Oct. 5th, 2012

Edition #323

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In this Issue

	Walmart Exec Says 'No' to Google Wallet, NFC
	The Walmart Mystique: Anti-Interchange Payment Alliance Has New Members, But Why?
	Global Payments: April's Security Breach And Acquisitions Limit Short-Term Upside
	Heartland Payment Systems Credits Merchants with More than Quarter Billion Dollars in Durbin Debit Reform Savings
	Federal Judge to Hear Arguments About Debit Interchange
	From Our Perspective
	Silicon Prairie - Omaha is a Perfect Place for Processors and Payments Technology Companies
	Starbucks Customers Can Use Square in November
	Square Launches A Merchant Directory To Help Customers Discover New Places
	Google Poised to Let Users Buy Web Content with Google Wallet
	Digital River Buys LML Payment In An Attempt To Restore Profitability And Strategic Strength
	For POS Push, PayPal Snags Big-Time Processors But Works to Woo ISOs As Well
	Initial Jobless Claims in U.S. Increase From Two-Month Low
	The Small Business Authority Releases The August 2012 SB Authority Index
	TSG Report Shows Strong Industry Performance Amid Struggling Economy
	Visa's New Data Protection Solution
	MeNetwork Mobile Marketing Platform Attracts New Acquirer and Issuer Partner Interest After Company Experiences 360% User Growth Over Ten Day Period
	NCR and Vantiv to Grow Multivendor ATM Software Availability in U.S.
	American Express Announces Settlements with Bank Regulators Related to U.S. Card Practices
	Braintree Launches Instant Approval Product, Makes It Even Easier for Start-ups to Accept Payments
	FrontStream Payments Forges Strategic Partnership with Dealer Solutions, Inc.
	Gemalto Acquires Mobile Payment Platform from Ericsson
	IdentityMind™ Protects Magento e-commerce Stores from Fraud
	Payleven Launches Chip and PIN-based Square Clone
	Directory of U.S. Merchant Acquirers – Contribute & Stand Out with Complimentary Listing

In Other News

This Day in History 1947

First presidential speech on TV

On this day in 1947, President Harry Truman (1884-1972) makes the first-ever televised presidential address from the White House, asking Americans to cut back on their use of grain in order to help starving Europeans. At the time of Truman's food-conservation speech, Europe was still recovering from World War II and suffering from famine. Truman, the 33rd commander in chief, worried that if the U.S. didn't provide food aid, his administration's Marshall Plan for European economic recovery would fall apart. He asked farmers and distillers to reduce grain use and requested that the public voluntarily forgo meat on Tuesdays, eggs and poultry on Thursdays and save a slice of bread each day. The food program was short-lived, as ultimately the Marshall Plan succeeded in helping to spur economic revitalization and growth in Europe. Click here to read more.

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Walmart Exec Says 'No' to Google Wallet, NFC 10/02/12 Mobile Payments Today    Mike Cook has been called the most powerful man in payments. As vice president and assistant treasurer for Walmart Inc., Cook is tasked with running the retailer's massive $1.2 billion payment business. This morning, the most powerful man in payments basically shut the door on Google Wallet, saying that as of now, the world's largest retailer sees no reason to add another player to Walmart transactions. Cook didn't offer much consolation for Isis, NFC or Square, either. The Walmart Mystique: Anti-Interchange Payment Alliance Has New Members, But Why? 10/04/12 StorefrontBacktalk    The retailer alliance that’s trying to come up with its own interchange-free mobile payments system has added a handful of new members, and we’re trying to figure out why. On Monday (Oct. 1), MCX said that Gap, Bed Bath & Beyond, Dillard’s, Dunkin’ Brands “and others” have now signed up for the group, which insists it’s hard at work on a mobile payments platform. No doubt it is. So is ISIS, which counts Dillard’s as part of its someday-soon trial, and Google Wallet, which 65 Gap stores have been accepting for almost a year. Global Payments: April's Security Breach And Acquisitions Limit Short-Term Upside 10/02/12 Seeking Alpha    Global reported its first quarter results on Thursday after the close. Shares fell some 4.5% in Friday's trading session on the back of disappointing results still impacted by security breaches earlier this year. Global Payments reported first quarter revenues of $590.3 million, up 9% on the year. Revenues beat analysts consensus of $584 million. Heartland Payment Systems Credits Merchants with More than Quarter Billion Dollars in Durbin Debit Reform Savings 10/01/12 DailyFinance    Since the implementation of the Durbin Amendment debit swipe fee reform one year ago, Heartland Payment Systems, one of the nation's largest payments processors, has delivered more than $262,000,000 in signature debit savings to its merchant customers throughout the United States. Of these savings, restaurant merchants received more than $75,000,000, lodging merchants received nearly $10,000,000, retail merchants received almost $30,000,000 and petroleum/c-store merchants received more than $55,000,000. Federal Judge to Hear Arguments About Debit Interchange 10/02/12 Credit Union Times    U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon will hear retailers, the U.S. government and debit card issuers argue Tuesday over whether the Federal Reserve's regulations capping debit card interchange did not go far enough (the retailer position) or that it went too far (the issuer position). Leon sits on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. From Our Perspective Commentary by Kurt Strawhecker, Managing Partner of TSG   It is hard to believe we are already in Q4 2012.  Below are some reflections on recent developments in the payments space: There has been a marked increase in the amount of transaction activity; for instance, the news that TransFirst and First American Payment Systems are apparently exploring alternatives. This follows several significant M&A transactions including Merchant e-Solutions (to Cielo), Merchant Warehouse (equity investment by Parthenon Capital), Central Payments (JV with TSYS), and Accelerated Payment Solutions (acquired by GPN). In addition we are seeing a large increase of activity within our firm and anticipate more announcements throughout the rest of the year. Click here to read more. Silicon Prairie - Omaha is a Perfect Place for Processors and Payments Technology Companies 10/02/12 BTN    The underpinnings of the city's tech scene go back to the 1950s, when the Strategic Air Command was relocated south of the city at the Offutt Air Force base. With it, the Air Force brought the infrastructure that eventually attracted technology specialists, including Fisher himself. The talent bolstered local tech companies in the 50s and 60s, including then-Omaha based payment processor First Data and transaction software company ACI. And it created a runway for current companies that now operate in the area, such as eBay's e-commerce arm PayPal. Starbucks Customers Can Use Square in November 10/04/12 The Seattle Times    Beginning in early November, Starbucks customers will be able to pay for their cup of coffee at 7,000 U.S. corporate-run stores using mobile-payment technology developed by San Francisco startup Square. “It extends the relationship we have and is so relevant to customers who like to use digital payment,” Burrows said in a phone interview from Houston. “It will be seamless for our customers, and it will be seamless for our baristas.” Square Launches A Merchant Directory To Help Customers Discover New Places 10/03/12 TechCrunch    Square, the startup disrupting the payments industry with its easy smartphone/tablet card-reader, has today launched Square Directory. It is a web-based search engine that allows users to find new merchants and restaurants based on their location, and the particular items they may be hunting at the time. The service already has over 200,000 businesses listed in the directory. Google Poised to Let Users Buy Web Content with Google Wallet 10/02/12 CNET    Micropayments, a long-discussed way of supporting content on the Web that has yet to catch fire with users, is about to get a big boost from Google. The company confirmed that users will soon be able to pay for Web content using Google Wallet, buying individual articles for an average of $0.25 to $0.99 each. Once users buy the page, they will own it forever, Google said. The project is expected to launch later today or tomorrow. Digital River Buys LML Payment In An Attempt To Restore Profitability And Strategic Strength 10/2/12 Seeking Alpha Digital River (DRIV) announced on Monday that it will acquire LML Payment Systems in a deal valuing the company at $3.45 per share, for a total deal value of $103 million. Shares of Digital River hardly moved on news of the deal. Shares of LML Payment jumped some 82% to $3.40 after news. For POS Push, PayPal Snags Big-Time Processors But Works to Woo ISOs As Well 10/01/12 Digital Transactions    The deals PayPal Inc. and Discover Financial Services disclosed last week with processors Vantiv Inc. and Global Payments Inc. are just the start of PayPal’s efforts to win acceptance at physical merchants. PayPal is also starting to woo independent sales organizations to help push its mark into potentially millions of small merchant locations. Initial Jobless Claims in U.S. Increase From Two-Month Low 10/04/12 Bloomberg    The number of Americans filing first- time claims for unemployment insurance payments rose last week, highlighting an uneven improvement in the labor market. Applications for jobless benefits increased 4,000 to 367,000 in the week ended Sept. 29, Labor Department figures showed today. Economists forecast 370,000 claims, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey. The prior week’s reading was the lowest in two months. The Small Business Authority Releases The August 2012 SB Authority Index 10/02/12 Newtek    Newtek Business Services, Inc. announced the release of the SB Authority Index of small business indicators for Aug 2012, reaching 113.57 points, up .60% from July 2012. Activity in Newtek's merchant processing volume scale and the Russell Microcap Index data led the increase. Pres/CEO, Barry Sloane said, "The SB Authority Index is showing signs of life in the results for the month of Aug. Two components in particular showed good gains, pulling the index higher in a tough economy. TSG Report Shows Strong Industry Performance Amid Struggling Economy 9/27/12 PR Newswire    The Strawhecker Group, in collaboration with The Electronic Transactions Association, the trade association of the global electronic payments industry, today released its U.S. Economic Indicators Report for the second quarter of 2012. Published quarterly with analysis from The Strawhecker Group (TSG) for the benefit of ETA member companies, the 15th edition of the report shows strong industry performance during the second quarter even as the national economy continues to struggle. Click here to read the full report. Visa's New Data Protection Solution 10/04/12 Bank Info Security    An end-to-end encryption service coming out from Visa in early 2013 aims to improve payment card and data security at the merchant level. Eduardo Perez, who works in Visa's Risk Group, says Visa's Merchant Data Secure with Point-to-Point Encryption is part of the card brand's broader authentication strategy and includes three key improvements: Eliminating account data at the merchant level; Protecting sensitive information that must be stored, processed or transmitted; Devaluing account information through dynamic authentication. MeNetwork Mobile Marketing Platform Attracts New Acquirer and Issuer Partner Interest After Company Experiences 360% User Growth Over Ten Day Period 10/01/12 MeNetwork    It isn’t often that a company experiences triple-digit growth in a year, let alone over ten days. But Boulder-based MeNetwork is in the midst of exactly that. MeNetwork’s most recent version of their consumer app for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch was one of the first applications in the world to feature native integration with Apple’s new Passbook, and that early integration has paid huge dividends. Apple featured the MeNetwork app in iTunes stores around the world as an example of what Passbook can do, and MeNetwork’s user base more than tripled in a week as a result. NCR and Vantiv to Grow Multivendor ATM Software Availability in U.S. 10/03/12 NCR    Multivendor software took its next step toward universal availability to U.S. financial institutions today with Vantiv’s certification of NCR Corporation’s multivendor ATM software on its network. NCR is the worldwide leader in multivendor ATM software. Momentum for multivendor ATM software has been building for several years, and network support is critical to ongoing growth.” American Express Announces Settlements with Bank Regulators Related to U.S. Card Practices 10/01/12 BusinessWire    American Express Company today announced that it has reached settlements with several regulatory agencies to resolve previously disclosed reviews of certain aspects of the company’s U.S. consumer card practices. Similar settlements were reached with several of the company’s subsidiaries, including American Express Centurion Bank; American Express Bank, FSB; and American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. Braintree Launches Instant Approval Product, Makes It Even Easier for Start-ups to Accept Payments 10/01/12 Braintree    Braintree, the fastest growing payment platform for online and mobile commerce, announced today that it has introduced a new instant approval product and pricing plan, Braintree Instant, to make it even easier for startups to accept payments. Merchants can now start accepting payments within minutes using Braintree, without a waiting period for a merchant account or underwriting approval. FrontStream Payments Forges Strategic Partnership with Dealer Solutions, Inc. 10/04/12 FrontStream Payments    FrontStream Payments, Inc., a national provider of integrated payment solutions, is pleased to announce a new strategic partnership with Dealer Solutions, Inc., an automotive retail supplier. By integrating FrontStream’s configurable payment management solutions into their software, Dealer Solutions can now offer clients immediate access to flexible, secure and compliant over-the-counter, web, and mobile electronic payment options. Gemalto Acquires Mobile Payment Platform from Ericsson 10/01/12 Gemalto    Gemalto, the world leader in digital security, today announces that it closed the acquisition of Ericsson Internet Payment Exchange AB with the exception of operations in USA, from Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson, the world's leading provider of communications technology and services. Created by Ericsson, IPX has developed one of the leading mobile payment and messaging platforms in the world. IdentityMind™ Protects Magento e-commerce Stores from Fraud 10/01/12 PRWeb    IdentityMind™, an on-demand anti fraud and risk management platform, today announced the release of the IdentityMind™ Magento™ Module. This module supports the Magento™ Community Edition e-commerce software solution. IdentityMind's Magento™ module enables merchants to protect their Magento online store from fraudsters. The module itself is free, and IdentityMind™ offers a very flexible pricing accommodating small and medium business. Payleven Launches Chip and PIN-based Square Clone 10/03/12 Finextra    The payleven system combines an iOS or Android app with a chip and PIN dongle that links to a phone or tablet via Bluetooth, enabling merchants to accept card payments. The start-up claims that by offering a chip and PIN, rather than card swipe, dongle, it is the first on the European continent to "fulfil the high technical and security standards required for a fully-functional mobile point of sale". Merchants in the UK, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Brazil can start registering for the device later this month. Directory of U.S. Merchant Acquirers – Contribute & Stand Out with Complimentary Listing TSG Metrics is in the process of updating and expanding one of our most prevalent reports among payments industry professionals – the Directory of U.S. Merchant Acquirers. Learn More. Click here for survey. This publication provided by TSG will serve to: Recognize high growth potential ISOs/MSPs Supply third-party validation/industry credibility Enhance valuations and exit strategy potential Understand the competitive positions of ISOs/MSPs within the marketplace Incentives to Participate:                                                      Participants will receive a one-page synopsis comparing their data against all other participants, along with an overall ranking High-growth ISOs will receive recognition in the form of a ‘TSG Emerging ISO of 2012’ emblem for placement on the participants’ website and other marketing materials. A significant discount, gaining access to the report for $950 (normally $2,900) One participant, selected randomly, will receive a complimentary copy of TSG’s Directory.