, according to several sources."
• Gay Bankers, Once Silent, Speak of Progress — and Hurdles - American Banker - "No one should be afraid to come to work every day as who they are, and no one should have to check who they are at the door…"
• PayPal’s John Lunn reveals how online retailers are using consumer data to beat high street stores - The Next Web - "…find out which startups are helping online retailers to maintain this market dominance, and what physical retailers should do next to fight back."
• Why mobile wallets alone will fail - Cyriac Roeding (shopkick CEO) - "The problem with mobile payments is that payment isn't a problem in the shopping world."
• Off The Schneid - AVC - "I've led a new venture investment for USV, which closed a few weeks ago and was announced last night. The company is Coinbase and my blog post announcing the investment is on the USV blog."
• Purchase, Deposit, and Bank from a Smartphone with Paidpiper - Programmable Web - "Paidpiper represents a new player to the field with a slightly different value proposition over some of its competitors."
• CardFlight Partners With Stripe And Launches SDK To Become The ‘Stripe Of Real-World Payments’ - TechCrunch - "Enter CardFlight, which is launching with an encrypted, Square-like card reader of its own, as well as an SDK and APIs that will allow developers to create apps and take “card-present” payments on their mobile apps."
• EMV Takes Center Stage on Day Two of THE Tech EVENT - Convenience Store News - "Several speakers stressed in today’s standing-room-only session that EMV is a set of guidelines, not standards."
• Prepaid Cards for Jobless Benefits - The Members Group - "…42 states in the U.S. now direct deposit monthly unemployment benefits to out-of-work consumers on reloadable prepaid cards…"
• Discover Card's Email Balance Alert is a Thing of Beauty - NetBanker - "The message is nicely laid out with plenty of white space and it's chock full of links to get more information."

On the wires:

• MasterCard to Power Nigerian Identity Card Program - "This program is the largest roll-out of a formal electronic payment solution in the country and the broadest financial inclusion initiative of its kind on the African continent."
• Wells Fargo Adds Bankers, Launches New Secured Credit Products to Help More Small Businesses - "Wells Fargo’s new Business Secured Credit Card also helps new businesses establish and rebuild business credit…"
• Tabbedout and Future POS Expand Partnership to Bring Unrivaled Merchant Marketing Solution to All Future Fusion Merchants - "This new partnership means that the Tabbedout merchant marketing solution, Periscope, is now available in the 4,000+ Future POS merchant locations that use the Future Fusion software in their restaurants, bars, and hotels…"
• Elavon Names Simon Haslam President and Chief Executive Officer - "Simon’s experience and passion for growth and innovation make him the best individual to lead Elavon as we continue to extend our global reach and the value we deliver to our customers."
• Barclays Uses Nuance Voice Biometrics to Identify Customers by the Sound of their Voice - "No longer will customers need to answer intrusive security questions in order to verify their identity. By simply speaking with an agent, a customer’s voice is verified using Nuance voice biometrics technology, making the authentication process quick, secure and transparent."

The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston in conjunction with the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta has just published a new report titled "U.S. Mobile Payments Landscape – Two Years Later."

Based upon ongoing meetings of the Mobile Payments Industry Workgroup (MPIW) convened by the Federal Reserve, the report updates an earlier paper from 2011. It examines changes in the evolution of mobile POS retail payments over the past two years, characterized by an expanding fragmented market environment and frequent technology innovations.

“There have been some notable changes in the mobile payments area in the last two years,” said Marianne Crowe, Vice President of the Payment Strategies Group at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and co-author of the report.

“For instance, the mobile device has become a pivotal driver in creating a dynamic marketplace that is bringing diverse companies and sectors together, both as competitors and collaborators and across traditional boundaries of industry and technology.”

The paper concludes that while the market is still nascent, progress is being made towards achieving benefits within this ecosystem such as improved security and fraud reduction, cost efficiencies, value-added services, revenue and monetization opportunities, and data privacy.

On the web:

• iPads as Cash Registers Are About to Go From Novelty to Norm - Wired - "Such numbers suggest that checking out by phone or tablet is nearing that magical inflection point at which technology tips from novel and surprising into “unsurprising because it’s everywhere.”"
• Material Histories of Debt and Payment - Anthropology News - "Through commentaries, we seek to forge unexpected and generative connections across the history of payments and payments artifacts, and between actors and institutions that study, make, collect and use payments artifacts."
• Preliminary EU ruling finds Google's Motorola guilty of abuse of standard-essential patents - FOSS Patents
• Wendy’s trials mobile payments with commerce-enabled app - Mobile Commerce Daily - "Once the card is loaded with money, the payment is triggered by consumers swiping their finger across the screen. A unique, one-time code is then revealed on the screen that consumers can read to a Wendy’s employee."
• Canada: Rogers gets closer to starting banking business - Financial Post - "The company said Friday afternoon the Minister of Finance has issued letters patent incorporating Rogers Bank."

On the wires:

• Ink from Chase Enhances Jot Mobile Application with Receipt Capture Capability - "Jot sends small business owners a push alert within seconds of making a purchase with their Ink card. Customers can immediately tag these purchases to custom categories on a mobile device or online."
• New RushCard Initiatives Aim for Best-in-Industry Transparency - "With our new disclosures, it’s now easy for the average customer to understand all of the fees associated with our cards, including those fees levied by other companies…"

Glenbrook's Scott Loftesness will speaking on Monday, May 6, at Experian's Vision 2013 Conference in Carlsbad, California.

Scott will be helping to moderate a panel titled "Wallet Wars — Payments beyond 2013" that will be discussing the impact of mobile on payment business models and profitability for financial institutions, wireless providers and emerging players.

Speakers include Cherian Abraham (Experian), Pete Donat (First Data), Paul Moreton (Capital One), Ken Moy (MasterCard) and Chris Gardner (Paydiant).

On the web:

• Trustev Tackles E-Commerce Identity Fraud With An Online Fingerprint Made From Social Signals And More - TechCrunch - "Trustev … has developed a product to tackle online fraud using an algorithmic system of social signals, behavioral data and transaction history…"
• PayPal expands further into stores, but Wal-Mart holds out - Reuters - "PayPal's expansion into brick-and-mortar stores gives the company access to a market that is roughly ten times the size of the online payments sector..."
• Payments Network Dwolla Raises $16.5 Million Series C From Andreessen Horowitz & Others, Expands To San Francisco- TechCrunch - "The legacy payments networks in existence today are bogged down with outdated technology, slowing progress…"
• Payment Services Firm Qiwi Eyes $100 Million In IPO - Investors.com - "Qiwi is a leading provider of next-generation payment services in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States."
• RetailNext Raises $15 Million More to Track Your Every In-Store Move - PE Hub - "Our focus is on taking analytics happening online and providing it to physical retailers."
• It's Time for Better Online Authentication Solutions - Portals and Rails (FRB Atlanta) - "Improving authentication techniques and requiring their use are critical to better mitigate online account takeover risks."
• The Elephant in the Payments Room - American Banker - Jon Matonis - "Disruption in the unit of account is the way to disrupt the payments space."
• 4G will boost mobile payment uptake, says MasterCard - V3 - "The rise in 4G networks will help usher in a new wave of innovative mobile payment services for businesses to offer customers…"
• Chase Visa deal and SDWOANAF: where potential and confusion meet - Mobile Payments Today

On the wires:

• The UnionPay Travel Prepaid Card Launched by The Bancorp - "Though the card is targeted to those planning to travel to Asia, the card will be accepted within the US wherever UnionPay cards are accepted."
• ROAM Releases RP350x: World’s First PCI-PTS certified Chip and Signature Mobile Card Reader - "The reader provides a low cost solution for enabling Chip and Sign payment acceptance…"
• VeriFone Enables Channel Partner Success with New EMV-Capable, Portable and Mobile Payment Solutions - "VeriFone is committed to enabling channel partner success in a rapidly evolving market by providing EMV-capable, portable and mobile solutions…"
• TriSource Solutions Introduces First End-to-End Merchant Aggregation Processing Solution During ETA - "The increased functionality of our merchant acquiring platform can get PSPs and PFs up and running in record time…"
• Leaf Announces a Better Way to Sell Merchant Credit Card Processing - "Leaf’s open approach to payments offers a seamless reseller option for our partners to empower their sales teams with a new, competitive solution…"

On the web:

• China's UnionPay Payment Network Launches Its First Card Issued in the U.S. - WSJ - "The UnionPay prepaid card will be sold online and in bank branches in major U.S. cities..."
• Mobile Commerce Isn’t Just About Payments - ZDnet UK - "When consumers get added value from their purchase transactions, their mobile phones become not only their conduit into the digital world, but also a kind of concierge, simplifying their lives."
• CBA's clever Kaching ambitions - Business Spectator - "By enabling so many types of payment through a mobile phone, Commonwealth Bank is teaching its customers that if they want to make a payment – in any situation – they should use the Kaching app."
• Starbucks generates 10pc of US revenue from mobile - Mobile Commerce Daily - "Every week, Starbucks is seeing close to four million mobile payment transactions…"
• Chip cards are fundamentally flawed - The Bankwatch Blog - "Sometimes when I read the debates on chip, PIN and EMV I feel I am listening to the Flat Earth Society."
• Future of payments does not need Mastercard or Visa - banking chief - HumanIPO - "The “gorillas” of Mastercard and Visa will in the future no longer be needed because of the direction of banking and payment solutions in the cloud…

On the wires:

• Barclaycard Germany Signed Multi-Year Contract for Debit and Credit Cards with Gemalto

Over on our Payments Views, Glenbrook's George Peabody shares his observations about the confluence of EMV chip card migration, mobile devices and authentication in the US market.

While EMV injects dynamic data into the payment message (as well as clear text PANs), it is an otherwise mostly static, single purpose platform. Compare that to the mobile device, which combines static data (SIM serial number, etc.) with recognizable configuration profiles for device fingerprinting, context-specific dynamic data such as location plus application-specific PIN or biometric entry. And that all happens before the payment transaction takes place.

On the web:

• Nate Silver: What Big Data can't predict - Fortune - "It's important to know, too, that there's a difference between how good we are relative to our potential and how intrinsically predictable something might be."
• Two-factor or not two-factor? That is the security question - InfoWorld - "The case for two-factor authentication would appear to be a slam dunk. But not all security experts praise the solution as a remedy for all security ills."
• PayPal President Makes Surprise Commentary About Bitcoin: “We’re kinda thinking about it” - Silicon Angle - "It’s too far out to speculate on how PayPal would enable this, but if they did it could bring about an accessibility revolution overnight."
• PayPal Sees $20 Billion in Mobile Transactions - Bloomberg video interview with PayPal's David Marcus
• Visa and Fandango Mobilize Buying Movie Tickets - AdWeek - "If consumers opt in for the GPS-enabled Tixpress, they'll see a virtual marquee with movies that are showing nearby. With a couple of taps, they can view showtimes and purchase tickets if they've synced up Fandango app with their Visa account."
• Banks Should Act More Like Apple: Cap One's Innovation Chief - Bank Technology News - "The bank is additionally trying to learn lessons from other industries. It's been looking at, of all categories of companies, newspapers for inspiration..."
• Bitcoin takes an important step toward becoming part of every web browser on the planet - "Bitcoin just took an important step closer to becoming the universal, open, distributed payments glue that binds the world of digital money, anonymous transactions, and extra-governmental currencies together."
• Why banks FAIL at partnerships in mobile finance - "In summary, a bank now has to partner to deliver mobile finance. That means that the bank that used to do everything itself is now just part of a mixed value chain of solution providers covering hardware manufacturers, network operators, payments processors, information service providers and more."
• Smartphones Finally Surpass the Feature Phone - NY Times Bits Blog - "Manufacturers shipped 418.6 million cellphones, 216.2 million of which were smartphones, says IDC."

On the wires:

• Coming Soon!

Earlier today, we noticed a couple of tweets about a new service from Capital One known as Spark Pay.

Turns out that Spark Pay is the latest entrant in the market of providing card acceptance to small merchants using a smartphone or tablet. Spark Pay and its encrypting card reader allow small merchants to "start accepting all major credit cards immediately." The Spark Pay app is available on Android and iOS (iPhone and iPad).

Spark Pay is offering two pricing plans to merchants: a Pro Plan and a Go Plan. "The Pro Plan Pro offers a lower per swipe fee of 1.95% per swipe for Visa®, MasterCard®, and Discover® cards plus a $9.95 monthly fee. The Go Plan offers 2.70% per swipe for Visa®, MasterCard®, and Discover® cards with no monthly fee."

We expect to hear more about Spark Pay soon.