ONLINE AND MOBILE PAYMENT SYSTEMS
NFC Data Introduces Encrypted NFC Reader/Writer and Viewer
The anticipated proliferation of Near Field Communication technology has prompted a fledging company to create a device that features contactless functionality consumers would use to make payments, store loyalty cards, and communicate with NFC-enabled smartphones and posters. NFC Data Inc.’s Sqwizz device is a key fob that looks similar to popular small MP3 music players. The front of the device features a light-emitting diode screen and scroll buttons to navigate a menu. The back has a secure PIN pad consumers would use as a security measure to access and use the device’s multiple areas.
Isis outlines US contactless m-payments pilot; Sprint preps rival service. AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile say their mobile commerce joint venture will begin piloting its contactless payments technology in Salt Lake City in early 2012. Meanwhile, Sprint Nextel, which is not part of the JV, hopes to beat its rival telcos to the punch by rolling out a similar service by the end of the year.
The anticipated proliferation of Near Field Communication technology has prompted a fledging company to create a device that features contactless functionality consumers would use to make payments, store loyalty cards, and communicate with NFC-enabled smartphones and posters. NFC Data Inc.’s Sqwizz device is a key fob that looks similar to popular small MP3 music players. The front of the device features a light-emitting diode screen and scroll buttons to navigate a menu. The back has a secure PIN pad consumers would use as a security measure to access and use the device’s multiple areas.
Isis outlines US contactless m-payments pilot; Sprint preps rival service. AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile say their mobile commerce joint venture will begin piloting its contactless payments technology in Salt Lake City in early 2012. Meanwhile, Sprint Nextel, which is not part of the JV, hopes to beat its rival telcos to the punch by rolling out a similar service by the end of the year.
With Payfone, AmEx Bolsters Its Mobile-Payments Initiative. Displaying its newfound mobile-payments fervor for the second time in just over a fortnight, American Express Co. on Wednesday announced it was investing in a startup called Payfone Inc. and would integrate Payfones technology with its new Serve mobile-pay platform. Founded in 2008, New York City-based Payfone uses a consumers mobile-phone number to authorize purchases. Its system potentially could make it easier for AmEx to capture more payment transactions and expand abroad, especially where conventional payment cards are scarce.
Secure Vault Payments Will Go Mobile Later This Year with Bar Codes, Exec Says. The new application will rely on so-called Quick Response (QR) bar codes to interact with users handsets. Users will then be able to pay from their checking accounts using SVP, a system that lets consumers pay billers or merchants by authorizing automated clearing house transactions. Once the user has scanned a QR code for SVP displayed on a bill or on a screen, his handset will take him to an authentication page, says Brierley-Jones. This method mimics the existing SVP flow for e-commerce transactions, in which consumers selecting SVP at checkout are directed to a page where they enter their online-banking credentials and then authorize a transaction they want to do with an online merchant.
Visa Boosts Spending Visibility and Makes Compliance Easier for Businesses. Visa IntelliLink Compliance Management converts commercial card transaction data into information that card program managers at government agencies and private sector enterprises can use to minimize and deter commercial card misuse, such as using cards for personal expenses. A complement to the Visa IntelliLink product suite, this new service gives organizations a more detailed view of commercial payment program data, complementing existing card management and issuer reporting systems for a 360 degree view of commercial payment solution activity.
BANKS AND BANKING
La Caixa introduces contactless ATMs. Instead of inserting their cards in a slot in the ATMs, customers tap their contactless plastic against a reader and enter their PIN.
CREDIT, DEBIT, GIFT & PREPAID CARDS
Bridge2 Solutions Adds Virtual Gift Card Delivery Giftango Selected to Power Solution. Giftango Corporation, a virtual eGift card company, will power virtual gift card delivery for Bridge2 Solutions. Giftango fulfills virtual gift cards through incentive and loyalty channels.
How POS Cash Back on Debit Is Crimping ATM Transaction Growth. The Fed, which asked respondents for data for 2006 to 2009, says point-of-sale debit transactions, both of the signature and PIN variety, grew at a compounded annual rate of 14.8% in the study period. PIN debit, which accounts for the overwhelming majority of cash-back transactions at the point of sale, grew 15.6% to 14.5 billion transactions in 2009. About one in 38 total debit transactions included cash back.
Prepaid Programs Reshape Healthcare. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) does allow health plans to issue payment cards to seniors for the purchase of OTC items at drug and grocery stores, but only if the retailer can identify the eligible items and limit the payment card to those items. Retailers have a significant interest in working with the health plans and in most cases have point-of-sale systems capable of identifying and netting out the eligible products, but until recently no such card solution existed.
E-Gift Cards Breathe Life Into Closed-Loop Market. In recent years, the open loop gift card market has grown swiftly while its closed loop counterpart has been stagnant. Last year, the Mercator Advisory group said the closed loop card market would grow at a compound annual rate of 26.7 percent over three years, but over the past few years that segment has seen only about 1 to 2 percent growth annually.
Wells Fargo to Pilot EMV Chip Technology for International Travelers. Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) is piloting the Visa Smart Card, which includes the traditional magnetic stripe along with EMV chip technology, helping increase card acceptance worldwide. The pilot is the industrys first chip program by a national bank and includes 15,000 Wells Fargo consumer credit card customers who travel internationally.
SECURITY BREACH
Legal eagles present a relatively soft target with troves of valuable corporate intelligence that cyberspies crave. Attackers find law firms an attractive and relatively soft target for gathering the intelligence they want on a new weapons system or software, for example. Firms that represent clients in mergers and acquisitions, or civil litigation, are getting hit, including when their clients are involved with deals involving Chinese companies.
Better Business Bureau Warns Of First Phishing Attacks In Wake Of Epsilon Breach. If you are a customer of one of the companies that had email data stolen, the BBB is warning you to be on the lookout for phishing emails. An email sent from a fake “Chase Bank,” one of the companies whose data was compromised, warns that “your account will be deactivated or deleted if you do not update your profile immediately.” The email instructs you to update your account by clicking on the link provided. “Although the email sounds urgent since it appears to be from your bank, do not click on the link and input your bank account number or social security number.
Phishing email titled ’2011 Recruitment Plan’ hit RSA user inboxes, stole user credentials — but no word on exactly what the attackers grabbed. Turns out the targeted attack that exposed RSA’s SecurID technology started with one of the oldest tricks in the book: a phishing email with an infected attachment, according to new details revealed today by RSA and security analysts.
