Friday, November 18, 2011

Visa Europe Invests in Beyond Analysis to Strengthen Data Analytics Capabilities

Beyond Analysis

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM--(Marketwire) - Visa Europe has today taken a minority stake in leading customer insight group, Beyond Analysis. The investment will strengthen Visa Europe's data analytics capabilities and forms part of its strategy to deliver increased value for consumers, retailers and banks through electronic payments.

Over £1 in every £4 spent in the UK is spent on a Visa debit, credit or prepaid card, and over 11 billion transactions are processed from across Europe meaning Visa has unrivalled insight into consumer spending patterns. A key feature of Visa Europe's data analytics is that all cardholder information is anonymous and does not include personal or private details.

Mariano Dima, Chief Marketing Officer, Visa Europe, will join the Beyond Analysis Board as part of the investment.

Beyond Analysis is an international consumer insight and strategy business. Following this investment, it will deepen its work with Visa Europe to help manage loyalty programmes and provide advanced analytics and insight based on the spending patterns captured in card transactions processed by Visa Europe. This insight can help retailers and banks to engage with new and existing customers, providing access to a comprehensive source of information based on Visa card transaction history. This will enable banks and retailers to better segment and target their marketing efforts and drive brand loyalty, purchase behaviour and traffic.

The investment by Visa Europe reflects Beyond Analysis' strategic goal to help more organisations undertake successful multi-channel engagement programmes.

Peter Ayliffe, President and CEO of Visa Europe said, "This investment in Beyond Analysis reflects Visa Europe's commitment to redefining its relationship with retailers, helping them to build stronger relationships with customers and secure increased market share. Enhanced data analytics forms a key part of our vision for the future of payments alongside new technology such as mobile payments and e-wallets."

Paul Alexander, CEO of Beyond Analysis said: "We are delighted to be joining forces with our long term partner Visa Europe to deliver ground-breaking advances in data analytics, resulting in enhanced customer engagement opportunities for retailers. We bring to the table not just our expertise in transforming a massive pool of data into business-ready patterns, trends and synergies, but the ability to turn information into insight, intelligence and creative campaigns that drive competitive advantage and customer-centric business decisions."

Citi Renews U.S. Private Label Card Relationship with Sunoco

Multi-Year Renewal and Launch of new Rewards Card to save Customers 5 cents per gallon on all Sunoco Fuel Purchases

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Citi and Sunoco today announced a multi-year renewal of their long-standing U.S. private label credit card relationship.

“Sunoco is committed to offering customers a range of payment options that suit their needs and lifestyles”

Citi has provided branded payment products to leading petroleum product provider Sunoco since 2004. The relationship offers Sunoco locations quick and efficient fuel purchase processing while ensuring that customers have convenient and flexible payment options for their fuel purchases.

“We are honored to renew our long-standing relationship with Sunoco," said Craig Vallorano, Executive Vice President, Strategy and Business Development, Citi Retail Partner Cards. "This renewal and other recent announcements reinforce our long-term commitment to providing best-in-class credit programs to market leaders in the retail industry."

This renewal will also mean good things for customers, including new or expanded Sunoco card product offerings, according to Drew Kabakoff, Sunoco Brand Manager.

“Sunoco is committed to offering customers a range of payment options that suit their needs and lifestyles,” he explained. “We think it’s important to give customers flexibility and reward their loyalty, which is why we have teamed with Citi to recently launch a new rewards card that provides a five-cents-per-gallon discount on fuel purchases at Sunoco retail locations.”

Customers can find information about the rewards card program at over 4,900 Sunoco stations in the U.S. or check outwww.sunocorewards.com for details and to apply online.

Citi Retail Partner Cards provides consumer and commercial credit card products and services, including private label credit cards, for national and regional retailers across the U.S. The business services nearly 90 million accounts and consists of managed assets of approximately $44 billion. Retail partners include: Sears Holdings, The Home Depot, Macy’s, and multiple leading oil and gas companies, among others.

Intuit Grows First-Quarter Revenue 12 Percent; Reiterates Full-year Guidance

NASDAQ in Times Square, New York City, USA.

Image via Wikipedia

November 17, 2011 04:00 PM Eastern Time

Small Business Group Revenue Increased 13 Percent, Driven by Strength in Connected Services

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Intuit Inc. (Nasdaq: INTU) today announced financial results for its first fiscal quarter, which ended Oct. 31, and reiterated guidance for the full fiscal year 2012.

First Quarter Highlights:Unless otherwise noted, all growth rates refer to the current fiscal quarter versus the comparable prior-year quarter.

Increased revenue by 12 percent, to $594 million.
Grew Small Business revenue by double-digits for the seventh consecutive quarter, driven by strong adoption of online and mobile services and improving revenue per customer.
Generated strong revenue growth through connected services. QuickBooks Online increased subscribers 40 percent, to over 300,000.
Reported first quarter fiscal 2012 operating loss narrowed significantly compared to the first quarter last year.
Reiterated guidance for the full fiscal year 2012, including revenue growth of 9 to 11 percent, GAAP earnings per share growth of 19 to 24 percent, and Non-GAAP earnings per share growth of 14 to 17 percent.
Launched Mint.com for the iPad to positive reviews; the current rating is 4.5 out of 5 stars in the Apple app store.


Snapshot of First Quarter Results

	GAAP			Non-GAAP
	Q1 FY12	Q1 FY11	Change	Q1 FY12	Q1 FY11	Change
Revenue	$594	$532	12%	$594	$532	12%
Operating Loss	$(94)	$(104)	NA	$(29)	$(53)	NA
EPS	$(0.21)	$(0.22)	NA	$(0.10)	$(0.12)	NA

Dollars are in millions, except EPS.

Intuit typically posts a seasonal loss in its first fiscal quarter when there is little revenue from its tax businesses but expenses continue at relatively consistent levels.

CEO Perspective

“We’re off to another strong start in fiscal 2012, growing revenue double-digits. Growth was led by our Small Business Group, which has now posted double-digit growth for seven consecutive quarters,” said Brad Smith, president and chief executive officer. “Across the board our first-quarter results are in line with our expectations, so we are reiterating our guidance for fiscal 2012.

“Our business is growing despite a volatile macroeconomic environment, because we benefit from secular tailwinds. The long-term structural shift to connected services is overpowering the cyclical uncertainty weighing down the economy. Intuit also benefits from enriching the mix for our base of 50 million customers who are rapidly adopting connected services, which generate recurring revenue streams and favorable lifetime value economics for Intuit.

“Our results in the first quarter reinforce that our strategy is working and give us confidence as we head into the remainder of our fiscal year. We are in a digital jet stream, as consumers and small businesses increasingly demand access to applications anytime, anywhere and on any device. That demand will only get stronger as the proliferation of mobile devices continues. If we do our job well, and continue to innovate, we will benefit from these ongoing trends for a long time to come.”

Business Segment Results and Highlights

Total Small Business Group revenue increased 13 percent for the quarter. Within the Small Business Group:

Financial Management Solutions segment revenue increased 9 percent. QuickBooks Online grew subscribers by 40 percent and QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions grew subscribers by 28 percent, contributing to a favorable revenue mix.
Employee Management Solutions segment revenue grew 13 percent due to improved customer retention and favorable revenue mix. Total payroll customers were up 3 percent, while online payroll customers were up 20 percent. During the quarter Intuit expanded several partnerships to distribute Intuit Full Service Payroll.
Payment Solutions segment revenue increased 19 percent, driven by 11 percent growth in the merchant customer base and 1 percent growth in transaction volume per merchant.

Consumer Tax

Consumer Tax segment revenue increased to $41 million, a $12 million increase in a seasonally light quarter. More customers filed extended returns in the first quarter of fiscal 2012 compared with a year ago. TurboTax for 2011 will go on sale in retail stores on Nov. 25 and will be available online Dec. 1.

Accounting Professionals

Accounting Professionals segment revenue increased 6 percent to $27 million in a seasonally light quarter.

Financial Services

Financial Services revenue grew 9 percent due to adding financial institutions and end users along with incremental services and mobile adoption. Mobile banking users more than tripled over the last year to more than 1.2 million users, helping to improve revenue per user.

Other Businesses

Other Businesses segment revenue declined 3 percent.

Quarterly Dividend

Intuit paid its first quarterly cash dividend of $0.15 per share, or $45 million, in the first quarter. In November the company’s board of directors approved a quarterly cash dividend of $0.15 per share to be paid on Jan. 18, 2012 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on Jan. 10.

Stock Repurchase Program

During the first quarter, Intuit repurchased $255 million of its shares. At the end of the quarter the company had authorization from its board of directors to use up to an additional $2.4 billion for stock repurchases through August 2014.

CFO Perspective

“We’ve consistently delivered strong total Small Business Group revenue results, which are benefiting from the ongoing shift from desktop to online services,” said Neil Williams, Intuit’s chief financial officer.

“Approximately 70 percent of small business customers now enter the Intuit franchise through a connected service, including QuickBooks Online and other services, up from 40 percent in 2008.

“We expect the rapid adoption of connected services to continue in small business and across all of our businesses. Today, we reported that our first quarter fiscal 2012 loss narrowed significantly compared to the first quarter of last year, which reinforces the benefit of the shift to more recurring, reliable connected services revenue.”

First Data Corp and TCH Complete Merger and JV Company

November 17, 2011 04:00 PM Eastern Time

EFS Transportation Services and TCH Form Joint Venture

ATLANTA & OGDEN, Utah--(BUSINESS WIRE)--First Data Corporation, a global leader in electronic commerce and payment processing, and Transportation Clearing House, TCH, a leading transportation payments organization today announced the two companies have completed their previously announced merger and created a joint venture company. First Data contributed its EFS Transportation Services business to the new venture with TCH. The joint venture creates a leading payment card provider to the transportation industry. No transaction terms were disclosed.

“I am excited that we have formally completed the merger and can now move forward with our plans to change the ‘payments’ landscape for the transportation industry”

“I am excited that we have formally completed the merger and can now move forward with our plans to change the ‘payments’ landscape for the transportation industry,” said Scott Phillips, chief executive officer of TCH and chief executive officer of the joint venture. “We are eager to establish our role as the new Industry leader by bringing unparalleled service levels, customer-driven innovation and new technology to make our Industry better.”

About TCH

Established in 1998 and headquartered in Ogden, Utah, TCH offers payment card products and transaction processing with electronic reporting to the transportation and financial industry. TCH is accepted at over 10,000 locations in the U.S. and Canada. TCH’s portfolio includes: private label fuel cards; TCH Fleet MasterCard^®; TCH Checks & MoneyCodes and TCH SmartPay. TCH recently introduced Z-Con, a card-less technology to process fuel transactions and collect data. Backed by experts in the industry, TCH maintains cutting edge technology in money transfer and data processing. For more information, go to www.tch.com.

About First Data

Around the world, every second of every day, First Data makes payment transactions secure, fast and easy for merchants, financial institutions and their customers. First Data leverages its vast product portfolio and expertise to drive customer revenue and profitability. Whether the choice of payment is by debit or credit card, gift card, check or mobile phone, online or at the checkout counter, First Data takes every opportunity to go beyond the transaction.

Mobile Payment Market Forecasts for: Argentina, Poland, Finland, France, Malaysia, Japan, India, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands

3Q.2011 Argentina Mobile Payment Market Forecast 2009 - 2015

3Q.2011 Poland Mobile Payment Market Forecast 2009 - 2015

3Q.2011 Finland Mobile Payment Market Forecast 2009 - 2015

12,279,616 Online Identity Records Were Lost in October 2011, According to the IdentityHawk Identity Breach Report

November 17, 2011 05:46 PM Eastern Time

IdentityHawk’s October 2011 report accounted for 58 publicly known breaches. IdentityHawk members, armed with information, could take action to help “stop fraud before it starts”

NORWALK, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--IdentityHawk® reported 58 publicly known breaches in October compromising 12,279,616 online records. The results are part of the “breached institutions” listing from The IdentityHawk October 2011 Identity Breach Report. A Ponemon Institute Research Report, entitled "State of Web Application Security Survey" (February 2011) reported that 93% of organizations have been hacked at least once in the past two years.

According to Jeff Paradise, executive director of IdentityHawk, “Identity theft breaches are often initiated because identity thieves steal thousands of records in batches from major enterprises. In fact, in 2002; former White House Cyber Security Advisor, Richard Clarke warned us. He was quoted as saying to enterprises, ‘If you (enterprises) spend more on coffee than on IT security, you will be hacked. What’s more, you deserve to be hacked.’” http://news.cnet.com/2100-1001-840335.html

A data breach, according to the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC), is “an event in which an individual’s name plus Social Security Number (SSN), driver’s license number, medical record, or a financial record/credit/debit card is potentially put at risk – either in electronic or paper format.”

Unfortunately, Paradise continued, “Many organizations, a decade later, are still not spending enough and are not vigilant enough when it comes to protecting enterprise data. Yet, hackers have become more aggressive and sophisticated.”

Date Breached Institution Records Lost

3-Oct-11 Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust 800

3-Oct-2011 Estate of James C. Graham M.D. Unknown

4-Oct-11 Poole NHS Trust 240

4-Oct-11 Association of School and College Leaders 100

5-Oct-11 Elections Alberta 153

5-Oct-11 Indiana University School of Optometry 757

6-Oct-11 London Care PLC Unknown

6-Oct-11 USPS Unknown

6-Oct-11 PESG Unknown

6-Oct-11 College of the Holy Cross 493

6-Oct-11 University of Georgia 18,931

7-Oct-11 James A. Haley Veterans Hospital Unknown

7-Oct-11 air pacific limited Unknown

7-Oct-11 First State Superannuation 568

7-Oct-11 Adult & Pediatric Dermatology (apderm) 2,000

8-Oct-11 Troy School District Unknown

10-Oct-11 Henry Ford Health System 520

10-Oct-11 St. Joseph Medical Center/Preferred Professional Insurance Co. Unknown

11-Oct-11 Chillliwack General Hospital (Canada) 27

11-Oct-11 Futurity First Insurance Group 582

11-Oct-11 Sony Corporation 93,000

13-Oct-11 Spectrum Health Services Inc. Unknown

14-Oct-11 Praxis Care Isle of Man 107

14-Oct-11 Social Security Administration 31,931

14-Oct-11 NEA Baptist Clinic 3,116

14-Oct-11 Chili’s Grill & Bar Restaurant Unknown

14-Oct-11 Financial Tracking Technologies LLC Unknown

15-Oct-11 San Antonio Independent School District Unknown

16-Oct-11 Ashley D. Bell Law Office Unknown

17-Oct-11 Metropolitan Police Service 105

19-Oct-11 Well United Methodist Church 40

19-Oct-11 Order & Chaos Online Unknown

20-Oct-11 Edge Hill University 798

20-Oct-11 Wells Fargo Unknown

22-Oct-11 Concordia Plan Services Unknown

23-Oct-11 Hazelton Community Ambulance Unknown

24-Oct-11 Guadalajara 2011 Organizing Committee Unknown

24-Oct-11 Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare 9,000,000

24-Oct-11 Cheaptickets.nl 715,000

25-Oct-11 United States Department of Education 5,000

25-Oct-11 Ocala Police Department 149

25-Oct-11 Mobile Telesystems (MTS) 1,600,000

25-Oct-11 Bloggtoppem.se 80,000

26-Oct-11 AW Urval 314

26-Oct-11 Indalex Inc. (Sapa AB) Unknown

26-Oct-11 Indigo Joe's Unknown

27-Oct-11 James A. Haley Veterans Hospital Unknown

27-Oct-11 Muir Orthopaedic Specialists 1,800

27-Oct-11 Mama’s Boy Italian Ristorante Unknown

27-Oct-11 Eaton Group Unknown

27-Oct-11 Vancouver Coastal Health Authority 450

27-Oct-11 University Hospitals Coventry & Warwickshire NHS Trust 18

28-Oct-11 United States Air Force (Yakota AFB - Japan) 593

28-Oct-11 Newcastle Youth Offending Team (UK) 110

29-Oct-11 Archangel Security Company 30

31-Oct-11 Banglatv.ca 1,517

31-Oct-11 hi5ads.com 5,067

31-Oct-11 British Columbia Ministry of Children and Family Development Unknown

TOTAL Records Lost: 12,279,616

MasterCard and Intel Decide to Put Contactless Readers in Laptops

MasterCard And Intel Want To Put Contactless Readers In Laptops—Maybe Even Soon Enough To Matter

Written by Frank Hayes for StorefrontBacktalk.com on November 16th, 2011

E-Commerce has been depending on the trustworthiness of strangers for a long time—customers typing in what might easily be stolen payment-card numbers from thousands of miles away. That might be changing soon, and with a real advantage for E-tailers. On Monday (Nov. 14), MasterCard and Intel announced a push to install a contactless reader in laptops, so they’ll function as PayPass readers to take contactless payment cards—with a lot less trust required.

A MasterCard spokesman, Brian Gendron, wouldn’t commit to the card brand accepting such transactions as “card present,” at least not at this point. It’s early—MasterCard and Intel expect to get all the authentication issues nailed down by 2012, with actual payments by laptop-owning online shoppers starting shortly thereafter. But anything that uses built-in hardware to close the gulf between the retailer and the physical card should help push interchange rates down.

The MasterCard/Intel effort wouldn’t be the first try at bridging that gap. The idea is something like the PC keyboards with a built-in card-swipe slot, except with a tap instead of a swipe and the improved security designed into contactless cards. That should give the laptop a much better chance at confirming that a bona fide card (or mobile-wallet-equipped phone) has been used on the far end of the wire, especially because a card brand is behind the effort.