Pacific Amber And YESpay's Partnership Takes Another Dimension As Large Numbers Of Merchants Go Live In North America!

April 28, 2011

A growing number of merchants in Canada and USA are now Live and EMV Chip & PIN enabled thanks to the trio: Pacific Amber Technologies, YESpay International and Chase Paymentech! Since 2010, merchants using AmberPOS are able to process EMV Chip & PIN transactions via YESpay's fully EMV and PCI-DSS certified payment solution, EMBOSS. Adoption is now exploding because of this successful partnership and the increasing need to adopt Chip and PIN in Canada as a result of the EMV liability shift.

With live merchants all across North America, Pacific Amber Technologies constitutes a reliable and valuable partner to both YESpay and Chase Paymentech resulting in the successful national rollout of merchants of all sizes. All three parties are working closely together to be at the front of emerging cutting-edge technologies and to offer the fastest time to market and low-cost EMV payment solution possible to merchants.

Validated for EasyV-Retail, YESpay's EMV card-present payment solution, Pacific Amber Technologies is offering a unique proposition for EMV Chip and PIN and magnetic stripe credit and debit card acceptance in North America with Chase Paymentech as the processor. Live merchants like House of Knives and John Fluevog have been EMV enabled this year and are currently using this joint solution.

With the need to offer multi-channel payment services, Pacific Amber is also integrating EasyV-Internet (YESpay's e-commerce payment solution) to expand its payment service proposition to provide its customers with an e-commerce payment platform.

Both EasyV-Internet and EasyV-Retail support credit and debit card tokenization for free. These unique ‘Tokens' or card reference numbers which are linked to individual cardholder details stored in PCI DSS certified EMBOSS data centres, enables merchants to perform marketing functions or make recurring / subscription payments without access to full cardholder details.

By utilizing YESpay's EMV pre-accredited and PCI-DSS certifiedpayment solution, Canadian and US merchantsrunning AmberPOS software are taking advantage of the most cost effective payment service, that securely processes and settles transactions with Chase Paymentech via YESpay's dual data centres. All major EMV credit and debit cards are supported with the EasyV-Retail solution including Visa, MasterCard, Interac, Maestro, Amex, Diners and more. EasyV-Retail also supports on-line PIN validation for both Canadian Interac debit card transactions as well as US magnetic debit transactions.

As Harry Morge, National Sales Manager at YESpay explains, "This strong partnership with Pacific Amber and Chase Paymentech is really fruitful, and is now taking another dimension. Indeed, the merchant base is growing every month, and we jointly assist merchants in both USA and Canada. Pacific Amber will leverage another channel supported by YESpay, namely e-commerce, thus offering a multi-channel solution to its merchants. I am looking forward to continuing developing this relationship!"

For over 15 years,Pacific Amber Technologieshas established a proven track record of successfully helping hundreds of retailers across North America. Pacific Amber Technologies chose to integrate with YESpay in order to offer to its customers a managed and multi-channel, pre-accredited payment service at a low monthly cost.

Mike Piotrowski, President of Pacific Amber Technologies comments "The uniqueness of YESpay's payment solution which is fully managed, multi-channel, cross-border and EMV certified, was the answer to our payment needs. We can now enable our numerous merchants to accept integrated payments, as part of our comprehensive point-of-sale solution which is gaining more and more traction in the market. AmberPOS has been a successful software for years and we are always looking for new ways to provide our customers with more features, including new payment processing options."

About Pacific Amber Technologies:
Pacific Amber Technologiesprovides customizable Point of Sale Software Solutions to retailers in Canada and the United States. AmberPOS offers retailers fast and easy sales processing with fully integrated payment processing options, complete inventory management, customer and vendor management, full comprehensive reporting with over 500 specialized and customizable reports, single and multi-location capabilities with real-time synchronization, innovative purchase ordering, advanced biometric security and integrated import/export to various e-commerce and accounting solution providers.

AmberPOSserves the needs of hundreds of retailers across North America across many retail sectors including men's and women's clothing, athletic and sporting goods, jewellery stores, housing goods, swimwear, shoes, wine and liquor stores, book, hobby stores and dozens of others.

The AmberPOS software solution can be deployed in retail operations ranging from a single location to hundreds of locations, with the ability to manage and streamline operations, reporting and management through a single Headquarters administrative module, or with specific levels of control distributed to different locations. All levels of security and control within the software is fully customizable as is the feature set and custom programming is available for retailers with very specialized needs. For more information, visit www.amberpos.com.

About YESpay International Limited:
YESpay International Ltd., a global card payments service company, provides highly secure Internet, EMV Chip & PIN, contactless and gift card payment processing services to independent and multi-chain merchants. Through EMBOSS, the YESpay Managed Payment Service, merchants can quickly accept integrated card payments within EPOS, kiosks, hospitality and e-commerce systems with minimal capital invesent and low on-going services costs. EMBOSSis an on-line IP-based payment processing service that has been generically pre-accredited by major Card Acquirers in Europe and North America (including First Data Merchant Service (FDMS), Chase Paymentech, Barclaycard Business, HSBC, HBOS, Lloyds Cardnet, Streamline, Ulster Bank, Elavon, PBS, Amex and Diners). In addition, the YESpay EMBOSS service is fully end-to-end certified to Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS) Level 1 as mandated by Visa and MasterCard. The YESpay EasyV-Suite of card payment products is innovative and cost-effective for EPOS, Kiosk, Hospitality, Mobile and Internet environments. With the YESpay EMBOSS card payment service, merchants can perform card payments in both card-present and card-not-present environments. For more information, visit www.yes-pay.com

SOURCE: Pacific Amber Technologies & YESpay International Ltd.

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USA Technologies Teams with ViVOtech to Demo NFC Mobile Payment for Vending

Image via CrunchBase

April 28, 2011 10:21 AM Eastern Daylight Time 

USA Technologies Teams Up with ViVOtech to Demonstrate NFC Mobile Payment Capability for Vending at NAMA Expo

CHICAGO & SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--USA Technologies (NASDAQ:USAT) and ViVOtech announced today that they were demonstrating NFC mobile payment technology for vending and wireless point of sale at the NAMA Vending Expo in Chicago, April 27 through 29, 2011.

USA Technologies, a leader in wireless cashless payments systems, teamed with ViVOtech, the NFC software and systems company, to demonstrate how USAT’s ePort terminal accepts mobile payment as well as traditional magnetic stripe cards, contactless cards, and other cashless forms of payment.

“With major players such as the mobile carriers, banks, card associations and others jockeying for position in the rapidly emerging mobile payments space, USA Technologies wanted to demonstrate to its customers that its ePort solutions are capable of handling mobile payments,” said Michael Lawlor, Sr. VP of Sales and Business Development, USA Technologies. “In fact, the Company already has approximately 50,000 mobile NFC payment-enabled ePort connections on its network.”

Added Mohammed Khan, ViVOtech founder and president: “USA Technologies’ mobile payment initiative is exactly the kind of real-world NFC application that consumers have been waiting for. Our efforts together are forever changing the shopping experience for the better.”

“We believe that the opportunity that mobile payment offers is vast and valuable, and USA Technologies intends to lead in this rapidly emerging space,” said Lawlor. “As mobile payments continue to accelerate, USA Technologies is well positioned to capitalize on the opportunity and bring even greater value to its customers through increased consumer convenience.”

USA Technologies announced earlier this week an agreement with Verizon that the companies believe will accelerate the adoption of small-ticket, wireless, cashless payment services and machine-to-machine applications via USA Technologies’ ePort Connect Service. Among other things, the agreement provides for USA Technologies ePort solution including the Verizon Wireless network for connectivity, as well as Verizon including the ePort solution for wireless, cashless point of sale and machine to machine applications in the Verizon sales toolkit.

USA Technologies is exhibiting in NAMA Expo booth number 222.

About USA Technologies:

USA Technologies is a leader in wireless, small ticket cashless transactions, associated financial/network services and energy management. USA Technologies provides networked credit card and other non-cash systems in the vending, commercial laundry, hospitality and digital imaging industries. The Company has been granted 79 patents and has agreements with Verizon, Visa, Compass and others. Visit our website at www.usatech.com.

About ViVOtech:

ViVOtech, the near field communication (NFC) software and systems company, enables rich mobile commerce solutions for in-store payment, loyalty, marketing, and merchandising. Merchant, payment, mobile, web and advertising companies use ViVOtech solutions to enhance customer experience and grow their business. VIVOtech’s NFC software and systems are the broadest, most tested and deployed worldwide. Founded in 2001, Silicon Valley-based ViVOtech provides the key building blocks of the NFC ecosystem: smart applications, wallet and provisioning software, and point of sale systems. ViVOtech’s investors include Alloy Ventures, Citigroup, Draper Fisher Jurveston, First Data Corporation, Miven Ventures, Motorola Ventures, Nokia Growth Partners, NCR, and Sprint. Join the NFC revolution at http://www.ViVOtech.com.

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Fiserve Reports Q1 2011 Results

• 3 percent adjusted internal revenue growth,
• Payments segment growth of 5 percent;
• Adjusted earnings per share increases 7 percent to $1.02;
• Company affirms 2011 revenue and earnings guidance

BROOKFIELD, Wis.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Fiserv, Inc. (NASDAQ: FISV), the leading global provider of financial services technology solutions, today reported financial results for the first quarter of 2011.

“Given our results in the quarter and visibility into the remainder of the year, we are on-track to achieve our 2011 guidance”

GAAP revenue in the first quarter of 2011 was $1.05 billion compared with $1.01 billion in the first quarter of 2010. Adjusted revenue increased 3 percent to $982 million in the first quarter compared with $954 million in 2010.

GAAP earnings per share from continuing operations for the first quarter of 2011 was $0.77, which includes severance expenses of $0.08 per share, compared with $0.80 in 2010. Adjusted earnings per share from continuing operations in the first quarter of 2011 increased 7 percent to $1.02 compared with $0.95 in 2010.

“Our first quarter revenue growth is kicking off a good start to the year led by strong performance in our Payments segment,” said Jeffery Yabuki, President and Chief Executive Officer of Fiserv. “We are enhancing our sustainable revenue growth profile through a strong business model, market leading technologies and solid sales execution.”

First Quarter 2011

• Adjusted internal revenue growth was 3 percent in the quarter, including 5 percent growth in the Payments segment and 2 percent growth in the Financial segment.
• Adjusted operating margin decreased 60 basis points to 28.3 percent in the quarter compared with the prior year period.
• Free cash flow increased 8 percent to $244 million in the quarter compared with $225 million in the first quarter of 2010.
• The company repurchased 4.3 million shares of common stock in the quarter for $261 million. As of March 31, 2011, the company had approximately 1.8 million shares remaining under its share repurchase authorization.
• Fiserv completed three acquisitions in the quarter:

• Credit Union On-Line, Inc. (CUOL), a provider of outsourced processing solutions for credit unions, will provide the company’s clients with an outsourced delivery option for the XP2^® account processing solution from Fiserv. The acquisition also enables existing CUOL clients to receive direct support and access to a comprehensive portfolio of value-added solutions from Fiserv.
• Maverick Network Solutions Inc., a provider of prepaid and reward incentive card programs, will expand the company’s payments solutions portfolio and fulfill the increasing demand from large financial institutions and corporations for prepaid processing, turn-key program management and general purpose reloadable and payroll cards.
• Mobile Commerce Ltd. (M-Com), an international mobile banking and payments provider and a strategic partner of Fiserv in the creation of Mobile Money^™, will accelerate the delivery of the company’s innovative mobile capabilities which are key elements of the company’s digital channels strategy.

• The company expanded its payments footprint in the quarter by signing 100 electronic bill payment clients and 53 debit clients.
• During the quarter, 123 clients committed to offer ZashPay^®, the person-to-person payments service launched by Fiserv in mid-2010. As of March 31, 2011, more than 730 financial institutions have agreed to offer the service.
• Fiserv teamed with Visa to enable users of ZashPay to send money to, and receive money from, eligible Visa accounts. This agreement significantly expands the ZashPay network, with the potential to reach more than 1 billion Visa account holders worldwide and to increase the speed of person-to-person payments.
• The company was named “Best Electronic Commerce Provider” by Global Finance magazine in the “mobile banking” category.
• A number of new and expanded client relationships were signed in the quarter including:

• Bridgewater Bank, a $350 million institution located in Bloomington, Minn., selected the Premier^® account processing platform with consumer and business online banking, telephone banking, CheckFree^® RXP^® for bill payment, Branch and Merchant Source Capture^™ and solutions for card services including debit processing and the ACCEL/Exchange^® PIN debit network. This integrated banking solution from Fiserv also includes solutions for item processing and electronic content management.
• Columbia State Bank, with $4.9 billion in assets and more than 80 banking offices in Washington and Oregon, expanded its relationship with Fiserv by agreeing to deploy the InformEnt^® Enterprise Data Warehouse from Fiserv. Columbia State Bank already uses the Precision^™ bank platform for outsourced account processing, CheckFree RXP, the ACCEL/Exchange PIN debit network, AML Manager, Internet Banking, Integrated Teller, Director^™, Business Process Manager and EasyLender^®.
• Connects Federal Credit Union of Richmond, Va. signed an agreement to implement Portico^® from Fiserv. Connects FCU, which has $75.8 million in assets and serves 15,000 members, also chose Fiserv solutions AccountCreate^SM for online account opening, CheckFree RXP, Loancierge^™ for loan origination, Virtual Branch^® for online banking, Wisdom^™ for accounting and ZashPay. Connects FCU is the 18^th credit union to select Portico for account processing in the last 12 months.
• First Commonwealth Financial Corporation, a $5.8 billion financial holding company headquartered in Indiana, Pa. that operates more than 100 retail branch offices in 15 counties in western and central Pennsylvania through First Commonwealth Bank, has selected Corillian Online^® to enable the delivery of integrated banking, payments and personal financial management tools to its retail banking customers. The bank also selected Mobile Money from Fiserv for mobile financial services.
• Foster Bank of Rolling Meadows, Ill., with more than $500 million in assets, selected the Premier account processing platform with consumer and business online banking, Checkfree RXP, WireXchange^® for automated wire transfers and the ACCEL/Exchange PIN debit network from Fiserv.
• Georgia’s Own Credit Union of Atlanta, the third-largest credit union in Georgia with $1.6 billion in assets, agreed to implement Acumen^™ from Fiserv. Georgia’s Own, which serves nearly 170,000 members, will implement additional Fiserv solutions including Corillian Online for online banking, CheckFree RXP, Mobile Money, ZashPay and modules from the Prologue^™ Financial Accounting Solutions suite from Fiserv.
• Grupo Aval, the largest financial group in Colombia, signed a master agreement for all of its banking and ATM units with Fiserv for a suite of Cash & Logistics ASP modules including Integrated Currency Manager^™, Match Point^®, Performance View^™ and CorPoint^™. The first two Grupo Aval affiliates to acquire the solution are ATH, the largest ATM and non-banking correspondents network in Colombia with more than 5,500 access points, and BAC, the second largest bank in Central America with $8.4 billion in assets and operations in Costa Rica, Panama, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Mexico and the United States.
• Hudson Valley Bank, headquartered in Yonkers, N.Y. with more than $2.6 billion in assets, selected the Signature^™ bank platform from Fiserv. Focused on the financial needs of local businesses and professional services firms, Hudson Valley Bank has experienced significant growth over the past few years and sought a technology upgrade to help increase overall efficiency, develop sustainable process improvements and manage growth. The bank will also implement additional Fiserv solutions integrated into the account processing platform.
• Laclede Gas, the largest natural gas distribution utility in Missouri, selected an on-demand biller solution from Fiserv to enable its nearly 630,000 customers to pay their bills online or by phone through an automated system that is available at any time. The company also renewed its agreement for print services through Output Solutions at Fiserv.

• Rabobank, N.A., the North American arm of Netherlands-based Rabobank Group, expanded its relationship with Fiserv with its selection of ZashPay to enable person-to-person payments for U.S. retail banking clients. The bank -- an existing online banking, bill payment and mobile banking client -- joins a growing network of financial institutions offering the service.

• U.S. Bancorp, the parent company of U.S. Bank, the fifth largest commercial bank in the United States, expanded its existing relationship with Fiserv. The bank has selected Mobile Money from Fiserv as its enterprise mobile financial services platform.

Outlook for 2011

Fiserv continues to expect 2011 adjusted internal revenue growth to be in a range of 2 to 4 percent. The company also expects 2011 adjusted earnings per share to be in a range of $4.42 to $4.54, which represents growth of 9 to 12 percent compared with $4.05 in 2010.

“Given our results in the quarter and visibility into the remainder of the year, we are on-track to achieve our 2011 guidance,” said Yabuki.

Earnings Conference Call

The company will discuss its first quarter 2011 results on a conference call and webcast at 4 p.m. CDT on Wednesday, April 27, 2011. To register for the event, go to www.fiserv.com and click on the Q1 Earnings Webcast icon. Supplemental materials will be available in the “Investor Relations” section of the website.

About Fiserv

Fiserv, Inc. (NASDAQ: FISV) is the leading global provider of information management and electronic commerce systems for the financial services industry, driving innovation that transforms experiences for financial institutions and their customers. Fiserv is ranked No. 1 on the FinTech 100 survey of top technology partners to the financial services industry. For more information, visit www.fiserv.com.

Square Gets Strategic Visa Investment

From St. Louis Business Journal

Square Inc., the mobile-payment company founded two years ago by St. Louisans Jim McKelvey and Twitter co-creator Jack Dorsey, said Wednesday that it has received “a strategic investment” from Visa Inc. Using a square-shaped card-reader that plugs into devices running Apple iOS or Google Android, Square’s electronic payment service lets businesses accept credit and debit cards on mobile phones and iPads.  Square said it has been signing up nearly 100,000 new merchants a month this year. Visa President John Partridge said in a statement that with the Square deal “new types of merchants will now be able to accept payment and help grow their business via Visa’s global network…” The deal calls for a Visa executive to join Square’s advisory board.  

Read more: Mobile payment processor Square gets Visa investment | St. Louis Business Journal 

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2Checkout Launches Online Marketplace 2CO Shopping

April 27, 2011 10:14 AM Eastern Daylight Time 

COLUMBUS, Ohio--(BUSINESS WIRE)--2Checkout.com (2CO), the safe, secure, and convenient online payment platform, today announced the launch of 2CO Shopping, a new online global marketplace, at Shopping.2CO.com.

2CO Shopping is now available, as both a complement to and replacement for existing online storefronts, to 2CO’s 80,000 merchants as well as other merchants looking to expand their reach.2CO Shopping provides a flexible turnkey solution for merchants who want to grow their online businesses. Merchants tired of getting lost in traditional multi-merchant marketplaces will find that 2CO Shopping's buying experience and advanced marketing features, including access to direct marketing campaigns, built-in search engine optimization (SEO) features, and social commerce integrations, help drive more customers to their products.

"We're always looking for ways to level the playing field for small to mid-size merchants competing in a global market, so creating an online marketplace with no listing fees was the next logical step," said Chris Daly, Chief Marketing officer. "With 2CO Shopping's inclusive online marketplace, merchants don't just get listed, they get found."

About 2CO Shopping

2CO Shopping is the new online marketplace from 2Checkout.com. For more information visit http://shopping.2co.com

About 2Checkout.com, Inc.

2Checkout.com (2CO) is a worldwide leader in payment and e-commerce services. 2CO provides web-based businesses merchant accounts, merchant account alternatives and a fully automated suite of back end services, including world-class fraud protection, customer care, shopping cart solutions, data security services, and credit card processing services across multiple payment methods, currencies and languages to optimize conversion. For more information visit http://www.2checkout.com

MasterCard Names Marcie Verdin Group Head, Global Person-to-Person Payments

April 27, 2011 10:30 AM Eastern Daylight Time 

PURCHASE, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--MasterCard Worldwide today announced that Marcie Verdin has been appointed group head, Global Person-to-Person (P2P) Payments, effective immediately.

As group head, Global P2P, Verdin will be responsible for implementing MasterCard’s global P2P strategy, including identifying new and innovative P2P payment and money transfer solutions. Verdin replaces Andrew Ong who has decided to pursue other opportunities outside of MasterCard.

Marcie has more than 20 years of experience in product development, management and marketing. She joined MasterCard in 2005 and most recently served as group head, global commercial products. Over the last few years, she has made significant contributions in helping to develop MasterCard’s commercial product solutions targeted to the large, middle and small business segments. Prior to joining MasterCard, Marcie held positions with Galileo International, VeriSign, Visa, American Express and Accenture.

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 2010, $2.7 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 23 billion transactions each year and has the capacity to handle 160 million transactions per hour, with an average network response time of 130 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

MasterCard
Media Relations:
Naya Larsson, 914-249-3916
naya_larsson@mastercard.com
or
Investor Relations:
Barbara Gasper, 914-249-4565
investor_relations@mastercard.com

Paul Turgeon, Debit-Based eCommerce Expert, Moves From Advisor to Full-Time Position at Cardinal Commerce

With Focus on Market Leadership, CardinalCommerce Adds New Executive to Help Drive Strategy

MENTOR, Ohio, April 26, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CardinalCommerce, the worldwide leading enabler of payment brands, is pleased to announce the addition of Paul Turgeon, to the Cardinal team. Mr. Turgeon will bring his expertise in banking, financial transaction processing, and authentication to his new role as Vice President, Technology Services. Mr. Turgeon was serving as a Company advisor for the past year.

From his most recent role as President of Payments & Processing Consultants, Inc to his extensive experience in payments processing, including nearly ten years with First Data Corporation and the NYCE payment network, Mr. Turgeon brings with him a wealth of knowledge and know-how to help strengthen Cardinal's product and service offerings for its merchants, issuing banks, and mobile transaction processing Customers. Mr. Turgeon's focus will be to facilitate the growth of Cardinal's bank and financial organization solutions within the online, mobile, and remote payment markets. Mr. Turgeon also serves on the Board of Directors of the Secure Remote Payments Council.

"Since the ecommerce, mobile and remote commerce payment marketplace has expanded to include increased security, authentication, and a variety of payment products, including debit, Cardinal's in the right position at the right time," said Turgeon. "I had a chance to see and work with Cardinal from the inside out and couldn't imagine a better place to be. I'm excited to be part of the team."

Michael A. Keresman, III, President and Chief Executive Officer of CardinalCommerce added, "Mr. Turgeon is a great fit for Cardinal today and, for that matter, he can help accelerate our expansion plans. He understands the industry and will help provide the leadership to support our growth strategies."

About CardinalCommerce

CardinalCommerce Corporation is the global leader in enabling authenticated payments, secure transactions, and alternative payment brands for both eCommerce and mobile commerce.

Cardinal Centinel®* enables payment brands such as Verified by Visa, MasterCard® SecureCode™, Amazon Payments™, Bill Me Later®, ClickandBuy®, Cred-Ex®, Ebates™, eBillme™, eLayaway™, Google™ Checkout, Green Dot® MoneyPak®, Mazooma™, Moneta®, MyECheck, NACHA® Secure Vault Payments (SVP), NYCE SafeDebit ®, OneTouch Online Purchasing™, paysafecard, PayPal™, RevolutionCard™, SafetyPay™, TeleCheck®, Ukash™, and more to a network of thousands of merchants and merchant service providers.

Our mobile commerce platform, Cardinal MAX™, makes it simple for retailers to sell and market products through the mobile channel. Cardinal's proprietary and easily deployable technology provides consumers, merchants, credit/debit card issuers, and processors the ability to conduct authenticated Internet, wireless and mobile transactions safely and securely.

Headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, with facilities in the United States, Europe, and Africa, Cardinal services a worldwide Customer base.

For more information, visit www.cardinalcommerce.com

Webinar: U.S. Dept. of Justice on Payment Card Fraud Trends and Threats

Webinar - U.S. Dept. of Justice on Payment Card Fraud Trends & Threats (from Government Information Security on 4-26-2011) From ATM skimming to the Zeus malware, credit and debit cards are under increased attack by fraudsters, and organizations need to step up their efforts to protect their customers - and themselves. What steps can you take to avoid being the next payment card fraud victim? Join Kimberly Peretti, former senior counsel with the U.S. Dept. of Justice, for her insider's tips on: * Trends in debit and other payment card thefts; * Lessons learned from the TJX, Hannaford and Heartland brea... read more»

SunTrust and MasterCard Introduce Reloadable Prepaid Campus Card Program

Expanded financial capabilities on ID cards offer students greater flexibility, security and convenience when making purchases both on and off campus

ATLANTA and PURCHASE, N.Y., April 27, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --SunTrust Banks, Inc. (NYSE: STI) and MasterCard Worldwide today announced the launch of the SunTrust Campus Card, an innovative product that integrates a student identification (ID) card with a MasterCard reloadable prepaid card.

With this new campus card, universities and colleges will now be able to offer their students access to a reloadable prepaid account to pay for everyday expenses on and, in some instances, off campus, while benefiting from the flexibility and security of a reloadable prepaid card.  In the instance of off campus use, students will be able to use the SunTrust Campus Card to make purchases at millions of locations where MasterCard cards are accepted or withdraw funds without a fee from more than 2,900 SunTrust ATMs. Safer and more convenient than cash, the prepaid card will also provide students greater security and control over their finances.

"The SunTrust Campus Card program offers colleges and universities a simplified way to disburse funds while making the financial lives of their students easier," said Whitney Stewart, Senior Vice President, Senior Payment Strategy Manager, SunTrust Banks. "By linking an ID card with a MasterCard reloadable prepaid card, the SunTrust Campus Card empowers students with a convenient and safe way to pay for expenses and manage funds both on and off campus."

Students and parents can easily add funds to the cards via an online site.  In addition, and in some instances, certain colleges and universities can directly load financial aid disbursements onto the SunTrust Campus Card, replacing the need for paper-based payments.

Providing Access to Funds and a Financial Education

The SunTrust Campus Card program can easily be customized, enabling participating schools to select the desired level of card functionality and the extent of financial access they wish to provide eligible students.

"The SunTrust Campus Card is an excellent example of how a choice in payments makes lives easier while empowering financial responsibility," said Ron Hynes, Group Executive, Global Prepaid Solutions, MasterCard Worldwide. "In research, we received positive feedback from administrators and students on the convenience, control and security of the payment options. Additionally, administrators highlighted the added benefit of enhanced efficiency for their financial disbursement programs."

As part of the program, as currently configured, SunTrust and MasterCard will launch a website for college students and faculty members targeted to teaching financial literacy and featuring budgeting tools and educational materials. Students will also have access to an online site that they can log into for account management, including setting up account alerts (email and SMS). The sites will be launched later this year.

About SunTrust Banks, Inc.

SunTrust Banks, Inc., headquartered in Atlanta, is one of the nation's largest banking organizations, serving a broad range of consumer, commercial, corporate and institutional clients. As of March 31, 2011, SunTrust had total assets of $170.8 billion and total deposits of $124.0 billion. The Company operates an extensive branch and ATM network throughout the high-growth Southeast and Mid-Atlantic states and a full array of technology-based, 24-hour delivery channels. The Company also serves clients in selected markets nationally. Its primary businesses include deposit, credit, trust and investment services. Through various subsidiaries the Company provides mortgage banking, insurance, brokerage, investment management, equipment leasing and investment banking services. SunTrust's Internet address is suntrust.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 2010, $2.7 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 23 billion transactions each year and has the capacity to handle 160 million transactions per hour, with an average network response time of 130 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.

SOURCE SunTrust Banks, Inc.

Overdraft Fees on Pace to Eclipse Last Year's 36.5 Billion

A Bank Heist, Committed by the Banks

Posted by Brad Tuttle Wednesday, April 27, 2011 at 8:46 am

Read more: http://money.blogs.time.com/2011/04/27/a-bank-heist-committed-by-the-banks/#ixzz1KjfUwGb4

Bank customers don't like fees. Early on during the debate over reforming debit card overdraft programs—in which a customer was charged $30 or $35 for swiping a card that lacked enough funds to cover the bill—a survey was conducted to see how many people would prefer that such a transaction would be declined, so long as no fee was assessed. 80% of debit card holders said they'd rather the card be declined to avoid the fee. Yet somehow, when laws passed mandating that customers be given an explicit choice to opt in or pass on "overdraft protection" services, as they're called, as many as 75% of customers agreed to pay the fees so long as their cards wouldn't be declined. So many people opted in that overdraft fees are on pace to total $38.5 billion in 2011, up from $36.5 billion last year.

Why would bank customers say one thing and do another? Why would such large numbers opt in to programs and fee structures that surveys have shown very few people actually want? One explanation comes via a new survey, which reveals that many customers have no clue what, exactly, they've opted into.

First off, just how many bank customers opted in to overdraft protection is up for debate. Polls have listed figures such as 22%, 30%, 46%, and even 75%. That's a huge range, obviously. Something tells me that the answers may change depending on how the questions are being asked in these polls—lending even more credence to the theory that people are confused by what overdraft protection is, what it does, and even whether or not they've opted in or out.

In a new survey, from the Center for Responsible Lending, the figure rounded up for those opting in to overdraft protection was 33%. Pretty far off from 46%, let alone 75%.

Most disturbing of all is that it sure seems that those who opted in did so based on deceptive information provided by their banks. Here are two key findings:

• Sixty percent (60%) of consumers who opted in stated that an important reason they did so was to avoid a fee if their debit card was declined. In fact, a declined debit card costs consumers nothing.

• Sixty-four percent (64%) of consumers who opted in stated that an important reason they did so was to avoid bouncing paper checks. The truth is that the opt-in rules cover only debit card and ATM transactions.

The majority of account holders opting in to overdraft protection were certainly confused, if not tricked and misled. As a result, the banks reap in billions.

Read more: http://money.blogs.time.com/2011/04/27/a-bank-heist-committed-by-the-banks/#ixzz1KjfAG52J

Visa Releases Mobile Acceptance Best Practices

Establishes security guidelines necessary for ensuring stakeholder trust in mobile acceptance solutions

SAN FRANCISCO, April 27, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) today released a set of mobile acceptance best practices for merchants, software developers and device manufacturers who are using consumer mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablet computing platforms to facilitate the acceptance of card payments. Visa best practices call for important security considerations such as encryption and tokenization of cardholder data and are designed to foster a better understanding of the merchant and service provider responsibilities related to securing cardholder data when a mobile phone is used as an acceptance device instead of a traditional terminal.  

Mobile technology is enabling a growing number of small and medium-sized merchants to accept payments using mobile devices. As retailers harness the power of mobile technology to accept payments and grow their businesses, the industry must also build in adequate controls and security measures to maintain stakeholder trust in electronic payments.

"Mobile devices that can facilitate acceptance of payments are an important advancement in payments that must balance the promise of an enhanced consumer and retailer shopping experience with enhanced security measures to protect sensitive cardholder information," said Eduardo Perez, head of global payment system risk, Visa Inc. "As a payment technology leader, Visa is well positioned to provide the industry security guidance for emerging acceptance solutions."

Because mobile devices and acceptance attachments today are not designed to the same security requirements as traditional payment terminals, and merchants do not control the security of the network environments to which their acceptance devices connect wirelessly, there are important security considerations above and beyond those for traditional acceptance solutions. These best practices are intended for two distinct audiences – mobile acceptance application and software solution providers as well as merchants who use these solutions. Among the best practices guidance:

• Encrypt all account data including at the card-reader level and in transmission between the acceptance device and the processor – especially important given the use of wireless or public networks.
• Enable truncation or tokenization of card numbers, allowing the merchant to identify the cardholder without storing the full account data.

"Building security into the DNA of mobile acceptance solutions is necessary to help grow the channel and encourage innovation," said Bill Gajda, head of global mobile product, Visa Inc. "Providing security guidance to retailers and the industry, as mobile phones used as card acceptance devices are still emerging, will help ensure acceptance solutions are secure, provide a strong foundation for future growth of this channel and foster consumer trust in mobile commerce."

For mobile payments to reach a critical mass, they must work everywhere, every time, with the same reliability of Visa payments today. For more than 50 years, Visa has set a high bar for robust security, privacy protections, and guaranteed payment to merchants and global acceptance ubiquity. Merchants, consumers and financial institutions should expect the same standards for mobile acceptance solutions.

A complete version of Visa's Best Practices for Mobile Payment Acceptance Practices may be found online at www.visa.com/cisp. An abbreviated version is provided below.

Best Practices for Vendors:

Goal	Best Practice
Design and implement secure mobile payment acceptance solutions.	Provide payment acceptance applications and any associated updates in a secure manner with a known chain of trust. Develop mobile payment acceptance applications based on secure coding guidelines. Protect encryption keys that secure account data against disclosure and misuse in accordance with industry-accepted standards.
Ensure the secure use of mobile payment acceptance solutions.	Provide the ability to disable the mobile payment acceptance solution. Provide functionality to track use and key activities within the mobile payment acceptance solution.
Limit exposure of account data that could be used to commit fraud.	Provide the ability to encrypt all public transmission of account data. Ensure that account data electronically read from a payment card is protected against fraudulent use by unauthorized applications in a consumer mobile device. Provide the ability to truncate or tokenize the Primary Account Number (PAN) after authorization to facilitate cardholder identification by the merchant. Protect stored PAN data and/or sensitive authentication data.

Best Practices for Merchants:

Goal	Best Practice
Ensure the secure use of mobile payment acceptance solutions.	Only use mobile payment acceptance solutions as originally intended by an acquiring bank and solution provider.
Limit the exposure of account data that may be used to commit fraud.	Limit access to the mobile payment acceptance solution. Immediately report the loss or theft of a consumer mobile device and/or hardware accessory.
Prevent software attacks on consumer mobile devices.	Install software only from trusted sources. Protect the consumer mobile device from malware.

This is the first version of these best practices to support the growth of the emerging mobile acceptance solutions. Visa will continue to refine and update the best practices based on industry feedback.

Beyond the best practices, vendors, merchants and acquirers are expected to follow all Visa requirements for magnetic stripe, chip and contactless acceptance. They should also adhere to the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) and Payment Application Data Security Standards (PA-DSS). Additionally, on top of following Visa Operating Regulations, acquirers must also be in compliance with all local laws and regulations regarding sponsored merchants, including adequate Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) due diligence.

About Visa Inc.: Visa Inc. is a global payments technology company that connects consumers, businesses, financial institutions and governments in more than 200 countries and territories to fast, secure and reliable digital currency. Underpinning digital currency is one of the world's most advanced processing networks – VisaNet – that is capable of handling more than 10,000 transactions a second, with fraud protection for consumers and guaranteed payment for merchants. Visa is not a bank, and does not issue cards, extend credit or set rates and fees for consumers. Visa's innovations, however, enable its financial institution customers to offer consumers more choices: Pay now with debit, ahead of time with prepaid or later with credit products. For more information, visit www.corporate.visa.com.

SOURCE Visa Inc.