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One Year Later Consumers Not Benefiting from Durbin Price Control Regulation

9/28/12 Business Wire

October 1 marks the one-year anniversary of the Durbin amendment and a year later, as predicted by economists, academics and analysts, new research shows that retailers continue to hold on to the $8 billion windfall they received from Congress, without passing those savings along to consumers. Despite retailer promises of lower prices, consumers paid on average 1.5 percent more after the implementation of the Durbin amendment, according to the analysis.

Checking Fees Rise to Record Highs in 2012

9/25/12 Bankrate

The banking industry finds itself in the middle of a fee-for-all. In Bankrate's 2012 Checking Survey, almost every checking fee we follow went up, with some bank fees rising 25 percent or more. What's behind the jump in all these fees? In part, it's the banking industry's response to recent regulations limiting consumer overdraft fees and to new rules capping the cost of debit card swipe fees for U.S. retailers, says Eben Jose, an industry research analyst with IBISWorld. "That had a drastic kind of an effect on their revenue for retail banking," Jose says. "They need to find a way to make up for these fees in other ways."

Retailers Prepare To Argue for a Rewrite of Debit Rules While Durbin Spars With Bankers

9/26/12 Digital Transactions

You’d almost think it was 2010 all over again, given the current fights about the Durbin Amendment, the section of that year’s Dodd-Frank Act that regulates debit card interchange and transaction routing. Oral arguments are set for Oct. 3 in a retailer lawsuit that seeks to have a court order the Federal Reserve Board to start afresh in devising regulations for implementing the controversial amendment’s provisions because the Fed allegedly did not follow the amendment’s dictates in setting the debit card rules now in place.

NRA Speaks Out Against Proposed Swipe Fee Antitrust Settlement

9/25/12 Rmgt

The National Restaurant Association (NRA) issued the following statement, expressing opposition to the terms contained within a proposed swipe fee antitrust settlement. “After careful and deliberative considerations, the National Restaurant Association Board of Directors’ Executive Committee decided unanimously to reject the proposed settlement agreement on interchange swipe fees,” says Dawn Sweeney, president and CEO of the NRA. “There is strong concern that the proposed settlement agreement will not achieve the litigation’s most critical goal—to fundamentally change a broken marketplace in which swipe fees are set.

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.

Payments Industry Holds Steady

9/27/12 GreenSheet

The latest U.S. Economic Indicators Report, published jointly by The Strawhecker Group and the Electronic Transactions Association, showed continued resilience in the payments industry compared with the overall economy, which remained relatively flat, with the exception of certain vertical markets. According to Mike Strawhecker, Vice President and Director of TSG Metrics for The Strawhecker Group, one of the leading factors affecting long-term growth in the payments industry is the fact that more of the nation's 27 million small business owners are migrating to electronic payments as an option, especially within the last 18 to 24 months.

Urban Outfitters Says It Will Never Buy Another Cash Register Again — All Sales Will Be Done On iPods And iPads

9/27/12 BusinessInsider

Retailer Urban Outfitters had its first ever annual analyst day today. You can listen to the whole presentation here, but about halfway through CIO Calvin Hollinger makes some interesting comments about the future of POS systems in retail. Specifically, the company is going all Apple devices for its stores. Sales people will have iPod touches, and cash registers are being phased out in favor of iPads on a swivel.

Cyber Attacks on U.S. Banks Expose Tech Vulnerability

9/28/12 BusinessWeek

Cyber attacks on the biggest U.S. banks, including JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) and Wells Fargo (WFC) & Co., have breached some of the nation’s most advanced computer defenses and exposed the vulnerability of its infrastructure, said cybersecurity specialists tracking the assaults. The attack, which a U.S. official yesterday said was waged by a still-unidentified group outside the country, flooded bank websites with traffic, rendering them unavailable to consumers and disrupting transactions for hours at a time.

ISOs Doomed Unless They Change, Speakers Say

9/27/12 ISO&Agent

Some new entrants to the acquiring business got a full report Wednesday on the perils that lie ahead in their chosen field. About half the crowd at the Field Guide for ISOs sessions at the Western States Acquirers Association 2012 Conference raised their hands when asked if they were attending their first industry meeting. Having established much of the audience’s rookie status, the session’s speakers proceeded to explain how the rapid pace of change in payments will drive most of their companies out of the industry in the next few years.

Banker by Day, NFL Replacement Ref by Night

9/25/12 American Banker

The ensuing disaster, including missed or blown calls and general mayhem on the field, has left football fans across the country wondering, "Where the hell did they find these guys?" The answer: from the Lingerie Football league, New Orleans Saints fan clubs, the real estate industry … and Bank of America. The official at the center of perhaps the most controversial call of the season is in fact a vice president for small-business banking at B of A in California.

ETA Announces Selection of Two Vice Chairs for Mobile Payments Committee, Will Hold Kick-Off Session at SLF

9/25/12 The Miami Herald

The Electronic Transactions Association, the trade association of the global electronic payments industry, today announced the selection of two vice chairs for the ETA Mobile Payments Committee. Kevin McKeand, Vice President, Strategic Partnerships and Major Account Development, Tabbedout, will chair the Best Practices sub-committee. John Mavraides, Vice President, Partnerships and Strategy, BilltoMobile, will chair the Education sub-committee.

New Person-to-Person Payment Methods: Have Checks Met Their Match?

9/27/12 KC Fed

During the last decade, both demand-side and supply-side factors have contributed to a surge in new methods of making P2P payments. On the demand side, the driving factors have been the emergence of new forums for commerce such as online auctions and the increasing desire by consumers to monitor and control payments. On the supply side, the main factors have been technological advancements such as faster Internet speeds, increased computing power and smartphones.

Will Biometrics Kick Passwords to the Curb?

9/26/12 BTN

Given the vulnerability of usernames/passwords new authentication techniques are advancing quickly, such as biometrics and tools that take advantage of technology already existing in newer mobile phones, tablets and laptops. Researchers at Intel, for example, have developed new mobile tech that combines software with a biometric sensor that recognizes the vein patterns on a person's palm, allowing access to banking sites, social networks and other account-based services.

Former Yahoo CEO And PayPal President Scott Thompson Joins Data-Focused Merchant Lender Kabbage’s Board

9/27/12 TechCrunch

Kabbage, which provides working capital to online merchants, is announcing that Scott Thompson, CEO of ShopRunner, former President of PayPal, and former Yahoo CEO is joining its board of directors. Considering Thompson’s experience in the payments and financial services world, this is a big win for Kabbage. Thompson is currently the CEO of ShopRunner, a shopping network that offers an Amazon Prime-like service to merchants.

American Express Integrates with Apple Passbook to Get Local Business Reviews

9/24/12 SFGate

5StarControl has issued an announcement about the new integration of American Express with the Apple Passbook mobile wallet application as a way to get local business reviews by users. 5StarControl wrote that local businesses may blossom with the American Express move be compatible with Apple Passbook, and that it could become a future competitor to Yelp in the user review market.

ROAM Data Appoints New CEO

9/26/12 Roam Data

As detailed in a recent announcement from ROAM Data, Inc., an Ingenico company and the leading mCommerce Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) provider has appointed Ken Paull as Chief Executive Officer. As part of an accelerated focus on mobile payments, and in order to meet the challenges of this rapidly growing market, Ingenico decided to strengthen ROAM Data’s management team with the appointment of Ken Paull as CEO.

Digital River to Acquire LML Payment Systems

9/24/12 Yahoo! Finance

Digital River, Inc., the revenue growth experts in global cloud commerce, and LML Payment Systems Inc., a leading provider of electronic payment processing, risk management and authentication services, announced the signing of a definitive agreement whereby Digital River will acquire LML Payment Systems Inc. in an all cash transaction valued at U.S. $3.45 per share, or an aggregate purchase price of approximately U.S. $102.8 million.

Sage Introduces a Secure, Browser-Based Payment Terminal With Dynamic Couponing and Messaging Capabilities

9/25/12 Marketwire

Sage North America announced the Sage Exchange secure, integrated PA-DSS-certified payments platform now connects to the iCT 220 point-of-sale (POS) terminal from Ingenico, the leading worldwide provider of payment devices and services. This connectivity allows small and midsized businesses (SMBs) using Sage Exchange and Ingenico iCT 220 terminals to securely process credit and debit card payments, as well as take advantage of new dynamic coupon and messaging features.

LevelUp Lets Merchants 'White Label' Own Mobile Payment App

9/26/12 BostInno

Interesting news from LevelUp today. The company is now offering businesses the option of white label mobile payment apps, so those clients can engage customers through a branded payment experience. This will take the form both of LevelUp designed apps as well as a SDK for businesses to integrate LevelUp into their existing apps.

PayTrace, First Data North Partner

9/25/12 The GreenSheet

PayTrace, a leading payment gateway and virtual terminal provider, announces the roll-out of transaction processing capabilities on the First Data North processing network. Integration and certification has been completed on First Data North for all of PayTrace’s functionality, including: Moto, E-Commerce, Retail, Recurring Billing, and Level II and III data processing.

Smart Card Alliance Outlines U.S. Move to Chip-based Payments with EMV Roadmap White Paper

9/24/12 Smart Card Alliance

The Smart Card Alliance Payments Council has re-released an updated educational white paper, “Card Payments Roadmap in the United States: How Will EMV Impact the Future Payments Infrastructure?” with new information for 2012. The white paper aims to educate stakeholders–issuers, merchants, acquirers/processors, and suppliers of hardware, software, and support services–about the critical aspects of deploying an EMV solution in their unique business environments.

U.S. Regulators Order Discover to Pay $214 Million to End Probe

9/24/12 Nasdaq

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau expects to take more actions against banks over the marketing and sale of credit-card add-on products following enforcement actions filed recently against Capital One Financial Corp. (COF) and Discover Financial Services (DFS) over similar issues.

Microsoft Demos Windows Phone 8 Mobile Wallet

9/24/12 NFC World

John Skovron, group program manager for Windows Phone 8, showed off the capabilities of the software giant's new NFC-enabled walle last week and explained how the technology could help Microsoft gain mobile phone market share. "While I'm not the biggest phone operating system, we are the biggest computer operating system," the group product manager for Windows Phone 8 told attendees. "It's not just a phone with 2% market share. It's Windows."

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.