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Hiring Slowed in August; Jobless Rate Fell to 8.1%

9/07/12 The New York Times

Job growth slowed substantially in August, increasing the political pressure on the White House and strengthening the argument for new action by Federal Reserve policy makers to stimulate the economy when they meet next week. The jobless rate fell to 8.1 percent, from 8.3 percent in July, but economists said that was a sign more unemployed workers were discouraged about the prospect of finding new jobs, rather than an indication new jobs were being created.

On A Mission To Be Mobile Payment Agnostic, LevelUp To Roll Out NFC-Capable Terminals

9/06/12 TechCrunch

As a small startup, the mobile payment space shouldn’t be appealing. Every carrier and credit card company seems to have its own system, the space is fragmented, crowded and no standard for payment mechanisms has emerged. (QR codes, really?) To compete, startups need lots of capital, and then they need hardware. But if it really wants to solve the mobile payments conundrum, LevelUp has to support every method people use to pay with their phones — to be payment agnostic

Google Wallet and LevelUp Tweets Lead to Spat Over Mobile Payments

9/06/12 Fast Company

Oh, it's on ... Twitter. After announcing LevelUp's new NFC-supported hardware and CEO Seth Priebatsch's search for a business model that can simultaneously benefit merchants, consumers, and the company itself, Google exec Mike Dudas, who works on mobile commerce products that include Google Wallet and Google Offers, took to Twitter to offer a skeptic's take on LevelUp's adoption potential, particularly by big businesses.

MasterCard Buys Loyalty Rewards Specialist Truaxis

9/07/12 Finextra

MasterCard has acquired Truaxis, a US firm that provides credit and debit card-linked offers to consumers through merchants and banks. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. MasterCard says that integrating the platform with its own network will allow for real-time offer delivery coupled with advanced analytics to ensure consumers get more meaningful deals, merchants gain efficiencies in driving sales and financial institutions build greater loyalty with customers.

ISOs Advised to Move Up Their M-Payments Schedule

9/05/12 ISO & Agent

Now's the time for independent sales organizations to start offering mobile-payments options to their merchant customers, according to industry observers. Too many are delaying their entry into mobile because they don't know which technology to use. Mobile wallets can be built on Near Field Communication chips or on software-based systems like bar codes and the cloud. If you wait to figure out who the winner is, it's all going to pass you by," says Steve McRae, CEO of Merchant360.

Weighing Prepaid Cards vs. Checking Accounts

9/06/12 Bucks

Prepaid cards can be a better deal than checking accounts for some people, but the cards need more consumer safeguards, a new report from Pew. The report divides consumers into three types in terms of their banking expertise: “savvy,” who use direct deposit and avoid fees whenever possible; “basic,” who aren’t as proficient at avoiding fees and have at least one overdraft fee a month; and “inexperienced,” who make heavy use of services but typically pay two overdraft fees a month.

Durbin Effects Manageable So Far for Small Banks—But Worse Is Expected

9/06/12 Digital Transactions

Now that the Durbin Amendment’s debit card interchange caps have been in effect for nearly a year, enough time has passed for community banks and credit unions to start to determine the impact, if any, the price ceilings have had on their income. Based on conversations Digital Transactions News has had with small-bank executives, the effect so far has been manageable—but a bigger impact is expected.

Higher Fees on Bank Accounts are Costing Americans Up to $144/Year and Pushing Households out of Mainstream Banking

9/05/12 The Sacramento Bee

The five big banks have instituted new fees that cost the average American anywhere from $84 to $144 a year just to maintain a bank account, according to a new report from the California Reinvestment Coalition released today. The high cost of these basic banking products is pushing people out of mainstream banking and damaging their financial security. By making the costs harder to avoid, banks are hoping that customers opt for prepaid cards, which are exempt from the "swipe fee" (or "interchange fee") limits that were enacted.

Boy Scouts Use Sail Mobile Card Reader to Boost Sales

9/04/12 BTN

The Dan Beard Council of the Boy Scouts of America has begun using a mobile card reader from VeriFone (PAY) in its Annual Popcorn Sale, proving that there are more ways to pay for popcorn than just with cash. The scouts will be taking payments with Sail, VeriFone's product that competes with the popular Square mobile card reader. The council, which is based in Cincinnati, is the administrative body for scouts in troops located in southern Ohio and northern Kentucky.

When Will Your Smartphone Really Replace Your Wallet?

9/05/12 Wired

NFC. The iPhone 5 and Passbook. Google Wallet. Square. PayPal. Every day brings news of new developments in mobile payments and mobile-pass technology. So when can we finally get rid of our wallets? Not for a long time, unfortunately — at least a decade. Even if your current smartphone is technologically capable of handling payments, passes and membership cards, and IDs, the real infrastructure will take up to a decade to get fully sorted out.

Acculynk Announces Acquisition of PayLeap Gateway and Merchant Services

9/04/12 Acculynk

Acculynk announced it has acquired PayLeap, a leading e-commerce payment gateway platform/merchant services ISO, to form Acculynk Direct, a new operating division of Acculynk. Widespread adoption of Internet PIN debit through Acculynk’s PaySecure® online PIN pad, along with increasing use of PIN debit by consumers, paves the way for the launch of Acculynk Direct, the industry’s first acquirer with the ability to offer Internet PIN debit to small and mid-market merchants.

VeriFone Reports Results for the Third Quarter of Fiscal 2012

9/05/12 VeriFone

"We are very proud of our performance in Q3. Despite continued volatility around exchange rates, our business remains vibrant in all geographies," said Douglas G. Bergeron, Chief Executive Officer. "In the U.S., growth accelerated as we saw the beginnings of the adoption of EMV-based systems and the first significant payments services deals in the quarter. We are excited about our prospects for 2013 and beyond."

Revel Touch Powers Oriental Trading Tablet Experience

9/04/12 The Green Sheet

Revel Touch, a technology innovator in mobile ecommerce, today announced that the Oriental Trading Company iPad app is immediately available to shoppers through iTunes here. Built on the Revel Touch platform, this new tablet experience brings the entire Oriental Trading Company product line beautifully to life on the iPad, and offers the ability to search and browse the company's more than 40,000 products to give customers the robust e-commerce experience they expect.

What the Mobile Payment Craze is Really About: Coupons!

9/04/12 CNET

Your smartphone is going to get more adept at handling money, but maybe not in quite the way you've been imagining it would. There's been a lot of talk lately about mobile payments and how new apps or NFC technology will let you pay for things with your smartphone. But the truth is that this market is less about finding a new way for you to pay for things and more about offering you an easier way to carry and redeem coupons and special offers.

Pointing to the Future: Biometrics Crucial for Data Protection

9/04/12 Portals and Rails

Experts are escalating their call for aggressive measures to improve customer authentication as phishers, malware authors, and other criminals develop increasingly complex schemes to gain access to personal credentials. As we discussed in a previous post, the use of biometrics is gaining more attention as technological advances are bringing low-cost, high-quality solutions.

FT Partners Advises Fleet One on its $369mm Cash Sale to Wright Express

9/05/12 FT Partners

FT Partners is pleased to announce the completion of another highly successful transaction in the payments and financial technology sector, serving as sole strategic and financial advisor to Fleet One on its $369mm cash sale to Wright Express Corporation (“Wright Express”).

Higher Fees for Foreign Business Trips? Bank on It.

9/01/12 The Business Journals

You're going to hear a lot from the presidential candidates in the next two months about strengthening America's ability to compete overseas. What you won't hear is any recognition that overseas business travel is one of the costliest and most-annoying stretches of life on the road. And then there are the banks. Use your credit card to make a payment overseas and you'll be dinged with a "foreign currency transaction" fee that'll add as much as 3 percent to the cost of your goods and services. Choose to pay cash instead and the banks will hit you with a 3 percent charge for the right to use your ATM card overseas.

PCI Scoping Toolkit: Where QSAs Fear To Tread?

9/04/12 StorefrontBacktalk

Sometimes, interesting developments in PCI come from places other than the card brands or the PCI Council. That is the case with the recent release of the Open PCI Scoping Toolkit. The Toolkit offers a thoughtful approach to scoping a PCI compliance assessment that every merchant—and every QSA—should read and consider.

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.