| Having trouble reading this newsletter? Click here to see it in your browser. You are receiving this newsletter because you signed up from our web site. |
 |
|
|||||||||||
 |
Dec 16th, 2011
Edition #282
New to NewsFilter? Click here to subscribe. In this Issue In Other News This Day in History 1773 The Boston Tea Party In Boston Harbor, a group of Massachusetts colonists disguised as Mohawk Indians board three British tea ships and dump 342 chests of tea into the harbor. The midnight raid, popularly known as the "Boston Tea Party," was in protest of the British Parliament's Tea Act of 1773, a bill designed to save the faltering East India Company by greatly lowering its tea tax and granting it a virtual monopoly on the American tea trade. The low tax allowed the East India Company to undercut even tea smuggled into America by Dutch traders, and many colonists viewed the act as another example of taxation tyranny. When three tea ships, the Dartmouth, the Eleanor, and the Beaver, arrived in Boston Harbor, the colonists demanded that the tea be returned to England. After Massachusetts Governor Thomas Hutchinson refused, Patriot leader Samuel Adams organized the "tea party" with about 60 members of the Sons of Liberty, his underground resistance group. Click here to read more.
TSG Fun Fact
Check out TSG's blog, PaymentsPulse.com. Advertisement Pass it on Know anyone who might be interested in our newsletter? Click here to forward this email to up to 5 friends at once. |
|
|
EBay’s PayPal Bets on 103 Million Users to Challenge Groupon/LivingSocial
12/14/11 Bloomberg EBay Inc. PayPal business, aiming to challenge Groupon Inc. and LivingSocial.com in the market for online daily deals, plans to start offering coupons tailored to users’ buying habits and mobile-phone locations. The company will make its first foray into mobile deals in the first quarter of 2012, partnering with some of the top 200 U.S. merchants, PayPal President Scott Thompson said. PayPal is chasing a daily coupon market that may more than double to $4.17 billion by 2015. Both the Merchants and the Fed Misread Durbin 
12/15/11 BankThink A lawsuit brought by a group of retail associations and retailers against the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System asks the courts to find the board's rules to implement the debit card swipe fee requirements of the Durbin amendment to be "arbitrary, capricious and an abuse of discretion." The suit would be interesting simply for being brought by the retailers that the amendment was intended to benefit. What is even more interesting is that, from my perspective, both the retailers and the board misread the Durbin amendment. Merchants May Or May Not Be Keeping Debit-Fee Savings
12/13/11 ISO&Agent The price of Slurpees has stubbornly remained the same despite new limits on debit card interchange, according to a survey by a payments-industry lobbying group. However, 7-Eleven Inc., which sells Slurpees, might be justified in raising the price of the frozen drink, an ISO&Agent Weekly analysis using Visa Inc.’s new interchange rates has found. Dwolla Unveils 'Instant,' Immediate Access Up to $500 for Flat Monthly Fee
12/15/11 Omaha World Herald Dwolla, today introduced a feature to give its users instant access to cash, an alternative to its current two- to three-day waiting period for users to transfer funds into their accounts. Dwolla's CEO, Ben Milne, founded the company in 2008 on the premise of a flat transaction fee, 25 cents, to address a pain point he experienced when running his previous company: credit card fees. "There's one pain point," Milne said, "that now exists inside of our own system, like, 'How do I get money into it?' " Jobless Claims Slip to Lowest Level Since 2008
12/15/11 Reuters New claims for unemployment benefits dropped to a 3-1/2 year low last week, a government report showed on Thursday, suggesting the labor market recovery was gaining speed. "Initial claims data surprised sharply to the downside in the week to December 10, falling by 19k to 366k, the lowest level since May 31 2008. The market had expected a modest increase to 390k, with last week's number revised up to 385k from 381k. Even with the upward revision we now have 2 straight declines of 19k, hinting that we could see a welcome pick up in December's payroll. More Look to 'Shop American' for Christmas
12/16/11 The Street The push is on this season for shoppers to fill their Christmas gift lists with U.S.-made products. It goes without saying that a massive amount of money is up for grabs for the holiday shopping blitz. On Thursday the NRF revised earlier estimates to release an updated -- more optimistic -- look at holiday spending. It now projects seasonal spending to be on pace for more than $469 billion. Proponents of keeping things domestic this holiday season say that if even small portion of holiday shopping zeroed in on U.S.-made products there would be a significant boost to the economy. Banks, Credit Unions Plan Mobile-Payments Moves in ’12; Are They Moving Fast Enough?
12/14/11 Digital Transactions Major financial institutions are prepared to make bigger investments in mobile payments next year, but may not be moving fast enough to ward off non-bank competition, according to a report issued earlier this week. The chief type of mobile payments these institutions will be pouring money into in 2012 is person-to-person payments, cited as a top priority by seven of 10 banks and credit unions surveyed in September by Forrester Research. Four Times More Consumers Consider Mobile Payments Safer Than Credit Cards
12/14/11 Dark Reading It’s hard to put a price tag on security and privacy, but a recent study of consumers’ online and mobile purchasing attitudes conducted by Javelin Strategy & Research and PaymentOne found 4 out of 5 consumers would spend more online if offered an easier and more secure way to pay. The survey also found that by a margin of almost 4 to 1, consumers believe direct carrier billed mobile payments are more secure than using credit and debit cards for online digital purchases. Isis Secures Mobile Payments Platform as It Gears Up for Launch
12/15/11 Bank Systems & Technology Isis, the mobile payments venture formed by AT&T Mobility, T-Mobile USA and Verizon Wireless, announced the selection of digital security firm Gemalto to secure its mobile commerce platform as it gears up towards a 2012 rollout. Sebastien Cano, Senior Vice President of Telecommunication for Gemalto, said the company is establishing a "pretty large, highly secure operations center" in Dallas where the infrastructure of the project is being managed. Communications Watchdog Calls for Probe into Verizon Blocking of Google Wallet
12/15/11 Finextra Free Press, an independent US watchdog promoting open access to communications, has called on the Federal Communications Commission to investigate Verizon Wireless for reportedly blocking the Google Wallet application on the Galaxy Nexus smartphone. Verizon - the number one carrier in the US - is a member of the Isis consortium, which is planning to launch its own mobile wallet service next year. Over 1M Merchants Now Use Mobile Payments Platform Square To Accept Credit Cards
12/13/11 Tech Crunch Mobile payments startup Square has just passed a major milestone—over 1 million merchants are now using Square to accept credit cards. This is up from 800,000 merchants using Square a few months ago. As co-founder Jack Dorsey explains, there are only 8 million merchants who accept credit cards in the US, so Square has already accumulated a pretty decent chunk of users. Square, which is processing $11 million in payments, has been growing fast. Tokens Are Not The Same As Encryption. Honest
12/14/11 StorefrontBacktalk It’s now been four months since the PCI Council’s guidance on tokenization, and people are still mixing up tokenization and encryption. They are also drawing incorrect parallels/inferences. Tokenization is not encryption. Trying to compare the two is not appropriate (or like comparing quarks to streetcars or your other favorite silly similes), and doing so can lead to mistakes in scoping PCI. Fed Says U.S. Economy 'Expanding Moderately'; Policy Unchanged
12/13/11 SFGate Federal Reserve policy makers said the economy in the U.S. is maintaining its expansion even as the global economy slows, while refraining from taking new actions to lower borrowing costs. "The economy has been expanding moderately, notwithstanding some apparent slowing in global growth," the Federal Open Market Committee said in a statement. "While indicators point to some improvement in overall labor market conditions, the unemployment rate remains elevated." First Data Releases SpendTrend Closed-Loop Prepaid Cards November Analysis
12/14/11 First Data First Data Corporation today released its First Data SpendTrend® Closed-Loop Prepaid Cards analysis for the month of November. The analysis tracks U.S. same-merchant activations and redemptions of merchant-branded prepaid cards including spending, gift, incentive and promotional cards. Activation transaction growth led the way in November with year-over-year activation transaction growth at 12.3%. Activation dollar volume rebounded in November with an overall growth of 16.7% First Data Presents New Online Payment Gateway
12/13/11 RFP Connect First Data Corporation, a global leader in electronic commerce and payment processing, announced the introduction of Global Gateway e4, a new, online payment gateway built on the latest technology and specifically designed to address eCommerce merchants’ business needs. The gateway offers a safe and reliable solution for card-not-present transactions and includes a comprehensive suite of payment services with the ability to expand payment acceptance globally. New Sage ISV Program Gives Software Developers Access to an Integrated PCI Compliant Payments Environment Without the Costs
12/12/11 Sage Sage North America today announced an expansion of the Sage Development Partner Program for its Sage Payment Solutions division. The program enables an independent software vendor (ISV) to offer integrated, Payment Card Industry (PCI) compliant credit card, debit card, and ACH payments within their on-premises or Web-based software products. American Express Launches Payment SDKs
12/16/11 FinChannel American Express today became the first payment network to fully enable global processing services with Payment Software Development Kits. These Payment SDKs offer a full complement of Authorization and Submission solutions for vendors and merchants across the globe looking to process transactions directly with American Express. Use Your AmEx, Scan a Bar Code, Get an iPod?
12/13/11 All Things Digital American Express Black Card holders might not strike some as the bargain-hunting kind, but AmEx is getting on board with mobile bar code scanning to offer more loyalty rewards to all cardholders. The financial services company is forging an official partnership with eBay-acquired RedLaser to offer consumers on-the-fly comparison shopping options, and to boost buying through its online rewards store, shopAmex. Chase Adopts Simplified Checking Disclosure
12/15/11 The New York Times Chase has become the first big bank to voluntarily adopt a simplified, plain-language checking account disclosure, as proposed by an arm of the nonprofit group Pew Charitable Trusts. It turns out, though, that banking disclosures can get only so simple. Chase wasn’t able to squeeze its disclosure onto a single page or box, as Pew originally proposed. Rather, its form runs three pages and has seven footnotes. That’s because Chase chose to be comprehensive and display all potential fees. Discover Financial Q4 Profits Beat Street, Boosts Dividend
12/15/11 Proactive Investors Discover Financial Services reported a spike in its fourth quarter profits on Thursday, topping Street estimates. For the three months that ended November 30, the direct banking and payment services company posted net income of $513 million, or $0.95 per share, up 47 percent from $350 million, or $0.64 per share, a year ago. Revenues, net of interest expenses, rose 13 percent to $1.8 billion, from $1.6 billion a year ago, meeting analysts' expectations. FTNI and UNIT4 CODA Announce Strategic Receivables Management Partnership
12/13/11 FTNI FTNI, a provider of industry-leading payment solutions, today announced that it has partnered with UNIT4 CODA to offer a complete receivables management solution to UNIT4 CODA’s client base. UNIT4 CODA clients will have an opportunity to consolidate all of their check, single and reoccurring ACH and credit card payments, cash posting and web payment on the ETran Receivables Platform. VeriFone Reports Fourth Quarter and Fiscal 2011 Results
12/14/11 VeriFone VeriFone Systems, Inc., the global leader in secure electronic payment solutions, today announced financial results for the three months ("Q4 FY11") and fiscal year ended October 31, 2011. Non-GAAP net revenues for Q4 FY11 were $416 million, compared to $317 million in the previous quarter and $276 million for the comparable period of 2010 ("Q4 FY10"), a 51% year-over-year increase.
12/15/11 Thrupoint Chase said it is expanding its nationwide network of ATMs with approximately 800 locations in ARCO-branded ampm locations in California as well as Washington, Arizona, Oregon and Nevada. According to a release, about 75 percent of the expansion will be in California, bringing the total number of Chase ATMs in California to nearly 4,000. Heartland Payment Systems Signs Five-Year Contract with ConocoPhillips
12/14/11 HPS Heartland Payment Systems® one of the nation’s largest payments processors, has signed a five-year contract with ConocoPhillips. Under the expanded contract, Heartland Network Services group will continue to authorize debit and credit card transactions and will now also begin settling Visa and MasterCard credit card transactions at ConocoPhillips-branded locations nationwide. Heartland Breach: Claims Dismissed
12/13/11 Bank Info Security A U.S. District Judge has ruled to dismiss the majority of claims included in a multi-institution suit against Heartland Payment Systems, which in 2008 was hacked, ultimately compromising 130 million U.S. debit and credit cards. The Heartland breach, announced in January 2009, was the first card processor breach to attract international attention. Google Wallet Security Questioned
12/12/11 BTN Google Wallet, has long been thought by experts to be secure due to its use of a hard-to-break secure hardware element for handling cardholder credentials and account information. But the fledgling app has failed a security test conducted by viaForensics, primarily for storing too much of consumers' personal data on the phone. While the app doesn't store the customer's entire credit card number, it does store the user's name, credit card balance, limits, expiration date, and transaction dates and locations on the phone itself. Digital River World Payments and Javelin Strategy & Research Announce 4th Annual Online Retail Payments Forecast, 2011-2016
12/14/11 MarketWatch Digital River, Inc., a leading provider of global e-commerce solutions, announced the publication of the 4th Annual Online Retail Payments Forecast, 2011-2016, the latest research report from Javelin Strategy & Research. The report provides a forecast of U.S. e-commerce market growth and analyzes the increase of traditional and alternative online payment options. Tech Moguls to Congress: Please Don't Break the Internet
12/15/11 CNNMoney Many Silicon Valley heavyweights have signed an open letter opposing an anti-piracy bill they say could wreak havoc on the Internet. The bill nevertheless seems likely to pass a committee vote today. One of the problems with discussing SOPA and PROTECT IP, the wildly overreaching anti-piracy measures under debate in Congress, is that the proposed laws pit two industries against each other: media vs. tech. TSG/ETA Economic Indicators, Reports Key Findings on the Payments Industry
PaymentsPulse The Q3 2011 Economic Indicators Report released today contains Macroeconomic, Microeconomic, and Payments Industry analysis. This free report contains illustrative details on the following findings as well as 35 additional data points that trend performance of the economy and the payments industry.
Click here to read the report. |
|
||||||
|
 |
|