Friday, December 31, 2010

Happy New Year from ePayment News!







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Amazon.com Announces “Best of 2010” Lists


http://www.amazon.com
SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) today released its "Best of 2010" lists, which include the bestselling, most-wished-for and favorite gift products as determined by Amazon.com customers in 2010.*
The following is a list of the bestselling products on Amazon.com in 2010 by total units sold:Bestselling Products of 2010
  • Electronics: Kindle Wireless Reading Device (Wi-Fi)
  • Books: “The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest” by Stieg Larsson
  • Kindle Books: “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” by Stieg Larsson
  • Movies: “The Blind Side” (DVD)
  • Video On Demand: “Sherlock Holmes”
  • Music: “The Gift” by Susan Boyle
  • MP3 Album: “Speak Now” by Taylor Swift
  • MP3 Song: “I Gotta Feeling” by The Black Eyed Peas
  • Video Games: Call of Duty: Black Ops
  • Wireless & Accessories: Samsung Captivate Android Phone (AT&T)
  • Computers: Apple MacBook Pro 13.3-Inch Laptop
  • Software: Microsoft Office 2010 Home & Student
  • Home, Garden & Pets: Eureka Enviro Hard-Surface Floor Steamer
  • Grocery: Coffee People Donut Shop K-Cups for Keurig Brewers
  • Health & Personal Care: Omron Digital Pocket Pedometer
  • Beauty: Revitalash Eyelash Conditioner
  • Toys: Bananagrams
  • Baby: Vulli Sophie the Giraffe Teether
  • Clothing & Accessories: Levi's Men's 501 Jean
  • Shoes & Accessories: Ray-Ban New Wayfarer Sunglasses
  • Watches: Invicta Women's Square Angel Diamond Stainless Steel Chronograph Watch
  • Sports & Outdoors: P90X Extreme Home Fitness Workout Program
  • Tools & Home Improvement: Black & Decker Ratcheting ReadyWrench
  • Automotive: Battery Tender Junior Battery Charger
  • Frustration-Free Packaging: Coffee People Donut Shop K-Cups for Keurig Brewers (Pack of 50)
Most-Wished-For Products of 2010
The following is a list of products that appeared most often on the Wish Lists of Amazon.com customers in 2010:
  • Electronics: Kindle Wireless Reading Device (Wi-Fi)
  • Books: “The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest” by Stieg Larsson
  • Kindle Books: “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” by Stieg Larsson
  • Movies: “Inception” (Three-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo)
  • Video On Demand: “Dexter: The Fourth Season”
  • Music: “Speak Now” by Taylor Swift
  • Video Games: Call of Duty: Black Ops
  • Computers: Apple MacBook Pro 13.3-Inch Laptop
  • Software: Microsoft Office 2010 Home & Student
  • Wireless: LG KP500 Cookie Unlocked Phone
  • Home, Garden & Pets: Weber Rapidfire Chimney Starter
  • Grocery: Coffee People Donut Shop K-Cups for Keurig Brewers
  • Health & Personal Care: Crest 3D White Whitestrips with Advanced Seal Professional Effects Enamel Safe Dental Whitening Kit
  • Beauty: Coastal Scents 88 Color Makeup Palette
  • Toys: LEGO Ultimate Building Set
  • Baby: Vulli Sophie the Giraffe Teether
  • Clothing & Accessories: Classic Black Fedora Hat
  • Shoes & Accessories: UGG Australia Women's Classic Short Boots
  • Jewelry: Sterling Silver Marcasite and Garnet
  • Watches: Citizen Men’s Eco-Drive Chronograph Canvas Watch
  • Sports & Outdoors: P90X Extreme Home Fitness Workout
  • Home Improvement: SOG Specialty Knives & Tools Tactical Tomahawk
  • Automotive: Sunforce 60-Watt Solar Charging Kit
Most Popular Gift Products of 2010
The following is a list of products most frequently purchased as gifts by Amazon.com customers in 2010:
  • Electronics: Kindle Wireless Reading Device (Wi-Fi)
  • Books: “Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose” by Tony Hsieh
  • Kindle Books: “Decision Points” by George W. Bush
  • Movies: “Toy Story 3” (DVD)
  • Music: “The Gift” by Susan Boyle
  • Video Games: Just Dance 2
  • Computers: Toshiba Satellite TruBrite 15.6-Inch Laptop
  • Software: Adobe Photoshop Elements 9 (Win/Mac)
  • Wireless: Nokia N900 Unlocked Phone/Mobile Computer
  • Home, Garden & Pets: Oregon Scientific Grill Right Wireless Talking Oven/Barbeque Thermometer
  • Grocery: Numi Tea Bamboo Flowering Tea Gift Set
  • Health & Personal Care: Chia Obama Handmade Decorative Planter
  • Beauty: Jerdon Magnification Tri-fold Lighted Mirror
  • Toys: LEGO Ultimate Building Set
  • Baby: Vulli Sophie the Giraffe Teether
  • Clothing & Accessories: Kenneth Cole REACTION Men's Passcase Wallet
  • Shoes & Accessories: BEARPAW Women's Eva Shearling Boot
  • Jewelry: Sterling Silver Amethyst Butterfly Pendant, 18"
  • Watches: Casio Men's G-Shock Classic Digital Watch
  • Sports & Outdoors: Zumba Fitness Total Body Transformation System DVD Set
  • Home Improvement: Black & Decker Ratcheting ReadyWrench
  • Automotive: Wagan Heated Seat Cushion
*Includes data from Jan. 1, 2010, to Dec. 15, 2010.
About Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), a Fortune 500 company based in Seattle, opened on the World Wide Web in July 1995 and today offers Earth’s Biggest Selection. Amazon.com, Inc. seeks to be Earth’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and endeavors to offer its customers the lowest possible prices.Amazon.com and other sellers offer millions of unique new, refurbished and used items in categories such as Books; Movies, Music & Games; Digital Downloads; Electronics & Computers; Home & Garden; Toys, Kids & Baby; Grocery; Apparel, Shoes & Jewelry; Health & Beauty; Sports & Outdoors; and Tools, Auto & Industrial. Amazon Web Services provides Amazon’s developer customers with access to in-the-cloud infrastructure services based on Amazon’s own back-end technology platform, which developers can use to enable virtually any type of business. Kindle, Kindle 3G and Kindle DX are the revolutionary portable readers that wirelessly download books, magazines, newspapers, blogs and personal documents to a crisp, high-resolution electronic ink display that looks and reads like real paper. Kindle 3G and Kindle DX utilize the same 3G wireless technology as advanced cell phones, so users never need to hunt for a Wi-Fi hotspot. Kindle is the #1 bestselling product across the millions of items sold on Amazon.
Amazon and its affiliates operate websites, including www.amazon.com, www.amazon.co.uk, www.amazon.de, www.amazon.co.jp, www.amazon.fr, www.amazon.ca, www.amazon.cn, andwww.amazon.it. As used herein, “Amazon.com,” “we,” “our” and similar terms include Amazon.com, Inc., and its subsidiaries, unless the context indicates otherwise.
Forward-Looking Statements
This announcement contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Actual results may differ significantly from management's expectations. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that include, among others, risks related to competition, management of growth, new products, services and technologies, potential fluctuations in operating results, international expansion, outcomes of legal proceedings and claims, fulfillment center optimization, seasonality, commercial agreements, acquisitions and strategic transactions, foreign exchange rates, system interruption, inventory, government regulation and taxation, payments and fraud. More information about factors that potentially could affect Amazon.com's financial results is included in Amazon.com's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent filings.

Contacts

Amazon.com, Inc.
Media Hotline, 206-266-7180
www.amazon.com/pr
Permalink: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20101230005014/en/Amazon.com-Announces-%E2%80%9CBest-2010%E2%80%9D-Lists





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KeyCorp Adds Another $25 Million Lost to Durbin Amendment Impact


KeyCorp announced that the Durbin Amendment could significantly cut into the bank's revenue, by as much as $100 million annually.  That's up another $25 million after including PIN Debit transactions into their modeling.  KeyCorp had previously estimated that $75 million in revenue would be impacted by the debit interchange fees.

"We now estimate approximately $100 million in [annual] debit interchange revenue could be impacted by the proposal," the bank said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Tuesday.
Section 8 – Other Events
Item 8.01    On December 16, 2010, the Federal Reserve Board released proposed rules governing interchange fees that merchants pay to banks when consumers make purchases with their debit cards (the “proposal”). The proposal would implement provisions of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. The proposal is open for public comment through February 22, 2011, with the Federal Reserve Board expecting implementation of the proposed interchange fee standards by July 21, 2011 should the proposal be adopted.  In our Form 10-Q filed on November 4, 2010, we disclosed that, in total, on an annualized basis we derive approximately $75 million in revenue from debit interchange fees. This amount reflected the estimated revenue from signature authorized debit card transactions (“signature transactions”). Based on an update of our 2010 projected volume and the inclusion of revenue from PIN authorized debit card transactions (which under the proposal are expected to be less impacted than the signature transactions), we now estimate approximately $100 million in debit interchange revenue could be impacted by the proposal. Until the regulations are finalized by the Federal Reserve Board, it is premature to assess the impact on this combined revenue stream of the proposal, but it is possible that the effect could be significant to the revenue we derive from these activities.




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Thursday, December 30, 2010

MasterCard Incorporated to Host Conference Call on Fourth-Quarter and Full-Year 2010 Financial Results

MasterCardImage via Wikipedia
PURCHASE, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--On Thursday, February 3, 2011, MasterCard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) will release its fourth-quarter and full-year 2010 financial results. The company will host a conference call to discuss these results at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time.
The dial-in information for this call is 866-314-5050 (within the U.S.) and 617-213-8051 (outside the U.S.) and the passcode is 18859734. A replay of the call will be available for one week following the meeting. The replay can be accessed by dialing 888-286-8010 (within the U.S.) and 617-801-6888 (outside the U.S.) and using passcode 31243954.
This call can also be accessed through the Investor Relations section of the company’s website at www.mastercard.com.
About MasterCard Incorporated
As a leading global payments company, MasterCard Incorporated prides itself on being at the heart of commerce, helping to make life easier and more efficient for everyone, everywhere. MasterCard serves as a franchisor, processor and advisor to the payments industry, and makes commerce happen by providing a critical economic link among financial institutions, governments, businesses, merchants, and cardholders worldwide. In 2009, $2.5 trillion in gross dollar volume was generated on its products by consumers around the world. Powered by the MasterCard Worldwide Network – the fastest payment processing network in the world – MasterCard processes over 22 billion transactions each year and has the capacity to handle 140 million transactions per hour, with an average network response time of 140 milliseconds and with 99.99 percent reliability. MasterCard advances global commerce through its family of brands, including MasterCard®, Maestro®, and Cirrus®; its suite of core products such as credit, debit, and prepaid; and its innovative platforms and functionalities, such as MasterCard PayPass™ and MasterCard inControl™. MasterCard serves consumers, governments, and businesses in more than 210 countries and territories. For more information, please visit us at http://www.mastercard.com.

Contacts

MasterCard Incorporated
Investor Relations:
Greg Boosin, 914-249-4565
Investor_Relations@mastercard.com
or
Media Relations:
Chris Monteiro, 914-249-5826
Chris_Monteiro@mastercard.com



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Debit Survey Provides Rare Look into Debit Card Usage

Durbin-Inspired Survey Gives a Rare Look into Debit Cards
Dec. 21, 2010 - Digital Transactions
No matter how you feel about the Federal Reserve Board’s proposed 7-to-12-cent cap on debit card interchange and plans for breaking up exclusive debit-network affiliations, the regulatory process has produced some previously unavailable measurements of the booming debit industry. Ahead of writing the proposed rules that it unveiled last week, the Fed surveyed debit and prepaid card issuers, payment card networks, and merchant acquirers to obtain data about transaction volumes, interchange revenues, and other vital industry statistics. Congress ordered the Fed to regulate debit cards through the Durbin Amendment in the Dodd-Frank financial-reform law enacted in July.
The Fed sent surveys to 131 financial institutions with assets greater than $10 billion, the cohort that will be subject to interchange regulations under Dodd-Frank. Eighty-nine issuers responded and another 13 said they didn’t have debit programs. The responding issuers accounted for 60% of all debit and prepaid transactions in 2009, the survey period. All 14 networks the Fed queried responded, as did the nine largest merchant acquirers, a group that processes about 95% of debit and prepaid card transactions. The Fed published the results within its 177-page document of draft regulations.
The networks reported handling 37.7 billion debit and prepaid card transactions in 2009 worth more than $1.45 trillion. The average ticket was $38.58. The acquirers said 6.7 million U.S. merchant locations accept signature debit cards while 1.5 million were able to accept PIN debit. The responding issuers collectively had 174 million debit cards and 46 million prepaid cards outstanding in 2009.
Other key findings:
Some 87% of debit cards and 25% of prepaid cards accessed both signature and PIN-debit networks. Only 4% of regular debit cards but 74% of prepaid cards were signature only. Just 9% of debit cards and 1% of prepaid cards were PIN-only.
Regarding the heart of the matter, interchange, the networks reported that debit and prepaid interchange fees totaled $16.2 billion in 2009, with $12.5 billion for signature debit, $3.2 billion for PIN-debit, and $500 million for prepaid cards. The average interchange fee for all debit transactions was 44 cents per transaction, or 1.14% of the sale. The average signature rate was 56 cents, or 1.53%. The average PIN-debit fee was 23 cents, or 0.56%. Prepaid card interchange fees were similar to those of signature debit, averaging 50 cents per transaction, or 1.53% of the sale.
In a footnote, the draft says signature rates “were generally around 1.5% of the transaction value” from 1990 to 2009. PIN-debit rates in the late ‘90s, however, were about 7 cents per transaction, less than half of what they were by 2009. Those findings confirm a trend of rising PIN-debit interchange reported by Digital Transaction News in August 2009.
On the expense side, issuers reported a median per-transaction cost of 11.9 cents for authorization, clearing, and settlement for all types of debit and prepaid cards. Broken down by transaction type, the median processing cost was 13.7 cents for signature debit, 7.9 cents for PIN debit, and 63.6 cents for prepaid cards. The median per-transaction variable processing cost was 7.1 cents. Disaggregated, respective variable costs were 6.7 cents for signature debit, 4.5 cents for PIN debit, and 25.8 cents for prepaid, respectively. Also, the median network per-transaction processing fee was 4 cents for all types of debit and prepaid cards in 2009.
Networks, which assess transaction and non-transaction fees, charged issuers a total of $2.3 billion in fees last year and acquirers $1.9 billion. The average network fee attributable to each transaction was 6.5 cents for issuers and 5 cents for acquirers. With signature debit, issuers generally pay more in network fees than acquirers, but the reverse is true in PIN debit.
Offsetting the fees, however, are network discounts and incentives for both issuers and acquirers (including merchants) meant to spur card issuance and also volume at merchant locations. Issuers received a total of $700 million in such incentives and discounts last year, an average of 2 cents per transaction, while acquirers received $300 million, or 0.9 cents per transaction. Adjusting for incentives and discounts, the average per-transaction network fee was 4.5 cents for issuers and 4.1 cents for acquirers.
The Durbin Amendment allows the Fed to set an interchange adjustment for fraud-control expenses. The Fed estimates industry-wide fraud losses to all parties from debit card transactions at $1.36 billion in 2009, about $1.15 billion from signature debit and $200 million from PIN-debit. Signature debit fraud rates were 3.75 times those of PIN debit, averaging 13.1 and 3.5 basis points (0.131% and 0.035%) of dollar volume, respectively.
The Fed’s draft rules suggest criteria regulators should consider in preparing final fraud adjustments but leaves the issue open for comment.



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Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Element Payment Services Selected as PCI Compliance Technology Provider by Rollins, Inc.


Element Payment Services will provide Rollins, Inc. with fully integrated, simple and secure payment processing solutions that ease the burden of PCI compliance and dramatically reduce the risk and liability of payment card acceptance through scope reduction.

Element Payment Services, a top 40 U.S. payment processor announces that it will provide PCI compliant processing for Rollins, Inc., a premier North American consumer and commercial services company and parent company of Orkin, HomeTeam Pest Defense, PCO Services, Western Pest Services, The Industrial Fumigant Company, Waltham Services and Crane Pest Control. Rollins will integrate its proprietary Focus business management software application with Element’s Express Processing Platform through Hosted Payments, the payment industry’s first solution to completely remove software applications from the scope of PCI DSS / PA-DSS compliance by eliminating the transmission and storage of cardholder data.

“We have elected to work with Element to process our payments due to their superior technology and commitment to the industry,” said Andy Smith, director of treasury, Rollins, Inc. “We are excited to have our locations work directly through Element’s Express Processing Platform, and expect the transition to be seamless.”  In addition to offering PCI compliance relief to Rollins, Hosted Payments will dramatically reduce the scope of PCI compliance for individual pest control companies within the brand, while maintaining the operational functionality required for running the businesses. Hosted Payments features tokenization technology, which allows merchants to securely access card data for future transactions, without assuming the risk and liability of storing sensitive information through a point of sale (POS) application. Rollins merchants can securely perform scheduled payments and card-on-file billing without compromising their customers’ sensitive information and their own PCI compliance.

“We’ve been working with Rollins’ merchants for some time now through our partnership with several industry-leading Independent Software Vendors in the pest control space. Through this integration, we will now be able to provide the entire Rollins corporation with PCI compliance relief and the most valuable payment processing available,” says Sean Kramer, president and CEO, Element Payment Services.

About Element Payment Services, Inc.

Headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, Element Payment Services, Inc. is the industry leading provider of fully integrated PCI DSS compliant payment processing solutions for merchants and business management software providers. Engineered using service-oriented architecture, Element's Express Processing Platform allows for easy integration and supports advanced technologies such as point-to-point encryption, tokenization and authentication.

Processing more than $5 billion in annual transaction volume, Element's simple and secure payment solutions allow customers to easily comply with industry security requirements such as PCI DSS and PA-DSS, significantly reducing the risk associated with handling cardholder data. Element's innovative technology, Hosted Payments, was the first payment processing solution on the market to take software providers out of scope for PA-DSS/PCI DSS compliance requirements.

Element Payment Services, Inc. is a registered Merchant Service Provider with First National Bank of Omaha.

About Rollins Inc.

Rollins, Inc. is a premier North American consumer and commercial services company. Through its wholly owned subsidiaries, Orkin, LLC. PCO Services, HomeTeam Pest Defense, Western Pest Services, The Industrial Fumigant Company, Waltham Services, Inc. and Crane Pest Control, the Company provides essential pest control services and protection against termite damage, rodents and insects to over 2 million customers in the United States, Canada, Central America, the Caribbean, the Middle East, Asia, the Mediterranean and Europe from over 500 locations.

###


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Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Oliver Wyman Reports that $11.8 BILLION of Debit Interchange Could Disappear


Oliver Wyman Report Finds $11.8 Billion of Debit Interchange Revenue Could Disappear Based on Proposed Draft Rules for Durbin Amendment

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--In the US banking industry, $11.8 BN of the current $16.2 BN generated in debit interchange revenue will disappear from the system, according to a new Oliver Wyman report titled, The US debit Market and the Durbin Amendment: Worse than the worst case scenario. Based on the proposed draft rules announced by the Federal Reserve on December 16, 2010, debit interchange revenue for regulated card issuers will decline by 73%, from an average of $0.44 per transaction today to, at most, $0.12 per transaction, as of July 21, 2011. With the new rates set in reference to a sub-set of all debit card costs, the economics of debit card programs will become significantly unprofitable.
“The new economics associated with operating a debit card portfolio are likely to lead to fewer rewards programs, more consumer fees, and a different set of banking choices.”
Between 2000-2009, debit has grown at an average annual rate of 18% and is now the most commonly used non-cash method of payment. In 2009, there were 37.9 billion debit card transactions performed in the US, representing 35% of total non-cash retail payments. Currently, card issuers generate an average of $87 of revenue per active consumer debit card per year, but starting on July 21st, for banks with at least $10 BN in assets, this figure will drop to $24 per year.
Card issuers with less than $10 BN in assets may also be affected, as there is no provision that requires debit networks to set different interchange rates between large, regulated card issuers and small, exempt card issuers. The Oliver Wyman report states that if debit interchange revenue for smaller issuers does decline, the result could be severe; not only will these programs become highly unprofitable, the very viability of some community banks and credit unions will be threatened.
Interchange revenue from debit cards provided many banks with the economic foundation to support free checking for mass-market customers; without this revenue source, financial institutions are likely to implement a range of direct-to-consumer fees.
In addition to price regulation, the proposed debit rules place certain conditions upon banks’ affiliations with debit card networks. A number of large banks will be required to partner with new debit networks by October 1, 2011, with the potential for even greater upheaval.
“The proposed regulation will have massive and far-reaching consequences for retail banks”, said Tony Hayes, Partner at Oliver Wyman Financial Services and author of the report. “The new economics associated with operating a debit card portfolio are likely to lead to fewer rewards programs, more consumer fees, and a different set of banking choices.”
The Oliver Wyman report recommends banks do the following: (1) restructure their core debit card business (2) re-price and reposition the underlying demand-deposit accounts (DDAs) and associated payments businesses, and (3) submit commentary on the draft proposed rules before the Federal Reserve’s February 22, 2011 deadline.
For a copy of the Oliver Wyman report, The US debit Market and the Durbin Amendment: Worse than the worst case scenario, please go to www.oliverwyman.com/ow/ow_durbin-amendment-debit-market.htm
About Oliver Wyman
With more than 2,900 professionals in over 40 cities around the globe, Oliver Wyman is an international management consulting firm that combines deep industry knowledge with specialized expertise in strategy, operations, risk management, organizational transformation and leadership development. The firm helps clients optimize their businesses, improve their operations and risk profile, and accelerate their organizational performance to seize the most attractive opportunities. Oliver Wyman is part of Marsh & McLennan Companies (NYSE: MMC). For more information, visit  www.oliverwyman.com.

The US Debit Market and the Durbin Amendment

Worse Than the Worst-Case Scenario - What Banks Need to Do Now
On December 16, 2010, the Federal Reserve released its proposed rules to regulate the US debit card market, as required by the “Durbin Amendment”. In the time since the Dodd-Frank Act was signed into law on July 21, 2010 and now, many financial institutions and other parties involved with debit card transactions have been busy studying the statute and developing scenarios to understand what form the regulations might take and how their organization would respond. By all accounts, the Fed’s draft rules addressing interchange rates and issuers’ network participation are worse than anyone’s worst‑case scenario.

Based upon the draft rules, debit interchange revenue for regulated card issuers will decline by 73%, from an average of $0.44 per transaction today to, at most, $0.12 per transaction, as of July 21, 2011. Furthermore, the proposed rates do not distinguish between signature debit and PIN debit, meaning that the revenue differential between these two forms of debit use is likely to decline or disappear. For the banking industry, almost $12 BN of non-interest revenue will vanish from the system.

Today, issuers generate an average of $87 of revenue per active consumer debit card per year; from July onwards, for banks with at least $10 BN in assets, this figure will drop to $24 per year (equating to $13 per card, across all debit cards).

The median variable cost for an issuer to perform a signature debit transaction is $0.175, based on a narrow definition of “allowable costs”. The result is clear: with the new rates set only in reference to a limited subset of all debit card costs, and only based upon variable costs at that, the economics of operating a debit card program will become significantly unprofitable.

The question of issuer participation in debit card networks remains unresolved. The Fed is considering one of two potential rules:
  • All debit cards must participate in at least two unaffiliated debit card networks. In all likelihood, this will mean one network for signature debit and a different unaffiliated network for PIN debit.
  • All debit cards must be in at least two different networks for each authentication method (i.e., two networks for signature debit, and two networks for PIN debit).

Regardless of which network rule is adopted, there will be significant operational upheaval and customer disruption for many issuers. This rule applies to all financial institutions, whereas the Fed’s regulation of interchange revenue applies only to issuers with at least $10 BN in assets.

In short, the proposed Regulation II, as required by the Durbin Amendment, will have a material impact upon all retail banks.

We summarize in this paper key aspects of the Durbin Amendment and the draft rules recently released by the Federal Reserve (the final rules are scheduled to be announced on April 21, 2011). We also provide some perspectives on what banks ought to do now.

In sum, we believe that all retail banks need to pursue multiple concurrent strategies to prepare their business for these upcoming changes to the debit card market. These strategies include: (a) restructuring the core debit card business, (b) re-pricing and repositioning the underlying DDA and associated payments businesses, and (c) responding to the request for comment on the Fed's draft rules.


AuthorTony Hayes, Partner in the North America Retail and Business Banking Practice


Contacts

Oliver Wyman
Jung Kim, 646-364-8355
jung.kim@oliverwyman.com
Permalink: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20101222006068/en/Oliver-Wyman-Report-Finds-11.8-Billion-Debit



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2010 Holiday Full Season eCommerce Report: Spending up 15.4% to 36.4 Billion: SpendingPulse


2010 Season Saw Six Days with More than $1 Billion in Sales
PURCHASE, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--MasterCard Advisors:
“Today eCommerce accounts for a much larger share of overall retail sales compared to a few years ago. And during this holiday season, it registered double digit growth for 6 out of 7 weeks” 
SpendingPulse™
  
Data Source:
A macroeconomic indicator, SpendingPulse reports on national retail and services sales and is based on aggregate sales activity in the MasterCard payments network, coupled with survey-based estimates for all other payment forms, including cash and check. MasterCard SpendingPulse does not represent MasterCard financial performance. SpendingPulse is provided by MasterCard Advisors, the professional services arm of MasterCard Worldwide.
 
MasterCard Advisors’ SpendingPulse, a macroeconomic report tracking national retail and services sales, today provided summary results for eCommerce sales over the full 2010 holiday shopping season. During the period October 31 to December 24, U.S. consumers spent an estimated $36.4 billion, a 15.4% year-on-year increase over the 2009 holiday season.
“Today eCommerce accounts for a much larger share of overall retail sales compared to a few years ago. And during this holiday season, it registered double digit growth for 6 out of 7 weeks,” noted Michael McNamara, Vice President, for MasterCard Advisors SpendingPulse. “In terms of sub-categories, apparel was the clear leader, helping increase the channel’s overall lift. In terms of share, online apparel sales during the holiday season accounted for 18.8% of total sales in that category, compared to 16.9% in 2009. As for some of the other sub-sectors, online electronics, not surprisingly, also recorded significant gains, while Jewelry, although still in positive territory, lagged behind.
In terms of highlights, there were 6 days in the 2010 season that surpassed $1 billion in sales compared with 3 days in 2009. Top days included Tuesday November 30, which registered $1.16 billion in sales, and Wednesday December 1, registering $1.13 billion. The Monday after Thanksgiving generated $999.3 million in sales, a 25.3% increase compared to the Monday after Thanksgiving in 2009.
About MasterCard Advisors
MasterCard Advisors provides payments consulting, information, analytics, and customized services to financial institutions and their merchant partners worldwide. Addressing complex challenges in strategy, marketing, risk, and operations, MasterCard Advisors helps clients maximize the value of their payments businesses. As the professional services arm of MasterCard Worldwide, MasterCard Advisors is uniquely qualified to provide clients with insights and solutions that drive tangible impact and financial gain. For more information, go to www.mastercardadvisors.com.
About MasterCard Worldwide
As a leading global payments company, MasterCard Worldwide prides itself on being at the heart of commerce, helping to make life easier and more efficient for everyone, everywhere. MasterCard serves as a franchisor, processor and advisor to the payments industry, and makes commerce happen by providing a critical economic link among financial institutions, governments, businesses, merchants, and cardholders worldwide. In 2009, $2.5 trillion in gross dollar volume was generated on its products by consumers around the world. Powered by the MasterCard Worldwide Network – the fastest payment processing network in the world – MasterCard processes over 22 billion transactions each year and has the capacity to handle 140 million transactions per hour, with an average network response time of 140 milliseconds and with 99.99 percent reliability. MasterCard advances global commerce through its family of brands, including MasterCard®, Maestro®, and Cirrus®; its suite of core products such as credit, debit, and prepaid; and its innovative platforms and functionalities, such as MasterCard PayPass™ and MasterCard inControl™. MasterCard serves consumers, governments, and businesses in more than 210 countries and territories. For more information, please visit us at www.mastercard.com. Follow us on Twitter: @mastercardnews.

Contacts

Meir Kahtan Public Relations, LLC
Meir Kahtan, +1-212-575-8188
mkahtan@rcn.com
or
MasterCard Worldwide
Naya Larsson, +1-914-249-3916
Naya_Larsson@mastercard.com
Permalink: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20101223005836/en/SpendingPulse-2010-Holiday-Full-Season-eCommerce-Report-eCommerce





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