Mobile Payment Industry News: 12/16/09

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

BofA's "Add It Up" Press Release

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Dec. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- This holiday season, consumers have taken a price-conscious approach to shopping with a strong appetite for deals both online and in store. Bank of America's Add It Up® shopping cash-back program has resonated with many of these consumers who are looking to secure competitive deals and up to 20 percent cash back on their online purchases.

Michelle Madhok, online shopping expert and founder of SheFinds.com and MomFinds.com, says, "A no-brainer for saving during a big shopping season is to shop through a cash-back program like Bank of America's Add It Up, which can be combined with other promotions, such as free shipping, at numerous online retailers."

The Add It Up program enables Bank of America customers with a credit or debit card to shop with top brand names including Walmart.com, BestBuy.com and Sears.com through a secure online shopping Web site. Customers can now shop at more than 400 retailers as the number of participating online retailers has continued to increase since the launch of the program. In addition, over one million registered users have signed on and can earn cash rewards to their checking or credit card accounts.

"We are happy to have helped hundreds of thousands of customers save on their online purchases this holiday season," said David Owen, Consumer and Small Business Checking and Debit executive for Bank of America. "As the program continues to evolve, Bank of America has added new features so that customers can effortlessly shop and track cash back earnings on their profiles."

Enhanced features of the Add It Up program include:

Product Search – Find great deals fast. Compare prices and cash-back offers from nearly 400 participating retailers.

My Favorites – Customize this page for quick access to favorite retailer's most up-to-date offers.

E-mail Alerts – Subscribe to e-mail alerts to hear about the latest deals and exclusive offers.

In addition to these enhanced features, there are opportunities to take advantage of double-cash-back offers with select retailers, as well as retailer discounts that may be available, and combine them with other Bank of America programs such as Keep the Change® and Power Rewards® for extra savings potential.

For more information on Add It Up(1) and additional current Bank of America offers, consumers may visit http://www.bankofamerica.com.

Bank of America

Bank of America is one of the world's largest financial institutions, serving individual consumers, small- and middle-market businesses and large corporations with a full range of banking, investing, asset management and other financial and risk management products and services. The company provides unmatched convenience in the United States, serving approximately 53 million consumer and small business relationships with 6,000 retail banking offices, more than 18,000 ATMs and award-winning online banking with more than 29 million active users. Bank of America is among the world's leading wealth management companies and is a global leader in corporate and investment banking and trading across a broad range of asset classes serving corporations, governments, institutions and individuals around the world. Bank of America offers industry-leading support to more than 4 million small business owners through a suite of innovative, easy-to-use online products and services. The company serves clients in more than 150 countries. Bank of America Corporation stock (NYSE: BAC) is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

www.bankofamerica.com

(1) Participating retailers and offers are subject to change. You must have either a Bank of America check card or credit card and be enrolled in online banking to be eligible for participation in the program. Redemption of accrued cash back rebates occurs in accordance with program Terms and Conditions, generally monthly when a minimum of $5.00 cash back has been earned. Program is not available to online banking customers in WA or ID and select military bank customers. Select MyExpression™ credit cards, co-brand check cards, business credit cards and other accounts are not eligible for participation in the program. Additional restrictions may apply. Bank of America and the Bank of America logo are registered trademarks of Bank of America Corporation. All other company and product names and logos are the property of their respective entities and their use does not imply endorsement of or an association with the Add It Up program. For complete details, see Terms and Conditions at www.bankofamerica.com/additup.

SOURCE Bank of America

FTC Files Antitrust Case Against Intel

By STEVE LOHR Published: December 16, 2009 - New York Times

FTC Accuses Intel of Trying to Stifle Competition

The Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday sued the chip maker Intel, accusing it of using its dominant market position “to stifle competition and strengthen its monopoly.

In its complaint, the F.T.C. accused the chip maker of a systematic campaign to block rivals from selling their microchips by cutting off access to the market. The filing goes beyond charges in cases brought recently by European regulators and the New York state attorney general in focusing on video graphics chips and software in addition to Intel’s core market, the microprocessors that sit at the heart of personal computers. Intel supplies about 80 percent of the PC microprocessor chips worldwide.

Multimedia

Intel's Antitrust History

Video

F.T.C.'s Feinstein on Intel Suit

Complaint (In Re: Intel Corp.)

Year in Review: Banking Trojans

...2009 saw bank malware reach new alarming new levels of sophistication with the Zeus Trojan leading the pack.

This year, banking Trojans and the cybercriminals behind them became adept at man-in-the middle attacks in order to hijack online banking sessions, circumvent two-factor authentication and snatch money in real time.

Zeus -- also called Zbot -- and its many variants have been plaguing the Internet, infecting PCs at a rapid clip and siphoning money from commercial bank accounts. The Clampi Trojan, which uses encryption to hide its tracks, has also spread rapidly and victimized commercial online banking customers and URLzone hijacked bank accounts with techniques designed to evade antifraud systems.

These types of nasty banking Trojans, combined with an infection rate that's 10 times higher than last year and a bad economy in which it's easy to recruit others into fraudulent activity, has created almost a "celestial alignment for cybercriminals," said Uri Rivner, head of new technologies, identity protection and verification at RSA, the security division of EMC Corp.

Evolution from keyloggers

In the past, malicious code designed for banking fraud mostly relied on keyloggers to steal online banking credentials, researchers said. While some keyloggers captured everything in their quest for sensitive data, some captured only keystrokes from Web browser windows with bank names in the titles or words like login, said Marc Fossi, manager of...

Continue Reading about Zeus, Clampi and URLzone at Search Financial Security dot com.

7-Eleven Signs Seven-Year Contract Extension with Heartland Payment Systems

Image via Wikipedia

December 16, 2009 03:00 PM Eastern Time

Nation’s Leading Convenience Store Chain Renews Card-Processing Partnership

PRINCETON, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--7-Eleven®, Inc. has signed a seven-year contract extension with Heartland Payment Systems® (NYSE: HPY), one of the nation’s largest payments processors. Under the extension to the current contract, Heartland will continue authorizing and settling credit and debit card transactions for more than 5,800 7-Eleven-branded convenience stores nationwide.

“Over the past two years, 7-Eleven has realized the benefits of Heartland’s efficient, state-of-the-art card processing capabilities – and importantly, its responsive service,” said David Seltzer, 7-Eleven’s vice president and treasurer. “Heartland professionals are available whenever we need assistance, and their knowledge of the convenience and petroleum industries is critical for our operations and delivery of superior shopping experiences for our customers.”

Bob Carr, Heartland’s chairman and chief executive officer, added, “7-Eleven is the nation’s ultimate main street merchant, bringing convenience and value to the lives of millions of consumers. 7-Eleven’s customers expect the convenience of quick and accurate card transactions. We are pleased to continue supporting this industry leader and its customer-centric approach.”

Headquartered in Dallas, 7-Eleven is the largest chain of retail convenience stores. The company operates, franchises and licenses some 8,000 stores in North America.

For more information about 7-Eleven, visit 7-Eleven.com.

For more information about Heartland, visit HeartlandPaymentSystems.com.

About 7 Eleven, Inc.

7 Eleven, Inc. is the premier name and largest chain in the convenience retailing industry. Based in Dallas, Texas, 7-Eleven operates, franchises or licenses some 8,000 7-Eleven stores in North America. Globally, 7-Eleven operates, franchises or licenses more than 37,100 stores in 16 countries. During 2008, 7-Eleven stores worldwide generated total sales of more than $53.7 billion. 7-Eleven has been honored by a number of companies and organizations recently. Accolades include: #3 in Forbes magazine’s Top 20 Franchises to Start, #3 among Top 100 Global Franchises by Franchise Direct, #3 in Store Growth by Convenience Store News, #2 in Franchise Times Top 200 Franchise Companies and #29 among Top 100 Chains in Food Service. In addition, Hispanic Magazine’s named 7-Eleven in its Hispanic Corporate Top 100 Companies that provide the most opportunities to Hispanics. 7-Eleven recently was selected by three diversity publications as a company offering the best career and franchisee opportunities. 7-Eleven is franchising its stores in the U.S., and is expanding through organic growth, acquisitions and its Business Conversion Program. Find out more online at 7-Eleven.com.

About Heartland Payment Systems

Heartland Payment Systems, Inc. (NYSE: HPY), the 5th largest payments processor in the United States, delivers credit/debit/prepaid card processing, payroll, check management and payments solutions to more than 250,000 business locations nationwide. Heartland is the founding supporter of The Merchant Bill of Rights, a public advocacy initiative that educates merchants about fair credit and debit card processing practices. For more information, please visit HeartlandPaymentSystems.com, MerchantBillOfRights.com, CostOfABurger.com and E3secure.com.

One Time Passwords Aren't Enough - Gartner

Hackers are defeating tough authentication, Gartner warns

One-time passwords, aren't enough to stop cybercrooks from plundering bank accounts

In an article for ComputerWorld, Jaikuman Vijayan reports that OTP's don't cut it. The PIN Payments Blog has made that ascertainment months ago. Advancements in malware, including a real-time keystroke logging program defeats any security offered by One-Time-Password or One-Time-PINs.

By Jaikumar Vijayan

Computerworld - Security measures such as one-time passwords and phone-based user authentication, considered among the most robust forms of security, are no longer enough to protect online banking transactions against fraud, a new report from research firm Gartner Inc. warns.

Increasingly, such measures are overwhelmed by online criminals looking to pillage bank accounts using valid login credentials stolen from customers, the report said.

Going forward, banks need to quickly implement additional layers of security to protect their customers from falling victim to online fraud, said Avivah Litan, Gartner analyst and the report's author. Gartner's warning comes amid a sharp uptick in fraud involving the exploitation of valid online banking credentials...

Continue Reading

Mass. Supreme Court Throws out Lawsuit Against BJs Over '04 Data Breach

Ruling shows difficulty of winning tort actions in data breach cases

Computerworld - The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court affirmed a lower court ruling dismissing a lawsuit brought against BJ's Wholesale Club by dozens of credit unions over a 2004 data breach.

The court held that the credit unions could not seek restitution from BJs on their claims that the wholesaler had breached a third-party contract and had misrepresented facts about its compliance with payment industry security standards.

The ruling last Friday is similar to numerous others that have been handed down by courts in recently and highlights the challenges that plaintiffs face in winning tort actions against companies that suffer massive data breaches.

Just last week, a federal court in New Jersey threw out a shareholder lawsuit against Heartland Payment Systems that disclosed a major data breach in January. The court essentially said that the data breach by itself did not demonstrate Heartland's lack of commitment to maintaining a high level of security.

Continue Reading at ComputerWorld

VeriFone Reports Q4, Fiscal 2009 Results

San Jose, Calif., Dec. 14, 2009 -- VeriFone Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: PAY), the global leader in secure electronic payment solutions, today announced financial results for the three months and fiscal year ended October 31, 2009.

Net revenues for the three months ended October 31, 2009, were $217.8 million, 11% lower than the net revenues of $244.7 million for the comparable period of 2008. Net revenues from VeriFone's International business decreased 14% while net revenues from VeriFone's North America business decreased 6%.

Non-GAAP gross margins were 37.9% for the three months ended October 31, 2009, compared to 34.7% for the comparable period of 2008. GAAP gross margins for the three months ended October 31, 2009 were 34.8%, compared to 30.2% for the three months ended October 31, 2008.

Non-GAAP net income for the three months ended October 31, 2009, was $0.26 per diluted share, compared to $0.19 per diluted share, for the comparable period in 2008.

GAAP net income per share for the three months ended October 31, 2009, was $0.04 per diluted share, compared to GAAP net loss of ($4.35) per diluted share, for the comparable period of fiscal 2008.

Net revenues for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2009, were $844.7 million, 8% lower than the net revenues of $921.9 million for fiscal 2008.

Non-GAAP gross margins were 36.0% for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2009, compared to 35.8% for fiscal 2008. GAAP gross margins for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2009, were 33.4%, compared to 31.8% for fiscal 2008.

Non-GAAP net income for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2009, was $0.85 per diluted share, compared to $0.75 per diluted share for fiscal 2008. GAAP net loss per share for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2009, was $(1.63) per diluted share, compared to $(5.05) per diluted share for fiscal 2008.

“Despite a challenging start, VeriFone completed fiscal 2009 with very good results. In the fourth quarter, non-GAAP net income was up 33% over the prior year and we improved non-GAAP operating margins by 360 basis points. We also generated $75 million of cash from operations in the quarter and increased our cash balances for the year to $325 million, more than double the balance of this time last year,” said Douglas G. Bergeron, Chief Executive Officer. “Our strong earnings, tight management of working capital, specifically through the reduction of $72 million of inventory during the year, and net cash tax receipts significantly contributed to our robust generation of cash.”

“We continue to see a recovery in all of our international markets and some signs of improvement in the domestic marketplace. As evidenced by recent announcements, we continue to lead our industry through product innovation and first-to-market technology,” continued Bergeron.

Guidance – First Quarter and Full Year 2010

For the first quarter ending January 31, 2010, VeriFone expects to record net revenues of between $215 and $218 million. Non-GAAP net income per share is projected to be in the range of $0.22 to $0.23.

For the full year of fiscal 2010, VeriFone expects net revenues to be between $900 million and $915 million. Non-GAAP net income per share is projected to be in the range of $0.97 to $1.07, for the same time period.

Fourth Quarter Highlights

VeriFone announced PAYware Mobile, a complete payment solution for the Apple iPhone that provides small businesses with simple and secure card processing capabilities on the popular smartphone platform. VeriFone’s payment solution for the iPhone (www.paywaremobile.com) puts mainstream payment processing capabilities in the hands of small business merchants who need a mobile card acceptance solution for enterprises such as home repair, small cafes, door-to-door sales, or virtually any other type of business. Transactions processed by PAYware Mobile will be funneled through a VeriFone gateway and then turned over to one of our many processing customers for authorization and settlement.

VeriFone bolstered its end-to-end encryption leadership position this quarter with Chase Paymentech’s announcement of support for VeriShield Protect. In addition, VeriFone announced development of its VeriShield Protect support for both EMV and contactless transactions, making VeriShield Protect the only solution to encrypt all three card data formats with a field preserving end to end encryption scheme. We will start working with beta customers in Europe towards a Spring 2010 release.

About VeriFone Holdings, Inc. (www.verifone.com )VeriFone Holdings, Inc. (“VeriFone”) (NYSE: PAY) is the global leader in secure electronic payment solutions. VeriFone provides expertise, solutions and services that add value to the point of sale with merchant-operated, consumer-facing and self-service payment systems for the financial, retail, hospitality, petroleum, government and healthcare vertical markets. VeriFone solutions are designed to meet the needs of merchants, processors and acquirers in developed and emerging economies worldwide.

Source: Company press release.

InComm and NetSpend Announce Distribution Partnership

Agreement Aims to Bring a New Level of Convenience to the Underbanked and Unbanked Consumer

ATLANTA & AUSTIN--(Press Release)-- InComm, the leader in sales and marketing of prepaid products, and NetSpend, a leading provider of card-based prepaid financial products to underbanked consumers, today announced a distribution agreement that will give many of InComm’s retail partner locations the opportunity to sell and reload the NetSpend general purpose reloadable debit card. InComm — the industry’s largest retail distribution network — will further add to NetSpend’s reload network of 93,000 locations.

“According to the FDIC, more than one quarter of all Americans are either unbanked or underbanked — that’s 60 million people that either have minimal or no access to financial products,” said Dan Henry, CEO of NetSpend. “This agreement with InComm will give these consumers an unprecedented level of convenience with thousands more locations to reload or purchase their NetSpend cards. Simply put, this gives them the ability to more easily and quickly manage their financial lives.”

“We are excited to provide our product expertise and technological innovation to help offer consumers another opportunity to manage their finances — especially in this economy,” said Brooks Smith, InComm President and CEO. “Partnering with NetSpend is an excellent opportunity that reinforces InComm’s commitment to the prepaid industry. By continuing to add the most innovative products and solutions, InComm is able to capitalize on consumer demand to help establish retail partners as prepaid destinations — a partnership which also gives product partners access to the industry’s largest distribution network of big box, pharmacy, grocery, convenience and discount retailers.”

The agreement between InComm and NetSpend will begin immediately.

Prepaid debit cards offer a viable financial alternative for the underbanked and unbanked consumer. Designed as a convenient tool to help cardholders better manage their finances, a prepaid debit card allows only the amount that is pre-deposited on the card to be spent. This feature along with free balance inquiries via text alert and online budgeting tools helps NetSpend cardholders avoid paying their share of the billions of dollars in overdraft fees that traditional banks collect every year. With this most recent announcement, NetSpend cardholders will soon be able to reload their cards at the 93,000 current locations and at the participating InComm retailers. Cardholders also have access to online bill pay, free direct deposit, free card-to-card transfers and online budgeting and spending tools.

About InComm

InComm is the industry leading marketer, distributor and technology innovator of stored-value gift and prepaid products using its state-of-the-art point-of-sale transaction technology and payment solutions to revolutionize retail product sales and customer experiences. With nearly $8 billion in retail sales transactions processed in 2008, InComm is the nation’s largest provider of gift cards, prepaid wireless products, reloadable debit cards, digital music downloads, content, games, software and bill payment solutions. InComm partners with consumer brand leaders around the world to provide more than 150,000 retail locations the products and services their customers demand. Since 1992, InComm's patented technologies have made the buying process easier for consumers while streamlining the selling process for product and retail partners. To learn more about InComm, visit www.incomm.com or call 1-800-352-3084. InComm is headquartered in Atlanta, GA with offices in Japan, Canada, the United Kingdom, Puerto Rico, Colorado, Texas, Florida, New Jersey, Oregon, Arkansas, Alabama and Minnesota.

About NetSpend Corporation

NetSpend Corporation the leading provider of card-based prepaid financial products to underbanked consumers in the United States. A pioneer in the industry since its inception in 1999, NetSpend prepaid debit cards give financial freedom and convenience to the estimated 50 to 100 million underbanked consumers in the United States. NetSpend is the only company in the prepaid debit industry to offer an end-to-end solution for consumers and merchants with a proprietary processing platform, card fulfillment, customer service and risk management capabilities. More information about the company can be found at http://www.netspend.com or by following the company on Facebook or Twitter.

Center for Internet Security Appoints Gilligan

Center for Internet Security (CIS) Appoints John Gilligan as Chairman of the Board to Advance Public-Private Collaboration for IT Security

CIS Community Delivers on Need for Globally Accepted Consensus-Based Security Configuration Standards to Improve Security across Industry and Government

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Center for Internet Security (CIS) today announced that John Gilligan has been elected chairman of the board effective November 3, 2009. Mr. Gilligan is president of the Gilligan Group and a recognized industry expert who brings extensive operational security experience in both public and private sectors to CIS, including federal government positions as Chief Information Officer with the Air Force and the Department of Energy. Among his many industry contributions, Mr. Gilligan has served as a member of the Center for Strategic and International Studies Commission on Cyber Security for the 44^th Presidency and has received numerous leadership awards.

Mr. Gilligan succeeds former chairperson Franklin Reeder, president of The Reeder Group and CIS co-founder, who has led the organization since its inception and who will remain on the board. Newly elected to the CIS board is Karen Evans, partner at KE&T Partners and widely acknowledged for her work as the federal government’s de facto Chief Information Officer; and Phil Venables, managing director and Chief Information Security Officer for Goldman Sachs.

Today’s announcement signifies a transition in board governance that will foster continued public-private collaboration and is reflective of the diverse CIS membership spanning corporate, academic and government sectors.

The call for collaboration between industry and federal government is becoming increasingly vital in order to heighten the security and privacy of Internet-connected systems across all industry sectors and the nation’s critical infrastructure. The Center for Internet Security, now entering its tenth year, distributes benchmarks that are globally accepted as the de facto standard for the secure configuration of information technology systems – and is emerging as a premier model for public-private collaboration by fostering consensus between government, education and industry.

“We founded CIS because we were concerned about the state of cyber security in our highly inter-connected community where threats spread rapidly. We knew the answer was not about creating another institution - it was about creating a collaborative mindset,” said Frank Reeder, co-founder of CIS. “The initial focus for CIS was filling the void for consensus-based security configuration standards to answer two questions: how do I secure my systems and how much is enough security? Software products are often shipped in unsafe mode, but smart users know how to tighten up configurations to reduce exposure. CIS works to discover, synthesize and disseminate this knowledge - as well as augment it with tools to measure and conform to best practices. As a result of CIS standards adoption and market pressure, we are now seeing vendors ship safer products as well as overall safer practices by user organizations.”

Added Reeder, “It’s been a privilege to lead CIS for nine years and see this important initiative come to life, especially with the need for public-private collaboration more pressing than ever. As CIS approaches its second decade, John brings the necessary combination of passion, experience and community dedication to deliver on and extend this CIS mission.”

Other CIS board members include: Alan Paller, co-founder of CIS and research director of the SANS Institute; Ramon Barquin, president of Barquin International; Bruce Molten, vice president of information technology and information security officer for National Grand Bank; Jack Arthur, partner at OCTO Consulting Group and former CIO of the US Forest Service; Clint Kreitner, founding CEO of CIS; and Bert Miuccio, president and CEO of CIS.

“I have been involved in CIS since its inception because of its highly unique collaborative business model. I have witnessed the process in action and CIS is considered the ‘gold’ standard for reducing vulnerabilities, configuring systems and evaluating software purchases,” said Mr. Gilligan.

“The CIS collaborative process results in products that are an order of magnitude better in scope and quality - with only a fraction of the funding of other standards groups. The operating model of CIS fosters effective interaction between government and industry, an essential element of our national cyber security strategy. I look forward to leading CIS and continuing this philosophy,” added Gilligan.

CIS Community Develops 50th Consensus Benchmark and Other Milestones

CIS also announced today that it now has delivered more than 50 consensus security configuration benchmarks for operating systems and software applications as well as network, mobile and print devices. Other milestones include:

1,500 Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) have participated in benchmark development

Over 160 organizations are CIS Members

CIS benchmarks cited in some of the most demanding regulations and industry standards for their prescriptive guidance, including Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) and FISMA

Tens of thousands of users go to the CIS website every year to download benchmarks and other resources; CIS certified software security vendors ship their products with CIS benchmarks to thousands of other organizations worldwide; and CIS licensed consulting members use CIS benchmarks and scoring tools in their clients as well

“Moving forward, CIS will foster collaboration in the areas of greatest security need, including software application security configuration standards for specific market segments that represent the core pillars of the nation’s critical infrastructure - from energy and transportation to banking and healthcare. At the same time, CIS remains committed to maintaining existing benchmarks, advancing development and adoption of consensus security metrics, and continually enhancing the consensus process through automation,” said Bert Miuccio, CEO for CIS.

About CIS

The Center for Internet Security (CIS) is a non-profit organization that helps enterprises reduce the risk of business and e-commerce disruptions resulting from inadequate technical security controls, and provides enterprises with resources for measuring information security status and making rational security investment decisions. CIS develops and distributes consensus based benchmarks for secure configuration of operating systems, software applications and network devices. The consensus security configuration benchmarks are downloaded more than one million times a year, and are globally accepted as user-originated, de facto standards. More than 150 leading corporations, government entities, universities and security organizations are CIS members. For more information, visit www.cisecurity.org.

After 300+ Years, Checks Abolished in Britain

Cheques are likely to be abolished following a vote today to end the 350-year-old means of payment.

The Payments Council is due to decide whether to abolish the national cheque clearing system, a move which would effectively make all cheques redundant. The change would be phased in over several years and completed by 2018.

Continue Reading

Update: 2 minutes ago:

Cheques to be abolished by 2018

Civil Society Media - ‎2 minutes ago‎

Cheques will be phased out as legal tender by the end of 2018, according to a decision made today by the Payments Council Board. The board today announced that it will close the central cheque clearing by 31 October, 2018 in response to the long term and what it called “terminal” decline of the payment form. ...

Britain bounces checks after 300 years

Reuters UK - Elizabeth Fullerton - ‎1 hour ago‎

LONDON (Reuters Life!) - After more than three centuries, the humble check could become a historic relic if British banks, ...

Card Fraud Perps Getting Longer Jail Sentences

Ex-Best Buy employee gets 3 years for fraud

LAS CRUCES - A former Las Cruces Best Buy employee was sentenced to three years in prison Tuesday for defrauding customers.

Amanda Inez Hopkins, 20, (on right) pleaded guilty in October to 10 counts of credit card fraud and receiving stolen property between January and March 2008.

Hopkins was convicted of opening new credit card accounts for customers and using the information to buy more than $20,000 worth of items. The former customer service representative used six customer accounts to purchase big-ticket items, including televisions, computers and iPods.

Best Buy subsequently compensated the customers with gift cards and repaired any damage to their credit reports. The store also instituted new policies to ensure the fraud would not re-occur, according to the Do-a Ana Sheriff's Department.

Chase Paymentech Index Reveals Unique Online Shopping Trends

Internet shopping transactions up sharply, but average ticket size down

DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--With two weeks down and two to go in this peak holiday shopping season, the Chase Paymentech Cyber Holiday Pulse Index continues to provide unique insights about e-commerce shopping trends.

For the first five shopping days following Thanksgiving, online transactions were up 32 percent, and sales were up 24 percent. At the same time, the decline in the average customer’s ticket value was cut in half, from approximately 12 percent to 6 percent. This result is unexpected when considering that this five-day stretch included aggressive Black Friday and Cyber Monday promotions.

Even with the big online retail promotions from Black Friday and Cyber Monday now behind us, e-commerce has continued to grow at a healthy pace vs. last year, and this past week maintained the trends seen in the first days after Thanksgiving. In the second full week of holiday shopping, transactions grew by over 25.3 percent, while sales were up 14.8 percent. Average value per ticket, meanwhile, was still down 5.9 percent, but that decline has narrowed from previous weeks.

“The e-commerce channel is looking stronger than ever this holiday season,” said Mike Duffy, President of Chase Paymentech. “The data coming out of our platform is very encouraging, and we’re looking forward to seeing what happens over the next couple of weeks.”

For the full season, transactions are up 25.3 percent, sales are up 14.7 percent and average tickets are down 8.4 percent.

The Cyber Holiday Pulse Index site (http://pulse.chasepaymentech.com) is updated every business day with data and commentary from Aaron Press, director of Market Analysis for Chase Paymentech, and leading industry experts.

Chase Paymentech processes an estimated more than half of all Internet payment transactions, representing an average of 500 Internet payment transactions per second. As such, Chase Paymentech is uniquely positioned to provide and interpret this valuable e-commerce data for the larger business community. Additionally, Chase Paymentech and Chase Card Services are committed to helping consumers shop online safely and securely.

Gemalto and XIRING Complete the Acquisition by Gemalto of XIRING’s Banking Activity

AMSTERDAM & SURESNES, France

Gemalto (Euronext NL0000400653 - GTO), the world leader in digital security and XIRING, a security solutions provider for remote transactions, today announced that they have completed their exclusive negotiations and signed a binding contract related to the acquisition by Gemalto of the XIRING banking activity for 20 million euros.

XIRING is a pioneer of EMV based strong authentication solutions for e-banking and e-commerce, and has developed in ten years an efficient technology and a competitive range of solutions, with more than 12 millions already deployed in Europe.

The transaction concerns all of the current activities of the banking business unit of XIRING dedicated to EMV based strong authentication solutions for e-banking and e-commerce. The contract includes the transfer of the technical and commercial team and all the associated products, IP and technologies, on December 31, 2009.

The transaction has no impact on XIRING non-banking activities or on other activities of Gemalto.

Olivier PIOU, CEO, Gemalto, comments “XIRING has successfully developed its banking activity to secure online banking and e-commerce. In line with its 2010-2013 strategic plan, Gemalto strengthens here its positioning as a global leader in internet banking and access security solutions.”

Georges Liberman, Chairman and CEO, XIRING, adds “We have started this activity ten years ago with a technological innovation, and the objective to securing internet banking operations. This transaction with Gemalto acknowledges the success of our strategy and our performance. It also confirms our ability to innovate and develop XIRING on new markets. The global footprint of Gemalto, and its performance, will relay the success of this technology on a worldwide basis. XIRING will now focus its efforts to internationalise its healthcare activity and to develop the electronic identity activity, which is positioned on a high-potential market. We will communicate our development plan on January 13, after the 2009 turnover and the 2010 guidance release.”

Magento and GlobalCollect Enter Strategic Partnership To Boost Online Sales

Partnership focused on supporting global sales visions of online merchants through e-payment processing

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands & LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--GlobalCollect, the world’s premier payment service provider for local e-payments and Varien, the Magento company, announce their strategic partnership aimed at empowering online retailers to meet their global sales objectives. The Magento e-commerce platform, developed by Varien, is based on open source technology that provides merchants with high levels of flexibility and control over the user experience, content, and functionality of their e-commerce channel. By joining forces with GlobalCollect, Magento’s clients gain access to an unrivalled portfolio of local, alternative, and international payment methods in over 200 countries and for 170 currencies.

“Our partnership with GlobalCollect certainly allows us to continue to empower retailers’ dreams and visions for growth in a unique way,” said Roy Rubin, CEO of Varien. “GlobalCollect’s flexibility to work with a wide range of currencies and payment methods makes it easy for retailers to focus on the day to day operations of their shop without needing to worry about how to collect and process payments. Any partnership which helps to increase retailers’ efficiency is a partnership worth making.”

The proven correlation between the number of payment options and increased customer conversion rates is compelling retailers to find solutions for accepting multiple types of payment and international currencies. Many e-commerce merchants now offer various preferred payment methods and have begun accepting foreign currencies in order to help turn online browsers into buyers.

Jan Manten, CEO of GlobalCollect, continued: “We are very pleased to partner with Magento, the fastest growing e-commerce platform in the marketplace. Marrying the strength of the Open Source Magento platform with our comprehensive offering as a global Payment Service Provider makes perfect sense as we compliment each others’ core competencies. It will help online merchants across the world to realize their growth objectives and speed up their time to market. ”

About Magento

Magento (www.MagentoCommerce.com) is a feature-rich, professional Open Source eCommerce platform solution that offers merchants complete flexibility and control over the presentation, content, and functionality of their online channel. Magento’s intuitive administration interface features powerful marketing tools, a catalog-management engine and is SEO optimized to give merchants the power to create sites that provide an unrivaled and rich online shopping experience for their customers, tailored to their unique business needs. The groundbreaking Magento platform is the fastest growing eCommerce platform on the market with over 1,000,000+ downloads to date. Designed to be completely scalable and backed by an extensive support network, Magento is the ultimate eCommerce solution.

About GlobalCollect

GlobalCollect is the world's premier Payment Service Provider of local e-payment solutions for international Customer Not-Present (CNP) channels such as internet, mail and telephone orders, and specialized in a wide range of industries such as travel, ticketing, telecommunications, retail, publishing, portals, online gaming, and digital content. While most providers limit their services to a technical link with payment acquirers, GlobalCollect is a full service partner consulting clients on how to increase transaction volumes, expand distribution channels, and reduce costs by streamlining back office processes. Through a single-interface online payment platform, we offer access to an unrivalled portfolio of local and international payment methods in over 200 countries, including all major credit and debit cards, direct debits, bank transfers, real-time bank transfers, eWallets, cash at outlets, prepaid methods, checks, and invoices. www.globalcollect.com

HomeATM's Real Time P2P is Unique

HomeATM provides the only real-time, any bankcard to any bankcard P2P money transfer program in the world. Sure, Paypal can do it from one "Paypal Debit card to another," but HomeATM can do it from "any bankcard" 2 "any bankcard"

Sure, there's a couple who can conduct a P2P transfer and have the money transferred as "soon as the next day." but HomeATM does it in real-time.

Enter the amount you want to send, swipe your card, (enter PIN if applicable) and click "send." The recipient gets an email or SMS message on their phone saying you sent them money.

They click the email, swipe their card and enter their PIN (if applicable) and the money transfers in real-time. (meaning they could literally be standing at an ATM and withdraw it.)

P2P, as its been dubbed, allows you to electronically send money from your online checking account to any checking or savings account at any bank in the country. (typically it uses the ACH system and takes 1-3 business days)

This eliminates the cost of using a wire transfer or making someone wait for a check to arrive in the mail and then run to the bank with it. If, for example, your college student needs money right now, the cash can be in his or her account in the time it takes to send it, which with HomeATM, is literally seconds.

HomeATM can make the deposit via email and neither party ever needs or sees the other’s account information.

You can also use this service to move money from your online account to a checking or savings account at another bank.