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July 15th, 2011
Edition #261
New to NewsFilter? Click here to subscribe. In this Issue In Other News This Day in History 1971 Nixon announces visit to communist China During a live television and radio broadcast, President Richard Nixon stuns the nation by announcing that he will visit communist China the following year. The statement marked a dramatic turning point in U.S.-China relations, as well as a major shift in American foreign policy. Nixon was not always so eager to reach out to China. Since the Communists came to power in China in 1949, Nixon had been one of the most vociferous critics of American efforts to establish diplomatic relations with the Chinese. His political reputation was built on being strongly anti-communist, and he was a major figure in the post-World War II Red Scare, during which the U.S. government launched massive investigations into possible communist subversion in America. Click here to read more.
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Blaming the Fed’s Durbin Rule, Tempo Payments Prepares to Shut Down 7/12/11 ATM Marketplace Digital Transactions reports that Tempo Payments Inc., a leading company in the decoupled debit card niche, is going out of business, blaming the Federal Reserve Board’s new debit card regulations. The company claims the new rules will cut its revenues in half. “We are a casualty of the Durbin Amendment,” said Mike Grossman, chief executive, Tempo Payments Inc. “It’s very frustrating. We were clearly on a path to significant success.” Grossman said the company has laid off 15 of its 25 employees, and the rest will be let go in the next few months. Payment Processor Vantiv (FTPS) Plans IPO 
7/14/11 Columbus Business First Vantiv LLC, a large U.S. payment processor, is planning to file for an initial public offering later this year that could value the company at as much as $4.5 billion, people familiar with the matter said. Jointly owned by buyout firm Advent International and Fifth Third Bancorp, Cincinnati-based Vantiv hopes to raise between $750 million and $1 billion through an IPO, and has been interviewing banks in recent days, the people said. The exact amount is likely to change at the time of filing. Interchange Fee Standards: Small Issuer Exemption 7/12/11 Federal Reserve To facilitate compliance with the debit card interchange fee standards in the Board’s Regulation II, 12 CFR part 235 (which implements section 920 of the Electronic Fund Transfer Act), the Board is publishing two lists of institutions using data available to the Board. These lists are intended to help payment card networks and others determine which issuers qualify for the statutory exemption from interchange fee standards.1 The statute exempts any debit card issuer that, together with its affiliates, has assets of less than $10 billion. In a Surprising Twist, Reloadable Prepaid Not As Durbin-Proof As Originally Thought 7/12/11 Digital Transactions Reloadable general-purpose prepaid cards, once thought to be largely exempt from the debit card interchange restrictions of the Durbin Amendment, will be covered by that law in more cases now that the Federal Reserve has issued its final rule interpreting the amendment. Some experts see the new rule crimping growth for reloadable cards branded by Visa or MasterCard, a segment that has picked up steam in recent years. “Given this change, the opportunity for new growth at the expense of debit card companies has been significantly curtailed,” says Madeline K. Shoppers to Feel Effects of Debit-Fee Ruling 7/11/11 The Sacramento Bee Consumers can expect repercussions. "The banks, any time they lose income, we eventually pay for it," said Bill Hardekopf, chief executive of LowCards.com, a credit card comparison website. Debit and credit cards both have interchange fees, but the new rule applies only to debit cards - the plastic of choice among consumers. When you swipe a debit card, the merchant pays an average of 44 cents per transaction, according to the Fed. This fee in 2009 generated more than $16 billion in revenue for banks. 7/13/11 Bank Info Security On July 11, the National Credit Union Administration announced the liquidation of Vensure Federal Credit Union of Mesa, Ariz. And although it was the fifth institution to be closed since July 8, such announcements are far less frequent in 2011 than they have been in recent years. Federal regulators won't speculate about how many more financial institutions may close in 2011, but they do say bank and credit union failures aren't expected to exceed what we saw in 2010. Bernanke: No Plans to Add New Stimulus Measures Now 7/14/11 CNBC Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke backed away slightly from promising a third round of stimulus measures, telling a Senate panel Thursday that the central bank "is not prepared at this point to take further action. The comments during his second day of congressional testimony sent the US dollar higher and caused stock to pare their gains. June Retail Sales Edge Up 0.1% 7/14/11 MarketWatch The slight increase in June sales was unexpected. Ahead of the report, economists surveyed by MarketWatch expected sales to fall 0.2%. There were several cross-currents in the data. The increases were heaviest in sales of building materials and department stores. Gasoline sales were a large drag, as was expected, because of the recent decline in prices at the pump. First Data Releases June 2011 SpendTrend 7/12/11 EON First Data Corporation, a global leader in electronic commerce and payment processing, today released its First Data SpendTrend® analysis for the full month of June 2011 compared to June 2010. SpendTrend tracks same-store consumer spending by credit, signature debit, PIN debit, EBT cards and checks at U.S. merchant locations. Year-over-year dollar volume growth increased 8.8% in June, up from May’s 6.6% growth rate. Inflation has driven core prices higher, as June average ticket growth was 2.1%, the largest increase in over a year. 7/14/11 All Things D What's in your wallet? That’s the question I asked some digital money experts, whose job it is to push the creative boundaries on payments.So, having captive reps from some of the key companies — BOKU, BilltoMobile, Intuit and Tapjoy — involved in leading the charge to do away with cash and plastic, I wanted to know what they carried around daily.And — given I was moderating a panel for the MobileBeat 2011 conference, titled “The Likely Winners In Mobile Payments: Carriers, PayPal? EBay’s PayPal Unveils Mobile-to-Mobile Payment System With NFC Technology 7/13/11 Bloomberg EBay's PayPal unit unveiled a service that will let users make payments by tapping their mobile devices together, joining rivals in the market for wireless transactions using near field communication technology. The PayPal mobile application will be available later this summer for Samsung Electronics Co.’s Nexus S phones, based on Google Inc. (GOOG)’s Android operating system. It will be offered more widely as NFC is included in more handsets, Laura Chambers, senior director of PayPal Mobile, said in an interview today. Google's Plan for Mobile and Online Payments Includes Google+
7/13/11 VentureBeat Google’s mobile payment strategy is just getting started, but that doesn’t faze Stephanie Tilenius, the company’s vice president of commerce. “There’s going to be a ton of innovation in mobile payments,” Tilenius said Tuesday at VentureBeat’s MobileBeat 2011 conference in San Francisco. “It’s sort of like 1999 was with e-commerce, with eBay and Amazon. We’re at the beginning of 10 years of innovation and competition,” she said. Mobile Payments Seen As 'Mainstream' for Consumers Within Four Years 7/13/11 Cellular-News As companies race to take advantage of the mass adoption of smartphones and rapid development of new technologies to offer mobile payment services, executives believe the use of a mobile phone or device to make payments or conduct banking transactions will require four years to become widely accepted by consumers, according to a global survey of business executives by KPMG International. Mobile Payments Services Turn CellPhone into Credit Card Readers 7/12/11 IndyStar Coming soon to a garage sale near you: "All major credit cards accepted." Mobile payment services that turn a smartphone into a credit card terminal for easy transactions are popping up across metro Detroit in places ranging from dog food stores to farmers markets. The services could forever change how small merchants — and even Girl Scouts — take payments. PayPal Picks Up Phone Payments Player. Is In-Store the Idea? 7/13/11 StorefrontBacktalk PayPal says it is acquiring Zong for online purchases of digital goods, which is what Zong is used for now. But Zong’s approach is simple enough that it could be used for in-store payments, too—without NFC or smartphones, using existing POS hardware and without payment-card interchange or PCI requirements. Is that what PayPal has in mind? Zong’s process is wonderfully dumb: You give the retailer (online or off) your mobile-phone number. The retailer sends the phone number and sale amount to Zong. First Data Helps Merchants Accept Payments Anywhere their Business Takes Them with VeriFone PAYware Mobile 7/14/11 First Data First Data Corporation, a global leader in electronic commerce and payment processing, and VeriFone Systems, Inc. (NYSE: PAY), today announced that First Data will offer its merchant clients VeriFone’s PAYware Mobile solution through its alliance partners. VeriFone’s PAYware Mobile is a complete payment solution that transforms a smartphone into a secure payment portal; it provides a secure mobile platform to accept electronic payments. First Data Sares Highlights from Q2 2011 Produt Releases 7/11/11 GreenSheet In a continuous effort to keep its customers up to date on the company’s ongoing product innovation, First Data Corporation, a global leader in electronic commerce and payment processing, today shared highlights from its Q2 2011 Product Release. Expanding value through digital commerce and information, First Data’s product solution set has been enhanced with additions to its Information & Analytics Solutions, Prepaid Solutions and Payment Acceptance offerings for merchants. Gemalto Releases the 2011 eBanking Security Guide for U.S. Banks Addressing New FFIEC Regulations 7/13/11 Gemalto Gemalto, the world leader in digital security, today announced the launch of its 2011 eBanking Security Guide. This ten-step guidebook for securing online banking offers North American banks a reliable and strategic solution to meet Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council’s (FFIEC) guidance. Gemalto’s eBanking Security Guide is free of charge and illustrates, step-by-step, how banks best address the new landscape of layered security, risk-based authentication and dynamic transaction verification. Visa Contactless Payments Now Available in Canadian McDonald’s Locations 7/11/11 MyBank Tracker Canadian Visa customers will soon be able to purchase fast food at McDonald’s restaurant locations using their smartphones following the payment processor’s plans to integrate payWave technology at the more than 1,400 of the restaurant’s store locations. The company announced this week that contactless payment technology capabilities were currently available at the restaurant chain’s in-store counters and would be available at drive-thru locations later this summer. WikiLeaks Files Complaint Over Visa & MasterCard 7/14/11 Montreal Gazette WikiLeaks and the Icelandic IT company DataCell filed a formal complaint to the European Commission on Thursday, saying payment companies Visa Europe and MasterCard Inc. violated EU antitrust laws by blocking donations. Visa Europe, which runs the largest card network in the European Union, and MasterCard blocked WikiLeaks from using its network to collect funds from donors in December 2010. Discover® Card Website Finishes First for Best Overall Experience for Prospective Customers 7/14/11 iStockAnalyst Discover today announced it has been awarded first place in Best Overall Customer Experience for prospects in the 2011 Keynote Competitive Research Industry Study of U.S. credit card marketing websites. As part of capturing the top overall customer experience ranking, Discover ranked first in the categories of credit card satisfaction, home page satisfaction, ease of applying online, design and organization, acquisition impact, online adoption and customer satisfaction. Element Payment Services and ThoughtKey Release P2P Encryption White Paper 7/14/11 Element Element Payment Services, the industry leader in PCI compliant payment processing and ThoughtKey, a leading PCI-focused consulting firm, announce the release of a white paper entitled “Point-to-Point Encryption (P2PE): Reduce PCI Scope, Protect Cardholder Data and Preserve Profit.” The white paper, authored by ThoughtKey, compares the benefits and pitfalls of relying solely on payment network segmentation to the robust option of point-to-point encryption. ProPay Appoints Greg Pesci as President & COO 7/11/11 The Paypers US online payments services provider ProPay has appointed Greg Pesci as President and Chief Operating Officer.Prior to joining ProPay in 2006, Greg Pesci served as Associate General Counsel and Senior Vice President of Product Development for Merrick Bank Corporation. Moreover, Pesci served as Counsel in the Patent Division for Procter & Gamble. |
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