ReD Targets Previously Anonymous Cyber Criminals with New IP Intelligence

For Immediate Release:

ReD Shield^TM upgrade to IP Geo-location provides enhanced data on suspicious IP addresses leading to a 50-70% reduction in order cancellations, and therefore a 30-50% improvement in orders processed successfully.

London,  November 22, 2011 – ReD, a world leader in payment fraud prevention and payment processing, has announced an upgrade to its Internet Protocol (IP) Geo-location detection technology which enables ReD to track fraud threats using IP identification and geo-location information.

This is an important development for retailers because the use of IP geo-location technology as part of a risk strategy means that the genuine origin location of an online order can be quickly and accurately checked.  Merchants are then able to decline suspicious transactions.

Payment fraudsters trick the merchant by anonymising their IP location.  This means the computer location cannot be seen and, in some cases the device can be made to appear in a location that it is not. For example, a computer user based in Africa could make their IP address appear like it originated in the US and vice-versa.

Erika Gallo, Director of Global Risk Management at ReD commented: “IP anonymising has been a long-standing issue for many retailers, spikes in fraud from certain countries has, in some cases, led to a halt in international expansion. In an ideal world, retailers would like to be able to accept all genuine orders, wherever they originate from – working with ReD allows retailers to do this.”

The new advances in geo-location technology deployed by ReD means that wherever fraudsters try to hide, ReD’s technology will always locate their true IP location.

Paul Stanley, CEO of ReD said: “The new IP geo-location technology identifies and tracks IP addresses flagged as “Anonymiser”. On average, rules with “Anonymiser” flagged in conjunction with other ReD Shield services, have a 50-70% cancellation rate, and since its trials, there has been a 30 to 50% improvement in orders processed successfully.”

About ReD

ReD is a world leader in card fraud prevention and payment processing.  A specialist supplier to the payments industry worldwide, ReD has over 20 years experience in the fraud prevention market. Its blue-chip international clients come from the global telecommunications, retail, travel, petroleum, banking and the broader e-commerce sectors. They include Air China, Coles, John Lewis, Shell, Shoprite, Target, Tesco, Texaco, T-Mobile and Virgin Mobile.

The company has offices in Australia, China, Germany, South Africa, United Kingdom, and United States, with representation in India, Korea, Japan, and South America. 

About ReD Shield^TM

ReD’s multi-dimensional approach to fraud enables merchants to increase their revenue while minimizing losses.  Using an unlimited number of variables and an unrivalled global database of ‘hot’ cards, ReD Shield detects and prevents fraud for many of the biggest companies in the world, including those in the airline and travel, retail, gaming and telecoms sectors. With every transaction it acts in a split-second, assembling and analyzing information, to determine whether a payment is genuine or not.

More information about ReD please visit: www.redplc.com

Despegar Selects GlobalCollect as Preferred Payment Service Provider to Drive Latin American Expansion

November 22, 2011 04:12 AM Eastern Time 

Despegar.com, the largest Online Travel Agency in Latin America, joins forces with GlobalCollect, the world's premier payment service provider of local e-payments, to grow its eCommerce footprint and revenue across the continent

AMSTERDAM--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Since its inception in 1999, Despegar has grown into the leading one-stop-shop online travel agency (OTA) in Latin America for leisure and corporate travel. Offering access to more than 500 airlines, 70 car rental agencies, thousands of leisure packages, as well as up to 100,000 hotels worldwide via Hotels Despegar.com., the OTA currently operates 12 offices across Latin America to serve customers locally. To help standardize ePayment processes and streamline operations across the various countries, Despegar has entered into a strategic partnership with GlobalCollect, which currently facilitates all its international credit card payments.

Localized payment methods are key to succeed in Latin America

While eCommerce is growing in Latin America, it is still at a much earlier stage than in the US or Europe. As a consequence, credit card rejections are much higher than in more mature markets and fraud charge backs a real issue. GlobalCollect took an active role as a consultant here to advise on locally preferred payment methods, build relationships with local partners, and implement customized solutions allowing Despegar:

• To confirm transactions immediately since flights, hotels, rental cars, etc. are being booked in real time
• To receive an automated reporting and reconciliation tool for its high transaction volume to help streamline back office procedures
• To boost conversion rates by offering popular alternative payment products such as real-time bank transfers and cash solutions in the future

Martin Rastellino, COO of Despegar, says: “GlobalCollect combines a world-class payment technology with a strongly committed and knowledgeable team. We use them as our main payment service provider and they have been key in helping Despegar improving the customer payment experience as well as streamlining the fulfillment process. In summary, partnering with GlobalCollect has been highly beneficial for Despegar and being able to outsource a number of steps – for example meeting local regulations - empowers us to focus on our core business. We highly recommend GlobalCollect and look forward to expanding our partnership to broaden our range of payment methods and tap into further markets.”

Koen Vanpraet, CCO of GlobalCollect, continued: “We are delighted to play an active role in realizing Despegar’s online sales strategy. Of all verticals, the travel sector enjoys particular growth potential when it comes to eCommerce. A fact reflected by Despegar evolving from being one of the five largest traditional travel agencies in 1999 to the largest OTA to date in Latin America. Next to the overall growth trend, this success story is of course also testimony to Despegar’s outstanding product and service offer.”

#End#

About Despegar

Despegar.com is the largest travel agency in Latin America. Based in Miami and with a presence in 21 countries throughout the Latin American region and the US, the company employs 2,800 professionals. Via its website www.despegar.com you can buy tickets for 750 airlines, 150,000 hotels, cruises, and car rental services. You can buy online or via its own call centers – either way, Despegar.com always guarantees the lowest price in the market.

About GlobalCollect

GlobalCollect is the world's premier Payment Service Provider of local e-payment solutions for international Customer Not-Present (CNP) channels such as internet, mail, and telephone orders, and specializes in a wide range of industries such as travel, retail, online gaming, financial services, telecommunications, publishing, portals, and digital content. While most providers limit their services to a technical link with payment acquirers, GlobalCollect is a full service partner consulting clients on how to increase transaction volumes, expand distribution channels, and reduce costs by streamlining back office processes. Through a single-interface online payment platform, we offer access to an unrivalled portfolio of local and international payment methods in almost 200 countries, including all major credit and debit cards, direct debits, bank transfers, real-time bank transfers, eWallets, cash at outlets, prepaid methods, checks, and invoices. www.globalcollect.com

Compass Plus Survey At CARTES Reveals Payment Fraud And The Rise NFC Payments As The Key Industry Challenges In 2012

Published on Nov 21, 2011

A survey conducted by global payments software provider Compass Plus at the international payment and digital security event CARTES has revealed that payment fraud and the rise of mobile will be the key industry challenges in 2012. The survey took in the views of more than fifty respondents from the payments ecosystem including financial institutions, mobile operators, payment processors, digital security providers and the media.

 

The biggest issue for the payments industry today, according to 31% of respondents, is fraud, closely followed by the growth of NFC technology at 27%. The picture changes subtly as we move into 2012 with the majority respondents expecting mobile and NFC payments to take centre stage. Fraud will, however, remain a significant concern. Respondents also cited the following as critical issues in 2012: the ‘dematerialization’ of payments, the global economic crisis as well as either an increase or decrease in regulation following the arrival of new payment players.

 

When asked about fraud 29% of respondents consider Internet banking hacking poses the greatest threat in their region. Customer not present fraud at 26% was also a concern. The two key measures that will help in the fight against fraud are consumer education (29%) and the deployment of advanced fraud protection systems (27%).

 

The projected growth of mobile payment and NFC technology delivered contrasting results. Respondents were polarised on growth of NFC technology. 29% of respondents expected NFC technology to reach mass adoption in just 1-2 years while 27% believed this will take more than four years. In contrast there was more agreement among industry professionals regarding mobile payments. 42% of respondents expect mobile payments would reach critical mass in 2-3 years.

 

“The industry is clearly concerned with not only how to deal with new innovations such as mobile and NFC, but also how to guard against fraud as new payment technologies sit side by side with existing ones,” commented Maria Nottingham, Global Marketing Director, Compass Plus. “The survey results point to a wider trend. The proliferation of new payment technologies and industry players is creating an increasingly complex and competitive industry environment. To be successful in such an environment we believe service providers need to deliver customised innovative payment services to market quickly and cost effectively without compromising security and reliability. We look forward to helping service providers meet these challenges in 2012 and beyond.”*

Great NFC Infographic from NFC Rumors

Egypt and South Africa Mobile Payment Market Forecasts

• 
  Research and Markets: 3Q.2011 Egypt Mobile Payment Market Forecast 2009 - 2015: Gross Transaction Value to Rise to $4.8 Billion in 2015
  11/21/2011 - 05:12 AM
• 
  Research and Markets: 3Q.2011 South Africa Mobile Payment Market Forecast 2009 - 2015
  11/18/2011 - 07:51 AM

U.S. Leads the World in Credit Card Fraud, states The Nilson Report

November 21, 2011 03:30 AM Eastern Time 

The Nilson Report: Global Credit Card Fraud Losses Increased 10.2% over 2009

CARPENTERIA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The U.S. currently accounts for 47% of global credit and debit card fraud even though it generates only 27% of the total volume of purchases and cash, according to Global Card Fraud, from a recent issue of The Nilson Report, a respected trade newsletter on the payments industry.

“Competition among U.S. issuers, which has resulted in the average cardholder having four credit cards in their wallet, makes any issuer reluctant to decline an authorization. The consumer will just pull out a competitor’s card”

Payment card fraud losses totaled $3.56 billion last year in the U.S. from all general purpose and private label, signature and PIN payment cards. “The U.S. has a disproportionate percentage of the global total losses for two reasons . . . U.S. banks have been slow to adopt newer technologies such as EMV chip cards, and issuers are reluctant to decline card authorization from merchants because they don’t want to alienate their cardholder,” said David Robertson, publisher of The Nilson Report.

“Competition among U.S. issuers, which has resulted in the average cardholder having four credit cards in their wallet, makes any issuer reluctant to decline an authorization. The consumer will just pull out a competitor’s card,” said Robertson.

Banking institutions in Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa and Asia, however, have adopted stricter security procedures inherent in payment cards with computerized chips, as well as the use of dual factor and dynamic authentication (one-time passwords) for cards-not-present (CNP) transactions.

As a result, global card fraud worldwide as a percentage of total volume has actually decreased. In 2010, total fraud losses equaled 4.46¢ per $100 in total volume of purchases and cash, down from 4.71¢ per $100 in 2009. And, this amount has been steadily declining over a decade.

Total global fraud losses, at $7.60 billion, however, increased in 2010 by 10.2.% over the prior year, because the rate of spending is outpacing losses. The payment card industry is expected to continue to grow sales volume at a faster pace than thieves can compromise the system.

About The Nilson Report

The Nilson Report is a highly respected source of global news and analysis of the credit, debit and prepaid card industry. The subscription newsletter provides in-depth rankings and statistics on the current status of the industry, as well as company, personnel and product updates. Nilson Report Publisher, David Robertson, is a recognized expert in the field, and is a frequent speaker at industry conferences. Over 18,000 readers in 90 countries worldwide value The Nilson Report to track industry trends and market information.

Jollibee launches its online payment service with AsiaPay

Jollibee, the country’s largest and leading fast-food chain, launches its online payment service with AsiaPay, an electronic payment solution and technology provider in Asia and the company behind PesoPay, allowing Jollibee’s online delivery website to accept and collect credit card payments online.

November 21, 2011, Philippines – Jollibee Foods Corporation, the country’s largest fast-food chain, launches its online payment service with AsiaPay, an electronic payment solution and technology provider in Asia and the company behind PesoPay, to allow Jollibee’s online delivery website (www.jollibeedelivery.com) to accept and collect credit card payments online.

“AsiaPay’s industry experience combined with the robust PesoPay platform and ready-made shopping cart integration, made them our ideal partner for online payment processing,” said Sarwar Faruque, Project Manager – Digital Media Group of Jollibee Foods Corporation.

The integration of AsiaPay’s payment platform for the Philippine market, PesoPay, allows Jollibee to offer its customers to pay online using their credit cards with confidence and ease, therefore complementing Jollibee’s three-step ordering process. Additionally, PesoPay’s anti-fraud management tools will enable Jollibee to facilitate online payments securely, thereby detecting and preventing fraud before it happens.

“Our mission to provide secured and advanced online payment technologies to the market has been achieved with the successful launching of Jollibee’s online payment service for its online delivery website. Enabling Jollibee customers to make payments online, completes the whole electronic ordering cycle while adding value by providing security and ease of use. PesoPay is a powerful tool to all businesses regardless of nature and size, it is the only online payment service with fraud monitoring and other value-added features that are substantial to the security and productivity of online businesses,” comments Mr. Joseph Chan, CEO of AsiaPay.

The organic growth of AsiaPay is paving the way to more geographic and industry coverage as it starts to penetrate the Food and Beverage industry. AsiaPay currently has 11 offices in 9 countries servicing the Airlines, Hospitality, Bank / Financials, Retail, Non-profit Organizations, Telco, Insurance, Group Buying, and many other industries.

About AsiaPay

Founded in 2000, AsiaPay, a premier electronic payment solution and technology vendor and payment service provider, strives to bring advanced, secured, integrated, and cost-effective electronic payment processing solutions and services to banks and e-businesses in the worldwide market, covering international credit card, debit card and other prepaid card payments. AsiaPay is an accredited payment processor and payment gateway solution vendor for banks, certified IPSP for merchants, certified international 3D-Secure vendor for Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and JCB. AsiaPay offers its variety of award-winning payment solutions that are multi-currency, multi-lingual, multi-card, and multi-channel together with its advanced fraud detection and management solutions. Headquartered in Hong Kong, AsiaPay offers its professional e-payment solution consultancy and quality local service support across its other 9 offices in Asia including: Thailand, Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Mainland China (3), Taiwan and Vietnam. For more information, please visit www.asiapay.com.ph and www.pesopay.com.

About Jollibee Foods Corporation

Jollibee is a phenomenal success story: what began as a two-branch ice cream parlor in 1975 offering hot meals and sandwiches became incorporated in 1978 with seven outlets to explore the possibilities of a hamburger concept. Thus was born the company that revolutionized fast food in the Philippines.

Through the years it worked its way up to become the country’s leading fast food chain and in 1993, Jollibee became the first food service company to be listed in the Philippine Stock Exchange; thus broadening its capitalization and laying the groundwork for sustained expansion locally and beyond the Philippines. Jollibee has grown exponentially on all aspects on operation. From a handful of stores 32 years ago, Jollibee now boasts of more than 700 stores and over 50 international stores.

Jollibee has dedicated its continuous success to the Filipinos who have been there from the very start.
Jollibee is so well-loved – that every time a new store opens, especially overseas, Filipinos always form long lines to the store. It is more than home for them. It is a stronghold of heritage and monument of Filipino victory.

For more information, please visit www.jollibee.com.ph.

Motorola fairly likely to win German patent injunction against iCloud in February -- Apple demands $2.7 Billion bail

Click to Enlarge.  The V-SIM Patent Covers "ANY"
3rd Party Authentication Done Outside the SIM Card.
i.e. Purchasing iTune on iPhone, Square, etc.

From the FOSS Patents Blog: The German city of Mannheim is slowly but surely giving Cupertino some serious headache.

After a default judgment against Apple Inc. over two patents and preliminary indications (a week ago) of a possible injunction or two (or three) in Samsung's favor in the second half of January, Apple experienced a dreadful hearing today in an action brought by Motorola Mobility against Apple Sales International, an Irish company that supplies products to many if not all German customers. The court doesn't appear to buy any of Apple's defenses at this stage. It may still change mind until the ruling, which is scheduled for February 3, 2012, 9 AM local time, but if it had had to rule today, I have no doubt that Apple would have lost.

In this litigation, MMI asserts only one patent:

EP (European Patent) 0847654 (B1) on a "multiple pager status synchronization system and method"; this is the European equivalent of U.S. Patent No. 5,754,119. This is one of the two patents asserted in the action in which a default judgment was entered against Apple.

Apple has not raised any standards-related defenses with respect to this one. Apple's counsel said that they're not currently aware of any industry standard this patent is essential to. (And there wasn't any talk about patent exhaustion either -- this is not a baseband patent.)

The court consistently rejected Apple's attempts to narrow the scope of the patent. The interpretation of the words "responsive to" was discussed in detail, and MMI's broader construction is the one supported by the court, at least at this stage. Apple will file a post-hearing pleading (as will MMI) until December 16, 2011. But it will be hard to achieve a narrower interpretation of the patent.

Apple's invalidity contentions appear to be dead in the water as far as the Mannheim court is concerned. Apple would have to show that their nullity action is more likely than not to succeed, and the court is very far from believing so.

Accused technologies: MobileMe and iCloudThe related complaint was filed on April 1, 2011 (April Fools' Day -- what a day to bring a patent infringement suit).

At the time, MMI accused Apple's MobileMe service of infringing the patent. In a later pleading, which was submitted after Apple's announcement of the iCloud ahead of this year's Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC), MMI told the court that it also considered the iCloud to infringe the related patent. According to MMI, MobileMe is "integrated" into the iCloud, and this also results in a name change. But Apple says that MMI's infringement accusations lack specificity and therefore refuses to defend itself against them. However, unlike in the United States, where a party could move for the dismissal of non-actionable claims, the German court isn't even interested in this. The presiding judge made it clear that if an injunction is ordered, it will relate to the infringement of a particular patent by whatever technology (by whichever name it may go), without specifying any products by name.

This means that a February ruling in MMI's favor would leave some important questions unanswered, and would give rise to subsequent disputes over the enforcement of an injunction against particular products and services.

The issue for Apple here is that it would probably (if not almost certainly) be accused of infringing the patent-in-suit with any products containing the iCloud client software. While the patent covers a synchronization technology that requires a server, and Apple Sales International does not operate the servers (maybe Apple Inc. does, or otherwise some Apple subsidiary other than the Irish distribution organization), all Apple devices containing the client software could be deemed to infringe the patent-in-suit contributorily.

In light of this risk, Apple's lawyers have asked the court to determine that MMI will have to give a 2 billion euro bail(US$ 2.7 billion based on today's exchange rate) if it seeks to enforce the patent. The purpose of such a bail is to ensure that an alleged infringer will be compensated if the enforced injunction is later overturned by an appellate court. The court was wondering whether that hefty amount truly reflects the economic damages Apple would suffer from enforcement, given that the iCloud is only one Apple offering and doesn't correspond to the entire value of its products. But Apple's lawyers insisted that an enforcement against its product sales in Germany could result in damages of that magnitude.

MMI's counsel was moderately receptive to the idea of setting different bails for the enforcement of the patent against processes/services and against actual products. I thought MMI's lead litigator believed to be in a strong position and wasn't in the mood to make any concessions.

The presiding judge indicated the possibility of a workaround. For example, the patent relates to highly automated synchronization techniques and might not be deemed infringed if Apple's client software sent certain messages to the iCloud server to trigger synchronization. But Apple's counsel didn't appear willing to downplay the economic relevance of this matter. I also think that the presence of senior in-house counsel from both parties -- sitting next to their German lawyers -- is indicative of the relevance of this action. Apple additionally flew in an outside attorney from California, Christine Saunders Haskett of the Covington & Burling firm.

If the iCloud cannot work around that patent without becoming much less useful (or next to useless in a hypothetical worst-case scenario), Apple will clearly limit its market potential in Germany by removing its client software. Again, it remains to be seen what a non-infringing workaround might look like. Maybe Apple doesn't concede that there are viable workarounds just in order to maximize the bail that Motorola would have to give if it enforces an injunction. But Apple's concerns over the economic implications of this could also be genuine.

On December 2, there will be another Motorola Mobility v. Apple hearing in Mannheim. It's unknown which legal entity or entities will have to defend themselves in that action. I guess the third action is against Apple GmbH (the German subsidiary) and Apple Retail Germany GmbH, which appears to operate the German Apple Stores.

Follow-up on the prohibition of in-court tweetingIn my report on the Samsung v. Apple hearing a week ago I mentioned that the presiding judge didn't allow live tweets from his courtroom. That mentioning resulted in a couple of articles in Germany. Today the presiding judge clarified that the reason why the use of Twitter is prohibited is that one must not use devices in the courtroom that could also be used to record the hearing. The only electronic devices allowed are counsel's portable computers and simultaneous translation equipment. As a result, one must not use smartphones, and therefore can't tweet.

Right after clarifying this at the very start of the session, the presiding judge interrupted the hearing for five minutes so those who (unlike me) hadn't done so previously could place their handsets in lockers.
The attack on the iCloud and the demand for a 2 billion euro bail would actually have been worth tweeting about.


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Debit Cards Are More Dangerous Than Ever Under New Laws

Despite Reforms, Visa and MasterCard Debit Cards Still Put Consumers at Risk, A CreditCardAssist.com Report Finds

You can lose everything in the blink of an eye

A consumer can lose everything in the blink of an eye and there’s no guarantee they’ll ever get it back.

Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) November 19, 2011

The recent Federal reforms to the banking industry fail to adequately protect Americans with debit cards, according to a report released today by CreditCardAssist.com, a leading credit card intelligence and resources firm. Citing the prevalence of mass debit card theft from corporations like CitiBank and Sony, the reportoutlines a systematic failure in debit cards, especially the ones issued by MasterCard and Visa.

“The entire debit card system is flawed,” said CreditCardAssist.com founder Bill Hazelton. "A consumer can lose everything in the blink of an eye and there’s no guarantee they’ll ever get it back." Studies have shown that a lapse in authentication security has made the information on debit cards easier to steal than any other piece of plastic in circulation. Because “check cards” and “unsecured” debit cards don’t use PIN numbers to validate transactions, they give thieves instant access to a consumer’s personal checking or savings account. As a result, victims could be left penniless for more than two weeks while their bank investigates the case.

"When someone steals your credit card, you can just refuse to pay your balance that month,” Hazelton explained. “But when your debit card is compromised, you’re losing the money you need to pay your mortgage, your medical bills and other necessary expenses -- this makes debit card fraud much more devastating than credit card fraud."

Debit card fraud is especially troubling when considering how easy it is for hackers to steal thousands of consumer debit card numbers at once from merchant and bank databases. This summer, financial giant Citibank had approximately 21 million card numbers stolen from its database when hackers realized they could simply alter their browser’s URL to expose different accounts -- and the personal information held within them. Just days later, Sony Online Entertainment exposed over 100 million user account details in a similar mass hack.
If they don’t report the false charges within two days, victims of debit card fraud are currently liable for up to $500 and if they take longer than two months, they receive no liability protection whatsoever. By contrast, victims of credit card fraud are only liable for $50, no matter the time period. “This regulatory disparity is absolutely putting consumers at risk,” Hazelton says, “consumers need to wake up and demand equal protections for debit cards -- or the problem won’t go away.”

Hazelton is well acquainted with advocating credit and debit card safety. He founded CreditCardAssist.com in order to advise consumers and small business owners on the perils and pitfalls of the credit card industry. Since its establishment in 2004 the company has grown into one of the leading credit card information resources on the Internet, and has been cited by publications like New York Post, the San Francisco Chronicle and Entrepreneur Magazine.
To learn more about Credit Card Assist or to schedule an interview, please email andrew(at)contentfac(dot)com. More information and the entire report can be viewed athttp://www.creditcardassist.com.

Waiters from NYC Top Steakhouse Busted in Million Dollar Credit Card Scam

NBC New York

Money, credit card counterfeiting equipment and other goods confiscated

in New York City  are displayed by the district attorney's office on Friday.

By Jonathan Dienst, Shimon Prokupecz and Joe Valiquette

NBCNewYork.com

updated 2 hours 41 minutes ago

More than two dozen current and former waiters and their associates from some of the city's top steakhouses have been arrested in an alleged identity theft ring, accused of stealing credit card numbers from wealthy customers, authorities said Friday.  The Manhattan district attorney, police and the U.S. Secret Service announced the arrests Friday involving a 28-person ring that operated at top metro-area restaurants like Smith & Wollensky, Capital Grille and Wolfgang Steak, as well as Morton’s in Stamford, Conn. and the Bicycle Club in New Jersey.  read more at MSNBC

The story was first reported Thursday by NBC New York.

Why Standardization of NFC Will Change The World

Author: Alex Hamilton Published: November 18, 2011 at 7:07 am

The real agent of massive global economic change is not one of the usual suspects, it is actually something rather mundane- standardization.

Yes that's right, standardization. Incredibly boring I know. But it has changed the world before and is about to again.

The humble shipping container may not seem like the engine that drove globalization for the 20th Century, but it is. And like the shipping container of the 20th Century, it will be Near Field Communication (NFC) enabled sim cards that will drive innovation and globalization in the 21st Century. Or at least for the next decade.

The move to standard sized shipping containers during World War Two, but particularly in the years that followed, enabled massive and efficient movements of goods all around the world, and as of 2009 approximately 90% of non-bulk cargo is moved this way. Henry Ford changed the world with the production line, but no one changed they way it was shipped, until containerization.

So yes, innovation came from many sources, Japan and Germany not burdened by having to pay for their own defence budgets could invest in R&D in all areas of their economies and the USA could expand into the golden era of the Long Boom, and so on. But all this wonderful capitalism would not have been possible on the scale and time frame that it happened without the backbone of the globalization being the standardized shipping container.

This does not fit the narrative of combat that is so often touted as the raison d'être of capitalism, but it is when things get standardized that change starts to take place. Just within the bounds of the standard. Westinghouse versus Maytag is still just as bloody, except all their wares are shipped in the same sized containers.

Continued on the next page

 

Read more: http://technorati.com/technology/article/why-standardization-of-nfc-will-change/#ixzz1e5QNW43h

Swedish Telco's to Form NFC Mobile Joint Venture

According to Finextra, Mobile operators Telia, Tele2, Telenor and 3 have formed a Swedish m-payments joint venture.

Finextra: The group say that by joining together they can provide all Swedes, contract and pre-paid, with a range of payment services from next summer.  All mobile operators will have the same product, making it easy for customers switching providers, while using a single counterparty offers greater security and less administration, says a brief statement.  In June, Telia Denmark, TDC, Telenor Denmark and 3 Denmark formed a joint company to develop a common platform for NFC m-payments.  The Scandinavian projects are following a similar model being employed by telcos in the US, under the Isis brand, and in the UK by Everything Everywhere, Telefonica and Vodafone.

MASTERCARD PLAN FOR 21-CENT FLOOR ON PIN DEBIT CARD TRANSACTIONS THREATENS SMALL BUSINESS

Image via Wikipedia

According to the Jaffe Legal News Service:

Similar to recently aborted Bank of America usage fee, new cost would compensate for Durbin amendment cap on debit card fees

An attempt by MasterCard to institute a 21-cent floor on all of its PIN debit card transactions to benefit banks using its branded debit cards could have a chilling impact on small businesses.

“If this succeeds, margins will be painfully slimmer for many low margin, low ticket, high volume businesses such as grocery and fast food stores, coffee shops and gas stations,” said Robert G. Gerber, a partner in the Corporate and Securities practice group at Neal, Gerber & Eisenberg LLP (Chicago).

Using the example of a grocery store with an average net margin of 5 to 7 percent, Gerber pointed out that margins quickly will disappear on lower ticket transactions. On a $10 purchase, the net margin for the grocer would be about 50 to 70 cents. Under the 1.5 percent fee, the transaction cost would be $.015, and 6 cents more under the new 21-cent cost.

“These types of small businesses survive on operational efficiencies and turning more volume, so while 6 cents might not sound like much, it is more than 10 percent off the net profit margin on that transaction,” Gerber says.

According to Gerber, MasterCard’s overture basically is an attempt to compensate for the $0.21-per transaction cap on debit card fees instituted by the Durbin amendment to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010. Only recently, Bank of America’s own attempt to recoup the millions of dollars that it would no longer make on larger transactions due to the cap – through a new $5 monthly debit card usage fee – was rescinded due to public outcries.

“MasterCard is quietly working to institute this new cost to recoup lost income, but also to influence banks to use its branded cards over those of other associations – namely Visa,” Gerber says.

Gerber is available to discuss this latest move by MasterCard and its potential impact on small businesses, as well as other banking issues related to the Durbin amendment. [11/17/2011]

Press Contact: Randy Labuzinski
Email: rlabuzinski@jaffepr.com
Phone: 773-405-7583

GETI and IVR Technology Group (ITG) Partner to Add ACH to Pay-by-Phone Virtual Terminal

SOURCE: Global eTelecom, Inc.

 

November 18, 2011 05:00 ET

FT. WALTON BEACH, FL--(Marketwire - Nov 18, 2011) - Global eTelecom, Inc. (GETI), a premier electronic check processor and gift/loyalty card provider, announced today a new partnership with the IVR Technology Group, a provider of customized IVR (Interactive Voice Response) and SMS text messaging services, to further increase the functionality of ITG's IVR Pay-by-Phone virtual terminal. As part of this partnership, GETI resellers and end user customers can turn any telephone into their own virtual ACH payment processing terminal by utilizing GETI's transaction processing technology.

The IVR Pay-by-Phone gateway combines this ACH capability with credit card processing to offer a complete payment solution. A significant benefit to businesses using the Pay-by-Phone virtual terminal is the ability to certify PCI-DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) compliance, because the system does not store credit card data over the VoIP network.

Users of the system are provided a dedicated dial in telephone number and met with a company specific greeting. Callers are then given customized instruction on how to complete their electronic payments. The call flows have been implemented in accordance with NACHA & GETI guidelines. There is no need for any additional hardware and/or software. ITG offers full support for a variety of system to system interfaces including integration with existing IVR systems and customer management software.

"This partnership with IVR Technology Group will substantially enhance payment processing options for GETI clients by integrating GETI solutions into the Pay-by-Phone virtual terminal," said John Laurell, vice president of technical operations at GETI. "Partnering with ITG offers us the opportunity to provide our resellers and their end user customers with the ability to field customer service calls for payment processing 24 hours a day."

About Global eTelecom, Inc. (GETI)Global eTelecom (GETI) provides proprietary electronic Check processing and Gift/Loyalty services to over 55,000 merchants nationwide. GETI's products are marketed through sales channels of banks, independent sales offices and credit card processors. Global eTelecom's value added solutions include: Electronic POS Check Conversion, Paper Guarantee, ACH Debit, Checks-By-Phone, Checks-By-Web, Check 21 rdc, mobile Tele-Debit and Gift/Loyalty Card Processing. GETI is part of Sage North America. For information, please visit www.Globaletelecom.com

About IVR Technology GroupIVR Technology Group (ITG) is a provider of customized IVR (Interactive Voice Response) and SMS text messaging services through a suite of phone automation services that enhances customer communications, helps drive sales while lowering costs. Leveraging IVR Technology Group's Pay-by-Phone virtual terminal companies can quickly add additional solutions ranging from simple call routing to advanced interactive voice response and cloud based virtual support systems. For more information, visit www.IVRTechGroup.com or call Mike Byrne, 800-438-1709 Ext. 201.