Skimming and counterfeiting credit and debit cards is quickly becoming a global affair as these news stories attest: Remember the slogan "Don't Leave Home Without It"? I
t's safe to say those days are over as the time is ripe for shopping "at home" using your very own personal magnetic card reader with PIN entry capability. No home should be without one. See: Reverse Matriculation, Bringing the POS Device Home
Take a look at the video I embedded into this post showing "how easy" it is for your credit card information to be swiped, downloaded onto a laptop and transferred over to a blank card. It's amazingly easy The video can be found on the bottom of this post..
Naples Daily News, FL -1 hour ago Ramon Rodriguez, 20, and Yanet Leyva, 21, were each charged with possession of counterfeit credit cards and illegal use of credit cards. ...
I just finished viewing/listening in to a webinar on the new initiative launched by Source Media called Payments Source.
According to the webinar, which took place at 12:00 PST today, Payments Source aims to become the "Go to Resource for Payments Focused News and Data." They said that they look to be the "most comprehensive service in the industry" and subscribers will have access to thousands of news articles aggregated from Source Media's publications, including: American Banker, Bank Technology News, Cardline, ATM Debit News, Cards & Payments, PrePaid Trends and more.
Payments Source subscriptions will include detailed information on:
35 Key Industry Rankings and Stats
7000+ Company Profiles (and growing)
6000+ Executive Profiles (and growing)
1000's of News Articles relating to the Payments Industry
Annual cost to subscribe is $1995 per year
Payments Source aspires to become the new web application for vital business intelligence for the payments industry. It promises to provide information designed to allow subscribers to "stay ahead of the competition by becoming the first to know about industry developments on need to know intelligence in the payments space.
Other features on Payments Source include:
A fully customizable HomePage which they call "The Watch Page." On the Watch Page subscribers see a (based on your own criteria), homepage riddled with information at their fingertips. The information includes such topics as "Top News," "Research Reports," "Rankings/Stats," "Lists" and "Marketing Trends." Payments Source also break down each of these by sectors: Debit, Credit, Processors, Networks, Merchant Acquirers and Credit Risk. (I posed a question during the webinar whether they had plans to specifically cover the "Alternative Payments" sector but did not get a response...in fairness, the question was posed near the end of the webinar).
Other features: Company Profiles, which include locations of Parent, (corporate) and subsidiary's and their addresses, key executives, number of employees, financials and other key data. Data is broken down into sectors such as credit (quarterly) and debit (annually)
Another section, entitled: "more payment professionals" include EVP's SVP's, VP's, their profiles, names, titles, biography, function, news about that person and "possibly" contact information.
The Rankings and Statistics section has been put together by a data specialist from their Chicago office; (sorry missed his name) is updated quarterly and can be downloaded to Excel. In another feature, subscribers can build "Lists" with alist builder platform designed to "save time on marketing and lead generation activities according to John McGovern, the "Enterprise Business Development Director." Finally, a section entitled "Events" obviously pertains to card payment industry related events and those can be viewed by month, name, location and/or sector.
According to Andrew Rowe, Publisher of Payments Source, they spent the last 16 months putting together a "more targeted and robust payments source than has ever existed before." I get a two-week trial for attending the event and look forward to taking a closer look. I'll bring you more on this new source for payments information upon the conclusion of my trial, including a thumbs up, way up, or down.
In the meantime, if you'd like more information on Payments Source you may view a free online site tour by clicking the graphich on the right: To see if you qualify for a complimentary two week pass:
Call or Email Now:
See if you qualify for a 2-week FREE trial! 800-535-8403 or info@paymentssource.com, Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. ET. Or you may contact:
According to Internet Retailer Magazine, Kohl's is ranked 63rd among Internet Retailers...
For the quarter ended Aug. 2, e-commerce revenue for Kohl’s increased by 34.1% to $65.6 million from $48.9 million in the prior year.
In the second quarter, overall revenue grew year over year by 3.6% while comparable store sales dropped by 4.6%. The web and e-commerce accounted for 2% of total sales, but generated 13% of growth across all channels.
For the first two quarters, e-commerce sales for Kohl’s rose year over year by 31.1% to $132.8 million from $101.3 million.
Overall Kohl’s also posted net income of $389 million on revenue of $7.34 billion vs. net income of $478.2 million on sales of $7.16 billion in the prior period. Comparable store sales dropped by 5.6%. “We remain conservative in our sales expectations for the fall season and will manage our business accordingly,” says Kohl’s chairman Larry Montgomery. “We are well positioned to chase business should the environment improve.”
In August, Montgomery was replaced as CEO by Kohl’s president Kevin Mansell, who will continue to oversee e-commerce. As board chairman, Montgomery will retain management responsibility for growth and talent management, including human resources, legal and real estate development.
First Data Releases Their 21st Annual Consumer Payment Usage Study.
This fourteen page report reports on trends, segmentation opportunities with special focus on six different POS payment categories that consumers tend to be most comfortable: Signature Debit, PIN Debit,Cash + PIN Debit, Cash Only, Check Only and Credit Card.
Not surprisingly PIN Debit is "experiencing the most growth" while checks have experienced the greatest decline. The report correlates other payment behavior for each payment category such as bill payment behavior, internet purchases, security concerns and more.
Here are some highlights of the study. As always, click any graphic to enlarge it to full size. To read the study in it's entirety, follow this link:
For the 21st consecutive year, First Data conducted an annual consumer study to understand and track changes in consumer attitudes and behaviors toward various payment methods. The intent of the annual study is to learn more about critical information for retaining customers, acquiring new customers, differentiating products and services and producing a higher rate of return for businesses.The 2007/2008 Consumer Payments Usage and Segmentation Study revealed key trends that merchants may want to consider in marketing and utilizing ATM/debit cards and related products.
ATM/Debit Card Use Continues to GrowThe frequency of using an ATM/debit card increased from 2006 to 2007 with more consumers reporting using their card in the past 30 days. Of particular note is the substantial 11 percent increase (63 percent in 2007 up from 52 percent in 2006) in past 30-day card use by the 61+ age group. In general, the reported number of times an ATM/debit card is used in the past 30 days continues to edge up slightly and is slowly approaching usage level of once per day. According to the survey, usage levels of ATM/debit cards are driven mostly by POS use.
Compared to 2006, the two segments of PIN Debit and Signature Debit comprised a larger share of the marketplace in 2007. This is likely due to consumers gaining more familiarity with electronic payment methods, prolific accessibility to ATM/debit cards and attraction toward the speed, convenience and protection offered by ATM/debit cards relative to traditional payment methods, such as checks. The PIN Debit segment records the highest growth of all segments and is now almost equal in size to the Cash segment, which also posted an increase, though marginal.
PIN Debit Segment – Changes Versus 2006
The PIN Debit segment mainly comprises consumers 25 to 60 years. However, in 2007, the proportion of customers age 61 years and older in this segment increased slightly. A gender concentration shift also occurred as more women than men now form a larger part of this segment. Though security remains the top reason users report for preferring PIN debit, speed (faster/quicker) gained ground as a reason in 2007.
Biggest Tip: Shop At Home with HomeATM's Personal Magnetic Stripe PIN Entry Device
Notice: These tips are for bricks and mortar shoppers only.None of these tips apply when shopping in the safety of your own home with your own personal magnetic card reader and PIN Entry Device, such as the one provided by HomeATM.
Contrary to popular belief, shopping online is safer than venturing into a bricks and mortar establishment and having to worry about POS terminals that have been tampered with, employees who can swipe your card data into hand held magnetic card readers, etc. etc. etc. Should you feel the need to take a risk and make a purchase in the bricks and vulture, er mortar world, here are some tips designed to reduce your chances of getting skimmed:
1. Get your card back quickly. The shorter the time that your card is away from you, the less chance there is of a fraud. Otherwise it can get skimmed, or an employee or other person could take a quick picture of it with a cell phone camera. I'm not trying to make you paranoid here, I'm just trying to increase awareness. 2. Restaurants Can Eat You Up: Tell your waiter that you prefer to pay at the register rather than handing him or her your credit card and having them walk away with it unseen. That way, you're less likely to be subject to skimming, a scam whereby an employee takes an unauthorized scan of your card. If you must hand your card over to a waiter or salesperson, keep the card in your sight at all times. But I cannot imagine a situation where "you must" hand it over. Just explain that you are aware how easy it is to skim a card, and "nothing personal" but that "ounce" of prevention sounds good after dinner.
3. Don't Pay at the Pump: This is a two-fold tip. First off, skimming devices, such as the one pictured on the right are inserted behind panels at gas pumps. They cannot be seen by the naked eye. When you swipe your card, they swipe your card information. So pay inside and you'll avoid this problem. Gas Pump card swipe technology is very technologically primitive. You pay enough at the pump, why risk it?
The second tip regarding the purchase of gasoline is this. When you pay inside, use your PIN number. When you pay at the pump, (not only do you risk having your card skimmed) the bank usually places a hold of up to $100 on your account, even if you've only purchased $25 worth of gas.
So pay inside, and use your PIN. PIN-based transactions are immediately authorized and only the exact amounts are deducted from your account with no holds. You also eliminate potential overdraft fees incurred from the bank holds placed on your account, which can last up to 72 hours.
4. Look for security cameras. PCI data security standards require merchants who process credit cards in person to have security cameras trained on card processing areas, notes Miller. Unfortunately, many don't, which means the retailer, restaurant or other merchant is more likely to be subject to internal credit card fraud by employees. If employees know that security cameras are monitoring them, they are less likely to try to commit fraud.
5. Beware of tip fraud. Yeah, I know these are tips to prevent fraud, but don't be coy with me here. I'm talking about the types of tip fraud where you add a servicer tip onto your credit or debit card charge. In those circumstances you risk tip fraud, which is a scam whereby a service employee alters the tip amount when entering the final bill at the cash register or point-of-sale system.
6. Check for skimming at ATM and PIN entry terminals. I've talked a lot about this on the HomeATM PIN Debit Blog recently. Criminals plant skimming devices. Skimmers frequently attach these devices to ATMs or mini-camera's (see graphic on right) to record PIN numbers, then steal card data encoded on magnetic strips. Therefore, if an ATM or PIN entry device looks suspect, don't use it, and inform the authorities.
67 WALL STREET, New York - The Wall Street Transcript has just published its Business Services issue, a report offering a timely review of the sector to serious investors and industry executives. This 55-page feature contains a roundtable forum and industry commentary through in depth interviews with CEOs from 7 firms and 3 analysts.
Topics covered: Relative valuations, Stock performance year to date, Organic growth, Slowdown in outsourcing services, Outlook for transaction processors, Call centers and customer care, International business outlook, M&A activity, Growth in Eastern Europe, Indian IT vendor stocks, Accounting software space, End markets, China, India, Turnaround situations, Merchant acquirers, Investor interest, Stock picks, Stocks to avoid.
Companies include: Global Payments (GPN); Advent Software (ADVS); SEI Investments (SEIC); Heartland Payments (HPY); Fidelity National Information Services (FIS); MasterCard (MA); Visa (V); Alliance Data Systems (ADS); Yucheng Technologies (YTEC); Fiserv (FISV); Net 1 UEPS (UEPS); Ness Technologies (NSTC); VanceInfo (VIT); Cognizant Technology (CTSH); Sykes (SYKE); Genpact (G); TNS (TNS); Wright Express (WXS); CyberSource (CYBS); Jack Henry (JKHY); S1 (SONE); Robert Half International (RHI); MPS Group (MPS); Heidrick & Struggles (HSII).
In the following brief excerpt from the 55-page report, the analysts discuss the outlook for the sector and for investors.
TWST: Andrew, how has business been relative to what you had expected so far this year?
Mr. Jeffrey: I think it's been pretty strong although somewhat bifurcated relative to my expectations. I think what you've seen is that those companies with exposure to financial institution end markets have put up relatively mixed results, although on balance, I'd say maybe a touch better than what I'd anticipated to date, given the credit carnage in the financial markets. Those companies in payments which are touching the consumer, be that merchant acquiring or the network models, have actually done extremely well - if you think about MasterCard (MA) and Visa (V) and to some extent Global Payments (GPN), largely because they have good pricing power, they are taking share and they are in the sweet spots of their operating leverage curve. So on balance, I'd say things are in line to be a little better than expected.
And from a stock market standpoint, it is a question now of whether investors are willing to pay premium multiples for slowing growth, or whether they are digging around for value. It looks like maybe there is a bit of a rotation starting to take place toward more value oriented names in the space.
TWST: David, same question. How have things been relative to what you anticipated?
Mr. Koning: I'd say in the core processing group, it's interesting. There has been a lot of skepticism, given their end markets are the financial institutions that have struggled quite significantly, but because the systems they provide are so necessary for the banks, they really haven't seen much of an impact at all in spending. In fact, the overall market growth remains roughly in the mid-single digits, maybe 1% or so below where they would have seen growth in a normal environment, but overall, quite similar to a normal environment.
And then I would say in the call center area, we've seen some individual companies put up poor results. But overall, in the end, trends seem to be relatively intact. We've had different problems such as currency pressures or big client exposures hurting some of these companies, but overall demand is reasonably intact. So despite the market skepticism across several of these groups, the results have been reasonably as expected.
TWST: Tom, what's your take on what you've seen so far?
Mr. McCrohan: Results for the most part came in a little better than we were anticipating. I think we were postured pretty conservatively going into the quarter; we had some concerns on some of the merchant acquirers in particular, given the slowdown we've seen on credit, but they've all reported better than expected results.
There was one name that I follow that's really outside of payments called Advent Software (ADVS) that develops and sells portfolio accounting software for investment managers and hedge funds, and that name really had a good quarter for a software company. None of the software companies were saying they were seeing any slowdown, but we are of the opinion that you'll see it when you see it, and so we thought this was going to be a white-knuckle quarter for us, and in the end they had really strong bookings growth.
There's an important distinction within the software market; we don't follow a lot of software companies, this is kind of a one-off name for us. But the distinction is between those software companies that sell to the consumer (they have had some struggles) and those that are selling to institutional clients, such as Advent Software. Bookings growth and trends are staying really healthy for firms selling to institutions and for this company in particular, bookings growth has averaged about 50%.
TWST: Jamie, how have things turned out relative to what you anticipated?
Mr. Friedman: We've noticed in the second quarter that in IT services, stocks performed based on expectations, maybe even more pronounced this quarter than in the past. The Indian IT vendors stocks came under significant pressure. There's a significant deceleration in outsourcing relative to last year. There was some expectation mid-quarter that the companies' growth could recover. But their guidance was just too bearish and the stocks in general really sold off.
Exceptions appear in pockets, like outside of India, in Eastern Europe and China. There's a company called Ness Technologies (NSTC) that now does most of its revenue in Eastern Europe, which appears to me to be the healthiest IT outsourcing market in the world right now. Ness put up 70% year-on-year growth in Eastern Europe and that stock has really responded. The same is true in China, where VanceInfo (VIT) operates.
There does appear to be some disruption now in the third quarter related to the Olympics, particularly in the month of August, but it's a huge end market and the demand trends seem to be healthy. There's a small company in China called Yucheng Technologies (YTEC) that we cover. Their revenue appears to be far in excess of what we had anticipated. So it's been a mixed bag of slower growth in India, good growth in Eastern Europe, and steady growth in China.
TWST: Jamie, what's your thought as we look out? What's going to go on in the space given the economy?
Mr. Friedman: I just want to make sure we harmonize the conversation - business services is a broad space. There are a lot of different industries and companies. It sounds like the direction of the conversation is more toward the transaction processors. I may have been answering in terms of the outsourcing IT service consulting firms.
TWST: We're going to touch on all of them.
Mr. Friedman: Okay, let me start first with the IT outsourcing services. I think it's going to be the same trend. If you can, identify small cap value with good markets, with the thesis being that if you're in a good market it's easier to fix the business than if you're in a challenged market. I continue to like the themes that I am seeing, that I mentioned in the beginning in China and in Eastern Europe. NSTC is one, VanceInfo is another, and YTEC is a third. I may be the only guy here who has ever even heard of those companies, so that may be too obscure a subject! To open it up more generally, I'm still cautious about the overall demand trends domestically both on the corporate and the consumer side, though I do think there will be something of a budget flush if there's any budget left to flush by year-end. A company like Cognizant (CTSH), which is a larger cap vendor, they just came into the year with too high expectations and did have to reduce those, but it's a 15 multiple stock that now seems to have good visibility to a 30% plus growth year. 30% growth in a recession, although it may be much lower than their historic growth, is pretty good for a 15 multiple. So that gives you a mix of names - China, Eastern Europe and the US.
The Wall Street Transcript is a unique service for investors and industry researchers - providing fresh commentary and insight through verbatim interviews with CEOs and research analysts. This 55-page special issue is available by calling (212) 952-7433 or via The Wall Street Transcript Online
The Wall Street Transcript does not endorse the views of any interviewees nor does it make stock recommendations. For Information on subscribing to The Wall Street Transcript, please call 800/246-7673
Yesterday the Boston Globe did a story on the same subject.
As I stated in my post from two weeks ago, the problem is easily solved with HomeATM's patent-pending "PIN my Card" technology .
"PIN my Card" a technology created by HomeATM, assigns a PIN number to a credit card (or any card for that matter) in order to make the transaction both more secure and become a Card Present (CP) vs. Card Not Present (CNP) transaction in the case of online payments.
It occured to me, in theory at least, that HomeATM's "PIN my Card" technology would also be useful in overcoming problems American cardholders are experiencing when traveling globally. Since PIN's are required with the new Chip and PIN technology being rolled out across the globe, HomeATM's "PIN my Card" could be rolled out across America to solve the SNAFU's American's are experiencing when traveling overseas!
This recent flurry of publicity concerning the problems American's are having overseas creates a huge opportunity for HomeATM to, at the very least, garner some major publicity for their technology itself and quite ostensibly be the driving force behind it's launch. Stay tuned!
New global system declines the cards Americans carry
Much of the world - but not the United States - is switching to a new type of credit card. "Chip-and-PIN" cards, as they are called, have an embedded ID chip that requires users to enter a unique code before the transaction is approved. T
he procedure is similar to that for ATM cards, except that the latter draws money from a cash account, while chip-and-PIN cards charge credit systems such as Visa, MasterCard, or American Express.Europe is quickly making the shift.
Nearly all the credit-card terminals in Britain, Ireland, Denmark, France, and Spain have been changed. Canada is scheduled to convert in 2010. And as many as 50 other countries around the world are converting.
The reason is obvious: A credit card requiring a PIN code is useless to a thief. European officials report that the system has significantly cut the credit-card fraud that grew after former Soviet bloc countries joined the European Union.
But US consumers cannot get these cards. (Editor's Note: Yes they can, they already have them, they just need to "PIN their Card"
No US card issuer offers them, ("PIN your card and it's a "non-issue") and according to the American Bankers Association,
there are no plans to adopt the technology.(well let''s call the ABA and let them know about our PMC technology)
"It would be costly to change all the transaction terminals in the US," says Don Rhodes, director of risk management policy at the ABA, "and right now the industry doesn't seem to feel the level of fraud justifies it."(Editor's Note: Last week in the very same Boston Globe, the CEO of TJ Maxx said the US should switch to a Chip and PIN system)
In theory, overseas merchants are required to accept US cards (which are called "mag-stripe," for the magnetic stripe that identifies each card) if the cardholder can offer a suitable picture ID to authenticate a signature."We have been quite clear that there are instances where a signature rather than a PIN should be accepted," says Sandra Quinn, a spokeswoman for the British payment processing council APACS, about a procedure called a PIN bypass. "But I have heard of problems."
Problems, indeed. Even Rhodes ran into trouble on a trip to London last winter.
Visa cards are rejected about half the time, and never accepted at automatic pay points where there was no live cashier. (Officials at Visa International, the world's largest payment network, declined to comment.)So what can US travelers do when they are in chip-and-PIN countries?
Editor's Note: Just for the record...if they PIN their Card before they leave the problem is a non-issue.
Cash usually works. But carrying large amounts comes with the risk of theft or loss and forces travelers to bear costly foreign exchange fees. Also many businesses such as car rental agencies will not accept cash and require a credit card imprint before handing over the keys to a car, though such companies are the most likely to still accept mag-stripe cards.Depending on the country, travelers checks are accepted in many places. Scandinavian merchants usually will not take them, and travel specialists have advised against them, as they are theft magnets. To use them you must find a bank that will cash them. And traveler's checks, like cash, do not offer the advantages of credit cards that appeal to frequent travelers: postponing payment for a month, an avenue to dispute charges, monthly and yearly expense tracking, and frequent flier miles.
Debit cards like the ones you use at ATMs (which are ubiquitous worldwide) usually can be substituted for credit cards. But relying on them means you must ensure there is plenty of cash in your account.
If you are planning a trip soon and want to use your credit cards, make sure you have several good picture IDs to back up your signature, a passport or a driver's license, for instance. IDs that have a scannable bar code, such as a passport, are best.
And despite what the payment-processing groups and card issuers say, many merchants will want payment with a code card, (PIN) period. "No code, no ticket," I was told in Copenhagen at Danish National Railways. "No exceptions."
This could be a huge market opportunity for HomeATM's PIN my Card Solution. Stay tuned!
In a letter sent out by Catherine Swift of the CFIB, she warns merchants that Visa and MasterCard "want in" and are trying to convince Interac to interact (collude?) with them to bring "Debit American Style" to Canada. The full letter can be accessed and read here:
Here's an excerpt from that letter...
On the debit card side of the market, Canada has long operated with Interac, a cooperative venture among banks, credit unions, payment related companies and others, as the principal clearing house for debit transactions at comparatively reasonable cost to consumers and merchants. The growth in debit has been astronomical since its introduction in 1984.
VISA and MasterCard now want in on the action in Canada and are trying to convince the banks to support them with the promise of greater fee income. In the U.S., both VISA and MasterCard allow their credit cards to double as debit cards; in most cases, debit transactions also attract the “interchange rate” (a percentage of the transaction amount), not the flat fee charged by Interac. We believe that if VISA and MasterCard were to bring the same service to Canada, debit rates would go up dramatically. Therefore, VISA and MasterCard will make a great deal more money than has been charged in the past by Interac’s “flat fee” approach, with no extra value accruing to the merchant.
Currently, debit attracts a “cents per transaction” fee. If the credit card companies succeed, the market will move to a fee which is a percentage of the transaction size. For example, for a transaction of $1,000, a current common rate would be $0.065 (6.5 cents). In future, if the charge was to become 0.65 per cent (the current U.S. average), the fee would be $6.50—an increase of almost 10,000 per cent!
Well it looks like her insight was, well...insightful. Here's an article from Report on Business claiming that Interac is planning on ditching it's non-profit approach to payment processing:
The non-profit association that runs Canada's main payments network for automated banking machine and debit transactions is in talks with the Competition Bureau about a restructuring that would likely allow it to make a profit.
The Interac Association, created in the mid-1980s by a number of big banks and Desjardins Group, is about to embark on a major revamp to battle credit card companies, such as Visa Inc., that aim to invade Canada's debit market.
"We're quite aware that U.S.-based credit card companies are aggressively entering the debit marketplace in Canada, like they have done in most other countries around the world," Interac chief executive officer Mark O'Connell said. They are pushing into the sector "as we speak" and are "newly empowered as public companies," he said.
San Francisco-based Visa went public in the spring, two years after the successful initial public offering of Purchase, N.Y.-based MasterCard Inc.
Mr. O'Connell fears Interac risks falling behind as the industry rapidly innovates. There are already products, such as MasterCard's "tap & go" PayPass, that he would like Interac to be keeping up with. "The payments market is evolving every day," he said. "It's not just the U.S.-based credit card companies. You have PayPal, you have a number of unique payment companies in the marketplace, a number of new technologies. Look at mobile payments and its evolution in other countries around the world.
"Canada needs to ensure we can keep up and innovate in those areas," he added.
Interac direct payment, which allows consumers to pay for purchases with their debit cards, was made available to retailers across Canada in 1994. Canadians are now some of the world's most active debit card users.
But in the 1990s, the Competition Bureau went after Interac and nine of its members, accusing them of abusing their power in the payments sector. Interac signed an agreement in 1996 that it must be managed on a not-for-profit basis, and it can only charge fees that cover its costs. The agreement with the regulator, among other things, also placed rules on the makeup of Interac's board and its membership.
The agreement has constrained Interac's services over the past 12 years, Mr. O'Connell said. "We're in discussions with [the Competition Bureau] to amend the consent order to allow us to be more fast and nimble and efficient, to respond to the realities of the changing competitive marketplace," he said., adding that it is early days in the talks and no time frame has been established.
The discussions are one of a number of steps that Interac, which has already completed an internal reorganization, is taking as it seeks to keep up with the pace of change in the payments sector.
"There are many options with respect to governance and ownership, and there have been no decisions made on which path to go down and what model to employ, and that's the work that's beginning through the transition board," Mr. O'Connell said.
Asked whether Interac is considering an IPO, he said, "I think all options are being considered."
The battleground has changed now that Visa is public, with new funds and flexibility.
In most other countries, the major credit card companies also have debit products.
Visa long ago established the pricing, or fees, it would use for debit transactions in Canada. Any bank or financial institution that issues its credit cards has had the opportunity to offer its debit cards, but none bit.
Visa is hoping that will soon change, thanks to a number of industry developments, including the country's migration to the use of "chip" cards over the next couple of years. Chip cards use a microchip and a personal identification number (PIN), rather than a magnetic strip, and are expected to lead to a host of innovations in the card industry, possibly including combined debit-credit cards.
Some of these changes in the payments sector are concerning retailers, who fear the fees they pay to accept cards are going to rise.
The Retail Council is already up in arms over changes made to the fees that merchants must pay to accept credit card transactions, and it is actively pushing Ottawa to establish more oversight of the charges.
The only fees that Interac collects come from its members, largely banks and other financial institutions. The members can charge customers to use Interac services, and retailers and merchants pay a small fee - such as a nickel - to processing firms every time a customer pays with debit.
Mr. O'Connell said Interac recently established an independent board, which has "significant merchant representation," and will look at the issue of potential fee changes.
He noted that "being the low-cost provider has been a strategic advantage for this organization, and the merchant community is tremendously important to Interac."
The newly formed board is also examining five services that Interac currently offers: the ABM payments network, direct payment, e-mail money transfers, online payments, and its cross-border service, as the organization embarks on its overhaul.
It is still early days in its transformation and various possibilities are under consideration, Mr. O'Connell stressed. "We want to make sure that we do this right."
Changing Retail Shopping Channels Will more consumers switch to the Web in Q4?
Asked if they preferred shopping on the Internet or in brick-and-mortar stores, the largest group of responding US online buyers (38%) said they used both channels about the same amount.
Slightly more respondents (31%) to PriceGrabber.com's "Back to School Survey" said they preferred making their purchases online than said they preferred buying in physical retail stores (27%).
As retailers turn their attention toward the holiday season, it is useful to look at the shopping channels consumers used last year. Shop.org's eHoliday Mood Study, conducted during the 2007 holiday shopping season, showed how consumers divided their holiday purchases among retailers' stores, Websites and catalogs.
A total of 63% of US online buyers surveyed made their holiday purchases in two or three retail channels as of the end of November 2007. That number would have been even higher if consumers who researched products in one channel and then bought them in another were included.
Responding online buyers in the Shop.org study who expressed a preference for one channel over another were slightly more likely to favor brick-and-mortar retail stores (18.28%) over online stores (17.78%).
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM, Sep 04, 2008 (MARKET WIRE via COMTEX) -- Reportlinker.com announces that a new market research report related to the Electronics industry is available in its catalogue.
This report analyzes the worldwide markets for Automated Teller Machines in Thousands of Units. The report provides separate comprehensive analytics for the US, Canada, Japan, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Middle East, Africa, and Latin America. Annual forecasts are provided for each region for the period of 2000 through 2015.
The report profiles 42 companies including many key and niche players worldwide such as Chungho ComNet Co., Ltd., Diebold, Inc., Euronet Worldwide, Inc., Fujitsu, Greenlink Technologies, Inc., Hitachi-Omron Terminal Solutions, Corp., NCR Corporation, Tranax Technologies, Inc., Triton Systems, Inc., Verifone Holdings, Inc., and Wincor Nixdorf International GmbH. Market data and analytics are derived from primary and secondary research.
Company profiles are mostly extracted from URL research and reported select online sources.
I noticed the blog getting a "significantly" higher number of hits recently. Well I found out why. When someone does a "Google Search" for the term "pin debit" the HomeATM Blog comes back in the number 2 position...only behind First Data, who holds the #1 spot.
Considering that HomeATM hadn't posted "it's first data" until March of this year, that's not "2" bad... especially based on 283,000 results for "pin debit." which has existed since before Google.
I guess it's safe to say that First Data and HomeATM
Consumers in Brazil will spend BRL8.5 billion ($5.9 billion) online this year, according to e-bit.
E-commerce in Brazil, like so many other key Internet metrics in that country, is maturing fast. Between 2001 and 2007, e-commerce revenues as reported in e-bit's "Web Shoppers" study increased more than tenfold.
The country's growth in online spending is directly related to its rapidly growing population of online buyers, who are among the most-active retail e-commerce users in the world.
With 55% of respondents in Brazil saying they thought online buying was secure, the country's consumers were slightly less likely than their neighbors to feel safe about retail e-commerce.
Bringing PIN Debit to the Web is one of the last frontiers for e-payments. It's hugely popular in the bricks and mortar world, more secure than the current platform, and because of that security, enjoys interchange fees that are SIGNIFICANTLY lower...quite an enticing proposition for Internet Retailers. Previous attempts to bring PIN debit to the web have proved futile...HomeATM's prospects are nothing but fertile... Here's a recent article from eCommerce Times discussing why:
Even in a down economy, there is money to be made for those who know where to look. One such area of golden opportunity is the e-commerce sector. Many of the same factors that are dampening consumer spending in the brick-and-mortar world -- gas prices, for instance -- are driving shoppers online, notes Safeguard Scientific SVP Kevin Kemmerer.
The U.S. economy is in a funk, but that doesn't mean opportunities for venture investors have dried up. E-commerce is one sector that will see continued growth opportunities even in an economic downturn.
In fact, industry observers say growth and revenue opportunities for e-commerce ventures -- such as alternative payment options, are as attractive as ever.
Trends Converge
It's also a global industry, unrestrained by borders.
As the number of Internet users around the world rises, so too does the number of Internet shoppers and the amount they spend.
E-commerce remains appealing to consumers and interesting to VCs for several reasons. Increased Internet adoption, low-cost broadband, ubiquitous smartphones, increasingly sophisticated e-marketing technology and stronger security are driving consumers to shop online.When they shop, they typically find the goods they want at prices that local retailers find hard to beat. Better still, orders are delivered to consumers' doors for much less than the cost of a tank of gas.
It's a perfect competitive mix for today's current economic environment.
Fueling this rising tide are innovative companies that are identifying unmet needs(PIN based transactions are extremely popular in the bricks and mortar world.) or technological gaps in the global e-commerce infrastructure -- and then filling them with sophisticated new services or technologies. Some of the areas of highest activity:
* Security
Consumers lost a total of US $49.3 billion to identity theft last year, and the figure continues to climb. Online businesses are under increasing market and legislative pressure to keep shoppers' information safe. The opportunity for tech companies is to develop superior techniques for keeping sensitive information out of the hands of cyber-thieves. Clearly, conventional tools for dealing with viruses, phishing attacks, spyware and other malicious software aren't doing the job. Demand from consumers, merchants and financial institutions is sustaining healthy investment opportunities in young companies with a focus on security. (Editor's Note: PIN based transactions are the most secure transactions)
* New payment methods
With U.S. consumer debt at all-time highs, adjustable-rate mortgages squeezing homeowners, and food and fuel prices setting records, consumers are more willing than ever to consider alternative ways to pay.
This goes double for merchants, who are competing aggressively for buyers' loyalty and dollars.
That's opening doors for technology innovators, who are rolling out alternative payment systems that are interest-free, incentivized, more secure than credit cards, or all of the above.
PayPal was an early entrant into this space, but the success of firms like BillMeLater indicates that there's still plenty of room for innovation. (Editor's Note: Exactly why HomeATM has spent the last 8 years designing, testing, and now ready to release it's Internet PIN Debit Platform!)
This represents an interesting area for investors looking to get a piece of the multibillion dollar payments industry.
Javelin Strategy and Research forecasts that online debit payments will grow to $93.9 billion by 2012, see chart on right Editors Note: One of the last frontiers for innovation in the payments space is... unarguably...web-based PIN debit. Here's why...along with links to various articles/posts explaining each...
Fact: It provide retailers with a significantly lower interchange.
Fact: PIN on the net is Virgin Territory...(talk about the potential for "net profit")
The article continues:
* Advertising technology
Internet advertising represents just 10 percent of global ad expenditures. Even so, that makes it a $21 billion industry -- one that's growing faster than any other advertising sector. Advertising as a whole is transitioning from print, radio and television to the Internet. This is a major media shift, and it will create great opportunity for startups all along the marketing infrastructure portion of the value chain. This will be most notable in the technology that facilitates more sophisticated targeting of ads. While analyst forecasts of the near-term online ad market vary, there's no doubt that the upside, in the long term, is huge.
Instability in major areas of the U.S. economy is certainly cause for concern, but that doesn't mean venture capitalists are rolling up their welcome mats and bolting the doors. The venture industry is surprisingly resilient, thanks in no small part to its ability to ferret out bright spots of opportunity where others fear to tread.
These days, that means keeping a keen eye on expanding demand for e-commerce services and technologies. These sectors have defied downturns in the past and will likely continue to do so in years to come.
Skimming and counterfeiting credit and debit cards is quickly becoming a global affair as these news stories attest: Remember the slogan "Don't Leave Home Without It"? I
Biggest Tip: Shop At Home with HomeATM's Personal Magnetic Stripe PIN Entry Device
