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August 3rd, 2012

Edition #315

 

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In this Issue

A Failure For The Contactless Olympics Holds A Warning For Mobile Money
KeyBank Enhances Payments Business
SURVEY: U.S. Merchant Adoption of Contactless Mobile Payment Technology Using NFC
Job Growth Steps Up, But Jobless Rate Rises
Retailers Beat Expectations, Helped by Midpriced Stores
A $9 Million Infusion Has Mobile Payments Startup LevelUp Thinking Big
MWAA Celebrates 10 Years, Chicago-Style
Google Shakes Up Mobile-Wallet Model to Win Bank Partnerships
Amex Knocks Google for Misleading Comments About Its Role in Google Wallet
Integrating Mobile Into In-Store, U.K. Style
Why Is Heartland Immersing Lincoln, Neb., In Marketing?
Smart Card Alliance Forms Cross-Industry EMV Coalition
MasterCard Profit Climbs 15%; Revenue Misses Estimates
First Data Reports Second Quarter 2012 Financial Results
CardSpring Gains New Investors, First Data Partnership, As Its App Platform For Payment Cards Nears Launch
MasterCard Notes Growing Trend in Government Adoption of Electronic Payments as an Alternative to Cash and Checks
Michaels Breach: Fraudsters Sentenced
Underserved in Rural Mexico Gain Financial Access through Mobile Payments
The Future Of Facebook Is Mobile Payments


In Other News

This Day in History 1914

Germany and France declare war on each other

On the afternoon of this day in 1914, two days after declaring war on Russia, Germany declares war on France, moving ahead with a long-held strategy, conceived by the former chief of staff of the German army, Alfred von Schlieffen, for a two-front war against France and Russia. Hours later, France makes its own declaration of war against Germany, readying its troops to move into the provinces of Alsace and Lorraine, which it had forfeited to Germany in the settlement that ended the Franco-Prussian War in 1871.

With Germany officially at war with France and Russia, a conflict originally centered in the tumultuous Balkans region—with the assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife by a Serbian nationalist in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914, and the subsequent standoff between Austria-Hungary, Serbia and Serbia’s powerful Slavic supporter, Russia—had erupted into a full-scale war. Also on August 3, the first wave of German troops assembled on the frontier of neutral Belgium, which in accordance with the Schlieffen Plan would be crossed by German armies on their way to an invasion of France. The day before, Germany had presented Belgium and its sovereign, King Albert, with an ultimatum demanding passage for the German army through its territory. Click here to read more.

 

 

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A Failure For The Contactless Olympics Holds A Warning For Mobile Money

7/31/12 Forbes  Facebook Like Button  Tweet Button

Sunday night, and tens of thousands of Olympic football fans were packed into Wembley Stadium. And they couldn’t pay with their credit or debit card for any refreshments due to issues with the local IT system. Thanks to Visa’s sponsorship of the games  there was no fallback. The majority of cash machines normally present at Wembley had been removed before the Games started, because they were powered by Link, and not Visa. Have a guess how many cash machines are inside Olympic venues this year, to help service the expected 11 million spectators? Eight.

KeyBank Enhances Payments Business

8/01/12 KeyBank  Facebook Like Button  Tweet Button

TSG Advised KeyBank on its Merchant Services' Strategy, Execution, and Agreement

KeyBank N.A., a wholly owned subsidiary of KeyCorp, announced two new strategic actions to further strengthen its consumer and commercial payments businesses. Key entered into an exclusive new arrangement for merchant services with Elavon, Inc. The new arrangement strengthens the more than 14-year relationship with Elavon, while providing Key the opportunity to more fully integrate merchant processing services into its overall payment solutions for business clients.

SURVEY: U.S. Merchant Adoption of Contactless Mobile Payment Technology Using NFC

The Strawhecker Group, in collaboration with the University of Nebraska at Omaha, is conducting a survey to analyze the acceptance of contactless mobile payments, using Near Field Communication (NFC) technology, by U.S. merchants. Upon completion of this study you will be emailed a summary of the final results as an incentive for your participation (if you add your email at the conclusion of the survey).

Follow this link, you will be redirected to take the survey.

Job Growth Steps Up, But Jobless Rate Rises

8/03/12 Reuters  Facebook Like Button  Tweet Button

U.S. employers in July hired the most workers in five months, but an increase in the jobless rate to 8.3 percent could keep prospects of further monetary stimulus from the Federal Reserve on the table. Nonfarm payrolls rose 163,000 last month, the Labor Department said on Friday, snapping three straight months of job gains below 100,000 and offering hope for the ailing economy. "As long as the unemployment rate is high, the central bank will have to consider further stimulus."

Retailers Beat Expectations, Helped by Midpriced Stores

8/02/12 The New York Times  Facebook Like Button  Tweet Button

In July, higher-than-expected sales at low- and midpriced stores helped push sales past analysts’ estimates. Sales at stores open at least a year rose 4.3 percent in July at the 20 stores tracked by Thomson Reuters, well above expectations of a 1.5 percent gain. That is a good sign as retailers head into the important back-to-school months of August and September, said Chris Donnelly, global industry managing director for retail at the consulting firm Accenture.

A $9 Million Infusion Has Mobile Payments Startup LevelUp Thinking Big

8/03/12 Digital Transactions  Facebook Like Button  Tweet Button

Armed with $9 million in new funding, mobile-payments startup LevelUp plans to use the capital infusion to expand its sales force and build out new solutions to improve the merchant experience. Boston-based LevelUp is launching a remote sales team that will sign and service merchants outside the company’s 10 primary markets. Merchants in LevelUp’s primary markets are signed and serviced by the company’s local sales team.

MWAA Celebrates 10 Years, Chicago-Style

8/02/12 The Green Sheet  Facebook Like Button  Tweet Button

As befitting its 10-year anniversary, the Midwest Acquirers Association Conference pulled out all the stops for the 2012 show. Held July 17 to 19, 2012, at the historic Chicago Hilton in downtown Chicago, the MWAA hosted a record 655 attendees and featured 106 vendors. "We had more vendors than we ever had, including a number of new vendors, many new faces and some new companies," MWAA President Donna Ayers said. "We had more room for vendors than we ever had. The rooms were big enough to open up and offer more booth space.

Google Shakes Up Mobile-Wallet Model to Win Bank Partnerships

8/01/12 BTN  Facebook Like Button  Tweet Button

A fresh update to Google's mobile wallet allows users to make payments from any credit or debit card, a move that fundamentally changes the company's approach to working with issuing banks. Until today, Google required banks to partner with it before presenting their cards as an option to consumers within its mobile wallet. At Google Wallet's launch last year, only Citigroup had entered into this type of arrangement, and today Citi remains the only bank partner Google has announced.

Amex Knocks Google for Misleading Comments About Its Role in Google Wallet

8/02/12 AllThingsD  Facebook Like Button  Tweet Button

American Express has not formally agreed to participate in Google Wallet, which is why it was surprised yesterday when Google said it, along with Visa, Discover and MasterCard, were now forms of payment in Google’s mobile payments application. In a blog post, Google announced: “Today we’re releasing a new, cloud-based version of the Google Wallet app that supports all credit and debit cards from Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover.”

Integrating Mobile Into In-Store, U.K. Style

8/01/12 StorefrontBacktalk  Facebook Like Button  Tweet Button

Mobile integration into in-store is fraught with very mundane and pragmatic issues, such as “how should an associate carry around a tablet? It’s too big for a pocket.” One chain, Aurora, has gone so far as to design customized associate satchels just for its iPads. Our media partner, Retail Week, has explored how U.K. retailers have been dealing with these issues. When retailers bank so significantly on in-store connectivity to boost their customers’ experience, considering both usability and the store’s design is vital.

Why Is Heartland Immersing Lincoln, Neb., In Marketing?

7/28/12 ISO & Agent  Facebook Like Button  Tweet Button

Heartland Payment Systems Inc. could have chosen any town in the United States for its “city immersion campaign” marketing push. So, why did it pick Lincoln, Neb.? Well, the choice makes perfect sense based on the Princeton, N.J.-based processor’s criteria. Heartland wanted a market with strong growth potential, and Lincoln fit that criterion because the company’s sales are not as strong there as in some other places, says Moriah Murphy, Heartland director of marketing.

Smart Card Alliance Forms Cross-Industry EMV Coalition

7/31/12 CSNews  Facebook Like Button  Tweet Button

The Smart Card Alliance today announced the formation of the EMV Migration Forum, an independent, cross-industry organization to help join the payments ecosystem together as the United States moves to a new way to pay with EMV chip cards. The Forum will support the alignment of the EMV implementation steps required for global payment networks, regional payment networks, issuers, processors, merchants, and consumers to successfully move from magnetic stripe technology to secure EMV contact and contactless technology in the United States.

MasterCard Profit Climbs 15%; Revenue Misses Estimates

8/01/12 BusinessWeek  Facebook Like Button  Tweet Button

MasterCard Inc., the second-biggest payments network, fell in New York trading after posting quarterly revenue that missed analysts’ estimates as currencies in some overseas markets slid against the U.S. dollar. MasterCard declined 2.1 percent to close at $427.20 after reporting that second-quarter revenue increased by 9 percent to $1.82 billion, less than the $1.88 billion estimated. Sales growth is likely to be slower for the rest of the year amid global economic uncertainty.

First Data Reports Second Quarter 2012 Financial Results

8/01/12 First Data  Facebook Like Button  Tweet Button

First Data Corporation today reported its financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2012. Consolidated revenue for the second quarter was $2.7 billion, down $64 million, or 2%, compared to a year ago on a $92 million decline in debit network fees partially offset by an increase in merchant acquiring revenue. Debit network fees are passed directly to customers and therefore did not impact operating income. Adjusted revenue, which excludes certain items including debit network fees, increased $43 million, or 3% year-over-year to $1.7 billion.

CardSpring Gains New Investors, First Data Partnership, As Its App Platform For Payment Cards Nears Launch

8/01/12 Tech Crunch  Facebook Like Button  Tweet Button

CardSpring, an ambitious payments startup founded by former Netscape engineers, is building a platform that connects web and mobile applications to payment cards. It’s a card-linked payment infrastructure that can work across any bank or card type (Visa, MasterCard, Discover, AmEx, etc.), because it sits in the cloud, and is attached to the payments network directly. This enables developers to build card-linked applications that trigger when a consumer pays by credit or debit card, whether it’s an app delivering coupons, offers, loyalty points or more.

MasterCard Notes Growing Trend in Government Adoption of Electronic Payments as an Alternative to Cash and Checks

8/01/12 BusinessWire  Facebook Like Button  Tweet Button

MasterCard today noted a growing global trend toward governments adopting electronic payments as an alternative to cash and check-based benefit programs. Most recently, the South African Social Security Agency (“SASSA”) distributed more than 2.5 million debit cards to social grant recipients across the country with a target of 10 million cards by March 2013. South Africa joins the United States, Italy, Canada, United Arab Emirates and Romania as the latest examples of governments going paperless as a cost-savings opportunity.

Click here for MasterCard's infographic

Michaels Breach: Fraudsters Sentenced

7/30/12 Bank Info Security  Facebook Like Button  Tweet Button

Two men were sentenced this week in connection with fraudulent transactions they made with compromised debit cards tied to the Michaels point-of-sale breach. In 2011, banking institutions reported tens of thousands of fraudulent transactions linked to consumers who had visited Michaels craft stores that were affected by the breach. POS and PIN-entry devices at 84 locations in 20 states were later found to have been swapped out with devices manipulated to collect card numbers and PINs. Investigators say 94,000 debit and credit cards were affected by the breach.

Underserved in Rural Mexico Gain Financial Access through Mobile Payments

8/01/12 MasterCard  Facebook Like Button  Tweet Button

“MiFon” is an innovative mobile payments program created to provide access to financial services for consumers in underserved communities in Mexico. This program is the result of a partnership between Banorte, the third largest bank in Mexico and Telecomm Telegrafos, a government entity responsible for providing basic telecommunications and financial services to citizens in rural and underserved communities.

The Future Of Facebook Is Mobile Payments

7/30/12 Seeking Alpha  Facebook Like Button  Tweet Button

Today Facebook has 955M members, and somehow, it manages to make only a dollar or so off of each of them per quarter. That's less than $5 a year, or about 6.25 cents per hour of interaction. The simplest way to monetize Facebook is to forget indirect monetization (advertising) and monetize Facebook directly. Half a billion people are already using Facebook to log onto other sites to comment on articles or register a product. It's the universal log in ID we all use. The leap from there to "Buy With Facebook" is a small one.

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