EFTPOS Strikes First Major Blow to V/MC with Woolworths Deal

Woolworths dumps Visa, MasterCard debit



By Liz Tay: Apr 1, 2010 11:30 AM

Move to EFTPOS to save “millions”.



According to CRN (Australia) "Woolworths has announced that it would no longer accept payments through the Visa Debit and Debit MasterCard networks."

From 15 April, the change would be introduced progressively across Woolworths Group stores, including Big W, BWS, Dan Murphy's, Dick Smith, Tandy, Thomas Dux and ALH, as well as Woolworths and Safeway supermarkets, liquor stores and petrol outlets.  The move would require customers with the so-called 'scheme debit' cards to use the card's cheque or savings option, instead of credit, to access their funds at check-out counters.  By routing debit transactions through EFTPOS rather than Visa and MasterCard, Woolworths hoped to lower its fees and cost pressures from banks.  A Woolworths spokesperson told CRN that savings would be "in the millions".

Continue Reading 

EFTPOS Strikes First Major Blow to V/MC with Woolworths Deal

Woolworths dumps Visa, MasterCard debit



By Liz Tay: Apr 1, 2010 11:30 AM

Move to EFTPOS to save “millions”.



According to CRN (Australia) "Woolworths has announced that it would no longer accept payments through the Visa Debit and Debit MasterCard networks."

From 15 April, the change would be introduced progressively across Woolworths Group stores, including Big W, BWS, Dan Murphy's, Dick Smith, Tandy, Thomas Dux and ALH, as well as Woolworths and Safeway supermarkets, liquor stores and petrol outlets.  The move would require customers with the so-called 'scheme debit' cards to use the card's cheque or savings option, instead of credit, to access their funds at check-out counters.  By routing debit transactions through EFTPOS rather than Visa and MasterCard, Woolworths hoped to lower its fees and cost pressures from banks.  A Woolworths spokesperson told CRN that savings would be "in the millions".

Continue Reading 

The Indian Payment Card Market Forecast to 2012

Research and Markets: An Extensive Research and Conceptual Analysis of The Indian Payment Card Market Forecast to 2012

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/52a195/indian_payment_car) has announced the addition of the "Indian Payment Card Market Forecast to 2012" report to their offering.

“Indian Payment Card Market Forecast to 2012.”

With the continuous rise in middle class households and the shift in consumer spending pattern, the Indian payment card market, which includes both credit cards and debit cards, has been growing rapidly in the recent years. This huge demand for payment cards is providing tremendous growth opportunities for card issuers, suppliers and manufacturers, according to this new research report "Indian Payment Card Market Forecast to 2012."

The publisher has found that the number of debit cards issued by banks grew at a CAGR of around 40% between FY 2006 and FY 2009, and anticipate that the future prospects of the industry will remain buoyant, owing to low payment card penetration coupled with surge in card spending due to rising income levels of the Indian population. Moreover, consumers preference to the use of cards over cash will boost due to its safety and easy access. Besides, there are many other benefits, like reward points and discounts, offered by merchants as well as bankers, which will lure customers to shop by their payment cards. Moreover, the increasing trend of online shopping has also provided the impetus for the growth of the industry. The publisher has also studied the Indian payment card industry in terms of technology adoption and scope of different technologies in future.

The research also indicates that the future growth trend, to some extent, will be impacted by the financial turmoil and credit squeeze. Nevertheless, the overall trend will remain positive over the forecast period. The baseline for the optimistic future outlook of the report is that the government has been actively supporting card usage in current years to cut the operating cost and to avoid tax delinquencies. In fact, RBI has proposed to launch a domestic payment card (India Card) and a POS switch network for issuance and acceptance of payment cards.

Indian Payment Card Market Forecast to 2012 provides an extensive research and rational analysis along with reliable statistics of the payment card market in India. The report has thoroughly examined the current market trends, industrial developments and competitive landscape to enable clients understand the market structure and its progress in coming years. Besides this, the report also provides brief overview of the key market players including ICICI Bank Ltd, HDFC Bank Ltd, Citibank NA, State Bank of India and Punjab National Bank.

Forecast presented in the report has been done considering the possible post-recession impact on the industry. It will help clients to have proper insight into the current and future outlook of credit card market in developing economies.

Key Topics Covered:

1. Analyst View

2. Economic Overview

3. Market Attractions

4. Indian Financial Card Market: Current and Future Outlook

5. Future Growth Avenues

6. Industry Restraints

7. Competitive Landscape

Companies Mentioned:

• ICICI Bank Ltd


• HDFC Bank Ltd


• Citibank NA


• State Bank of India


• Punjab National Bank

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/52a195/indian_payment_car.

Contacts

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager,

press@researchandmarkets.com

U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907

Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716

Permalink: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20100331005990/en/Research-Markets-Extensive-Research-Conceptual-Analysis-Indian

The Indian Payment Card Market Forecast to 2012

Research and Markets: An Extensive Research and Conceptual Analysis of The Indian Payment Card Market Forecast to 2012

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/52a195/indian_payment_car) has announced the addition of the "Indian Payment Card Market Forecast to 2012" report to their offering.

“Indian Payment Card Market Forecast to 2012.”

With the continuous rise in middle class households and the shift in consumer spending pattern, the Indian payment card market, which includes both credit cards and debit cards, has been growing rapidly in the recent years. This huge demand for payment cards is providing tremendous growth opportunities for card issuers, suppliers and manufacturers, according to this new research report "Indian Payment Card Market Forecast to 2012."

The publisher has found that the number of debit cards issued by banks grew at a CAGR of around 40% between FY 2006 and FY 2009, and anticipate that the future prospects of the industry will remain buoyant, owing to low payment card penetration coupled with surge in card spending due to rising income levels of the Indian population. Moreover, consumers preference to the use of cards over cash will boost due to its safety and easy access. Besides, there are many other benefits, like reward points and discounts, offered by merchants as well as bankers, which will lure customers to shop by their payment cards. Moreover, the increasing trend of online shopping has also provided the impetus for the growth of the industry. The publisher has also studied the Indian payment card industry in terms of technology adoption and scope of different technologies in future.

The research also indicates that the future growth trend, to some extent, will be impacted by the financial turmoil and credit squeeze. Nevertheless, the overall trend will remain positive over the forecast period. The baseline for the optimistic future outlook of the report is that the government has been actively supporting card usage in current years to cut the operating cost and to avoid tax delinquencies. In fact, RBI has proposed to launch a domestic payment card (India Card) and a POS switch network for issuance and acceptance of payment cards.

Indian Payment Card Market Forecast to 2012 provides an extensive research and rational analysis along with reliable statistics of the payment card market in India. The report has thoroughly examined the current market trends, industrial developments and competitive landscape to enable clients understand the market structure and its progress in coming years. Besides this, the report also provides brief overview of the key market players including ICICI Bank Ltd, HDFC Bank Ltd, Citibank NA, State Bank of India and Punjab National Bank.

Forecast presented in the report has been done considering the possible post-recession impact on the industry. It will help clients to have proper insight into the current and future outlook of credit card market in developing economies.

Key Topics Covered:

1. Analyst View

2. Economic Overview

3. Market Attractions

4. Indian Financial Card Market: Current and Future Outlook

5. Future Growth Avenues

6. Industry Restraints

7. Competitive Landscape

Companies Mentioned:

• ICICI Bank Ltd


• HDFC Bank Ltd


• Citibank NA


• State Bank of India


• Punjab National Bank

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/52a195/indian_payment_car.

Contacts

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager,

press@researchandmarkets.com

U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907

Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716

Permalink: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20100331005990/en/Research-Markets-Extensive-Research-Conceptual-Analysis-Indian

X9 Calls for Authentication Standard for Debit Transactions

Annapolis, Md., March 31, 2010 -- The Accredited Standards Committee X9 (X9) announced today plans to launch a new effort to develop an American National Standard that will provide secure authentication for debit transactions.



"Consumer demand and industry trends are moving towards more security for card transactions over the Internet", said Lilik Kazaryan of the STAR Network. Kazaryan is a member of X9 and proposed the new work item. "Currently there are no industry-wide standards for secure consumer authentication of debit transactions over an on-line environment, yet security issues are paramount with card users".





Editor's Note:  Although it may be true that there are no industry wide standards, HomeATM secures consumer authentication of debit (and credit) transactions by capturing and encrypting the Track 2 data at the magnetic head of our device.  In addition, we end-to-end DUKPT (Derived Unique Key Per Transaction) encrypt the PIN.  In fact, HomeATM is currently the only PCI Certified online payment platform based on the fact that transactions are conducted with our PCI 2.0 Certified PIN Entry Device.



The new project was approved by X9's board of directors as a standard development work initiative and will be managed under its X9F6-2 working group. When completed, the industry will have a consensus-based standard for increasing the integrity of card use among customers. "The approval of our board for this new work item should mobilize the financial services community to put effort behind formulating a new security standard", said Cindy Fuller, X9 Executive Director. "X9 standards and technical reports are widely adopted by the financial services industry. To date X9 has developed more than 90 national standards and technical reports."

The target audience for the standard is expected to be financial institutions, merchants/acquires, and EFT networks. "Membership in X9 is open to all interested parties, said Cindy Fuller, "interested persons can contact X9 about how to join and begin to participate in the standards development work".

With the launch of the project, experts who should be interested in joining and participating include vendors who offer consumer authentication solutions for debit transactions on the internet, financial institutions, and EFT networks and internet merchants. In the call for experts, X9 is looking to include persons skilled with Dynamic Floating PIN, One-Time Passwords, Cardholder Authentication, and On-line Banking. "We are not limiting the expertise and would like to include any firm or individual with a security background within the financial services industry," said STAR's Kazaryan.



First Data's STAR NetworNetwork is one of the nation's leading electronic funds transfer (EFT) networks with more than two million retail and ATM locations. The network has processed an annual average of more than 3.6 billion debit transactions in the U.S. over each of the past three years.





Source: Company press release.

X9 Calls for Authentication Standard for Debit Transactions

Annapolis, Md., March 31, 2010 -- The Accredited Standards Committee X9 (X9) announced today plans to launch a new effort to develop an American National Standard that will provide secure authentication for debit transactions.



"Consumer demand and industry trends are moving towards more security for card transactions over the Internet", said Lilik Kazaryan of the STAR Network. Kazaryan is a member of X9 and proposed the new work item. "Currently there are no industry-wide standards for secure consumer authentication of debit transactions over an on-line environment, yet security issues are paramount with card users".





Editor's Note:  Although it may be true that there are no industry wide standards, HomeATM secures consumer authentication of debit (and credit) transactions by capturing and encrypting the Track 2 data at the magnetic head of our device.  In addition, we end-to-end DUKPT (Derived Unique Key Per Transaction) encrypt the PIN.  In fact, HomeATM is currently the only PCI Certified online payment platform based on the fact that transactions are conducted with our PCI 2.0 Certified PIN Entry Device.



The new project was approved by X9's board of directors as a standard development work initiative and will be managed under its X9F6-2 working group. When completed, the industry will have a consensus-based standard for increasing the integrity of card use among customers. "The approval of our board for this new work item should mobilize the financial services community to put effort behind formulating a new security standard", said Cindy Fuller, X9 Executive Director. "X9 standards and technical reports are widely adopted by the financial services industry. To date X9 has developed more than 90 national standards and technical reports."

The target audience for the standard is expected to be financial institutions, merchants/acquires, and EFT networks. "Membership in X9 is open to all interested parties, said Cindy Fuller, "interested persons can contact X9 about how to join and begin to participate in the standards development work".

With the launch of the project, experts who should be interested in joining and participating include vendors who offer consumer authentication solutions for debit transactions on the internet, financial institutions, and EFT networks and internet merchants. In the call for experts, X9 is looking to include persons skilled with Dynamic Floating PIN, One-Time Passwords, Cardholder Authentication, and On-line Banking. "We are not limiting the expertise and would like to include any firm or individual with a security background within the financial services industry," said STAR's Kazaryan.



First Data's STAR NetworNetwork is one of the nation's leading electronic funds transfer (EFT) networks with more than two million retail and ATM locations. The network has processed an annual average of more than 3.6 billion debit transactions in the U.S. over each of the past three years.





Source: Company press release.

WePay Goes Live with Max Levchin as Backer

 From Read Write Web:



If you've ever lived in a house with multiple roommates, then you know the pain of collecting for the various bills each month and keeping track of who paid what and when.  Add to that the frustration of one person paying cash while another only has checks on hand, and you'll be ready to call it quits.  That is, unless you've found WePay, the online payment service launching tomorrow custom made to handle situations like roommates, teams, organizations or any group where everyone pitches in.

The company has been in private beta for the past six months and says that its testers have been giving it rave reviews. If it does what it says it does, we wouldn't see why not.  

So far, it has received funding from August Capital, Max Levchin (the founder of PayPal), Ron Conway (early investor in Google, Facebook and Twitter), Eric Dunn (former CTO and CFO of Intuit), and others...

Continue Reading 

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• WePay Raises $1.65M for Virtual Group Banking (gigaom.com)


• WePay's Group Payments Get Some Big-Name Backers, Including Max Levchin (techcrunch.com)

Related articles by Zemanta

• WePay's Group Payments Get Some Big-Name Backers, Including Max Levchin (techcrunch.com)

WePay Goes Live with Max Levchin as Backer

 From Read Write Web:



If you've ever lived in a house with multiple roommates, then you know the pain of collecting for the various bills each month and keeping track of who paid what and when.  Add to that the frustration of one person paying cash while another only has checks on hand, and you'll be ready to call it quits.  That is, unless you've found WePay, the online payment service launching tomorrow custom made to handle situations like roommates, teams, organizations or any group where everyone pitches in.

The company has been in private beta for the past six months and says that its testers have been giving it rave reviews. If it does what it says it does, we wouldn't see why not.  

So far, it has received funding from August Capital, Max Levchin (the founder of PayPal), Ron Conway (early investor in Google, Facebook and Twitter), Eric Dunn (former CTO and CFO of Intuit), and others...

Continue Reading 

Related articles by Zemanta

• WePay Raises $1.65M for Virtual Group Banking (gigaom.com)


• WePay's Group Payments Get Some Big-Name Backers, Including Max Levchin (techcrunch.com)

Related articles by Zemanta

• WePay's Group Payments Get Some Big-Name Backers, Including Max Levchin (techcrunch.com)

ACI Worldwide on the "Threat to Online Banking Security"

Browse by topics of interest

Financial Crime

Cards & Retail Banking Payments

Wholesale & SEPA

Technology Innovation

Wednesday, 31 March 2010

Threat to online banking security

According to this month’s figures released by the UK Cards Association, the number of "phishing" attacks on consumers rose by 16% in 2009 and the total amount of online banking losses saw a 14% rise on the previous year. These stats are worrying for consumers and banks alike – increasingly fraudsters are using Trojans that can infect a user’s PC, and then launch man-in-the-browser attacks that can get around the strongest user authentication measures. The consumer may not even be aware that the funds have been moved from their account as the Trojan can alter the page being displayed.



To tackle this problem, banks need to get a better understanding of their customers’ online banking activity so that they can check to see if it fits the established profile of the genuine customer. Alongside other fraud prevention methods such as authentication, a layered approach to online banking fraud monitoring – one that analyses the login, the transactions, and risky sequences of events – gives banks the best chance to minimise online banking fraud. In addition, consumers need to be educated around the dangers of clicking links in unsolicited emails and on social networks. Fraudsters will always look for weaknesses in the system, in this case the user’s PC, and banks must work with their customers to plug the security gaps.



For more information on fraud mitigation strategies to protect customers from man-in-the-browser attacks, please take a look at ACI's recent white paper Securing Online Banking





About ACI

Software from ACI Worldwide helps ensure electronic payments transactions are processed reliably and safely, 24 hours a day. ACI also provides some of the world’s largest financial institutions with international and domestic wholesale payments and financial message processing solutions.

Find out more at:www.aciworldwide.com

ACI Worldwide on the "Threat to Online Banking Security"

Browse by topics of interest

Financial Crime

Cards & Retail Banking Payments

Wholesale & SEPA

Technology Innovation

Wednesday, 31 March 2010

Threat to online banking security

According to this month’s figures released by the UK Cards Association, the number of "phishing" attacks on consumers rose by 16% in 2009 and the total amount of online banking losses saw a 14% rise on the previous year. These stats are worrying for consumers and banks alike – increasingly fraudsters are using Trojans that can infect a user’s PC, and then launch man-in-the-browser attacks that can get around the strongest user authentication measures. The consumer may not even be aware that the funds have been moved from their account as the Trojan can alter the page being displayed.



To tackle this problem, banks need to get a better understanding of their customers’ online banking activity so that they can check to see if it fits the established profile of the genuine customer. Alongside other fraud prevention methods such as authentication, a layered approach to online banking fraud monitoring – one that analyses the login, the transactions, and risky sequences of events – gives banks the best chance to minimise online banking fraud. In addition, consumers need to be educated around the dangers of clicking links in unsolicited emails and on social networks. Fraudsters will always look for weaknesses in the system, in this case the user’s PC, and banks must work with their customers to plug the security gaps.



For more information on fraud mitigation strategies to protect customers from man-in-the-browser attacks, please take a look at ACI's recent white paper Securing Online Banking





About ACI

Software from ACI Worldwide helps ensure electronic payments transactions are processed reliably and safely, 24 hours a day. ACI also provides some of the world’s largest financial institutions with international and domestic wholesale payments and financial message processing solutions.

Find out more at:www.aciworldwide.com

MoneyGram International Adds 160 Bank Asya Locations in Turkey

MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--MoneyGram International (NYSE:MGI), a leading global money transfer company, announced today that it has added Bank Asya, a leading financial institution in Turkey, to its growing agent network to provide MoneyGram money transfer services at 160 branch locations in Turkey.

“We are committed to this region and we will continue to establish more locations and pursue new technology avenues for remittances such as transfers to mobile phones, prepaid cards or ATMs.”

“We are delighted to expand our network in Turkey with Bank Asya and find creative solutions for bringing the ease and convenience of money transfer to more people around the world,” said John Hempsey, MoneyGram’s executive vice president for Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific. “We are committed to this region and we will continue to establish more locations and pursue new technology avenues for remittances such as transfers to mobile phones, prepaid cards or ATMs.”

Hasan Unal, executive vice president for Retail Banking at Bank Asya, said, “We are introducing MoneyGram’s money transfer services across our network in Turkey and we’ve set high standards for our service and will work to distinguish our branches as preferred MoneyGram agent locations.”

In addition to serving Bank Asya’s approximately 3 million account holders, MoneyGram’s money transfer service will also be available to customers without accounts. Customers can walk into any of Bank Asya’s 160 branch locations to send and receive international money transfers to or from MoneyGram’s 190,000 agent locations in 190 countries and territories around the world.

In 2008, an estimated $1.3 billion was remitted to Turkey, according to the World Bank. Funds to Turkey arrive primarily from European countries including Germany, France, the Netherlands and Austria, as well as from the United States. MoneyGram money transfers in Turkey can be collected in euros or U.S. dollars.

“Bank Asya is an excellent addition to our agent network in Turkey,” Hempsey said. “The bank’s experience with advanced technology and focus on superior customer service aligns with MoneyGram’s vision to provide more choices to consumers to reliably and conveniently send and receive remittances.”

About MoneyGram International

MoneyGram International offers more control and more choices for people separated from friends and family by distance or those with limited bank relationships to meet their financial needs. A leading global provider of money transfer services, MoneyGram International helps consumers to safely send money around the world with funds arriving at available agent locations in as little as 10 minutes. Its global network is comprised of 190,000 agent locations in more than 190 countries and territories. MoneyGram’s convenient and reliable network includes retailers, international post offices and financial institutions.

Contacts

MoneyGram International

Jody Hinkle, 952-591-3839

jhinkle@moneygram.com

Permalink: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20100330006629/en/MoneyGram-International-Adds-160-Bank-Asya-Locations

MoneyGram International Adds 160 Bank Asya Locations in Turkey

MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--MoneyGram International (NYSE:MGI), a leading global money transfer company, announced today that it has added Bank Asya, a leading financial institution in Turkey, to its growing agent network to provide MoneyGram money transfer services at 160 branch locations in Turkey.

“We are committed to this region and we will continue to establish more locations and pursue new technology avenues for remittances such as transfers to mobile phones, prepaid cards or ATMs.”

“We are delighted to expand our network in Turkey with Bank Asya and find creative solutions for bringing the ease and convenience of money transfer to more people around the world,” said John Hempsey, MoneyGram’s executive vice president for Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific. “We are committed to this region and we will continue to establish more locations and pursue new technology avenues for remittances such as transfers to mobile phones, prepaid cards or ATMs.”

Hasan Unal, executive vice president for Retail Banking at Bank Asya, said, “We are introducing MoneyGram’s money transfer services across our network in Turkey and we’ve set high standards for our service and will work to distinguish our branches as preferred MoneyGram agent locations.”

In addition to serving Bank Asya’s approximately 3 million account holders, MoneyGram’s money transfer service will also be available to customers without accounts. Customers can walk into any of Bank Asya’s 160 branch locations to send and receive international money transfers to or from MoneyGram’s 190,000 agent locations in 190 countries and territories around the world.

In 2008, an estimated $1.3 billion was remitted to Turkey, according to the World Bank. Funds to Turkey arrive primarily from European countries including Germany, France, the Netherlands and Austria, as well as from the United States. MoneyGram money transfers in Turkey can be collected in euros or U.S. dollars.

“Bank Asya is an excellent addition to our agent network in Turkey,” Hempsey said. “The bank’s experience with advanced technology and focus on superior customer service aligns with MoneyGram’s vision to provide more choices to consumers to reliably and conveniently send and receive remittances.”

About MoneyGram International

MoneyGram International offers more control and more choices for people separated from friends and family by distance or those with limited bank relationships to meet their financial needs. A leading global provider of money transfer services, MoneyGram International helps consumers to safely send money around the world with funds arriving at available agent locations in as little as 10 minutes. Its global network is comprised of 190,000 agent locations in more than 190 countries and territories. MoneyGram’s convenient and reliable network includes retailers, international post offices and financial institutions.

Contacts

MoneyGram International

Jody Hinkle, 952-591-3839

jhinkle@moneygram.com

Permalink: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20100330006629/en/MoneyGram-International-Adds-160-Bank-Asya-Locations

The ECAF Awards

March 31, 2010 08:05 AM Eastern Daylight Time 

European Card Acquiring Forum Presents Heartland Payment Systems^® With Integrity Award

Heartland recognized by global payments leaders for demonstrating integrity and setting unparalleled industry standards

PRINCETON, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Heartland Payment Systems® (NYSE: HPY), one of the nation’s largest payments processors, recently received the “Integrity Award” at the European Card Acquiring Forum (ECAF) — a leading global event in the payments industry — in Berlin, Germany.

“Heartland received the Integrity Award for reacting expeditiously after suffering a major data breach in fall 2008, while also setting a standard for transparency and enhanced security for the rest of the payments industry to follow.”

According to ECAF, “Heartland received the Integrity Award for reacting expeditiously after suffering a major data breach in fall 2008, while also setting a standard for transparency and enhanced security for the rest of the payments industry to follow.” The Integrity Award is given to the company that was best in communicating, dealing with and remedying a compromised operation. The ECAF membership, comprised of leaders within the payments industry, nominated Heartland for this recognition.

Heartland is leading the movement to enhance payments security with its end-to-end encryption technology, E3™. Heartland expedited its development following the breach. E3 is designed to safeguard sensitive information from the moment a card is swiped at a point-of-sale system, to and through Heartland's processing network, and ultimately to the card brands — rendering any captured data useless in the event of a compromise. E3 is currently in limited release and will be widely available in the second quarter of this year.

Bob Carr, Heartland’s chairman and chief executive officer, has also been a driving force in the formation of the Payment Processors Information Sharing Council (PPISC), a forum for sharing information about fraud, threats, vulnerabilities and risk mitigation practices in the payments industry.

"We are honored to receive this prestigious acknowledgement from ECAF," said Carr. "Since Heartland's founding in 1997, we have been committed to transparency and advocating for the rights of merchants. Our goal is to provide a secure and compelling solution that protects cardholders and merchants from the growing threat of cyber crime, as well as furthering industry collaboration to protect the entire payments ecosystem."

The inaugural ECAF “Guiding Hand Awards” celebrate the most innovative and progressive acquirers, payment service providers and processors instrumental in pushing the industry beyond the next level and developing innovations relevant to the success of card payments today and in the near future. For more information about the ECAF Awards, visitEuropeanCardAcquiring.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.org, CostOfABurger.com andE3secure.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release may contain statements of a forward-looking nature, which represent our management's beliefs and assumptions concerning future events. Forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions and are based on information currently available to us. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements due to many factors, including, without limitation, the risks that we may be unable to successfully develop and implement end-to-end encryption technology, the card brands may not agree to accept encrypted data, the market may not accept the change from current encryption technology to end-to-end encryption technology and our end-to-end encryption may not work as intended. Information concerning these factors is contained in the Company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including but not limited to, the Company's annual report on Form 10- K, or Form 10-Q as applicable. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that may arise after the date of this release.

Contacts

Vault Communications

Leanne Scott Brown, 610-455-2742

LBrown@VaultCommunications.com

or

Heartland Payment Systems

Nancy Gross, 888-798-3131 x2202

Nancy.Gross@e-hps.com

Permalink: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20100331005575/en/European-Card-Acquiring-Forum-Presents-Heartland-Payment