08/03/2010 • CardFlash® - Payment Card Industry News

First Capital Payments Launches Portable Card Processing

5, Country, Priority, UNITED STATESBy Robert McKinley 08/03/2010

Rochester NY-First Capital Payments has launched an innovative, portable credit card processor, which John Betlem Heating and Cooling has agreed to be the first to use. The reader deploys “Magnesafe m20” lightweight and compact slider device that reads credit card information in a fast and secure way. With “Magnesafe,” there is no need for electrical power, telephone, internet or a wireless source while out in the field. Once the credit card is slid through the device, an indicator light goes on signaling that the card has been read and the card’s information is securely stored. Dozens of transactions can be stored and later retrieved, decrypted and processed by ePN’s online terminal as swiped transactions. Magnesafe m20, can be charged through a computer port and can last days without recharge.

CreditCall Makes Available BlackBerry Payment App

5, Country, Priority, UNITED STATESBy Robert McKinley 08/03/2010

CreditCall is developing a payment app called “CardEase Mobile” secured Chip & PIN (EMV) or magnetic-stripe transactions to take place on BlackBerry and other smartphones, becoming available in fall 2010. The card read and the userâs PIN entered on a separate Bluetooth-linked PIN Pad that can be paired to the smartphone. The data is encrypted while in transit and on a smartphone, then sent over a wireless network to authorize the transaction. A transaction receipt can then be sent to the customer by email, SMS or in paper format from an optional printer.

Lumension Endpoint Protection Awarded 5-Star Rating

5, Country, Priority, UNITED STATESBy Robert McKinley 08/03/2010

The Lumension “Endpoint Protection,” comprised of Lumension “Device Control,” “Application Control” and “AntiVirus,” has been awarded a 5-Star Rating by SC Magazine for its integration with existing environments and features and benefits available across application control, device control and threat management capabilities. With Lumensionâs Endpoint Protection suite, organizations can prevent known and unknown malware as well as centrally manage, monitor and control applications. By employing an application whitelisting approach, users can ensure that only authorized applications are allowed to run on laptops, PCs, mission-critical servers and POS terminals, preventing the execution of unknown or malicious code. This comes on the heels of a 4-star rating by SC Magazine of Lumension “Scan.”

SpaFinder Launches Gift Cards on Facebook & wConnect

5, Country, Priority, UNITED STATESBy Robert McKinley 08/03/2010

SpaFinder and Transaction Wireless launched its social gift card store on its Facebook Page at the IGCC meeting in Baltimore. Allowing users to shop for SpaFinderâs popular Instant Gift Cards at its new âstoreâ on FacebookÂ® Platform, the new social gifting service is powered by Transaction Wireless. The cards can be personalized, redeemed at spas around the globe or online at SpaFinder.com. SpaFinder media and marketing is also using TWâs wConnect service for targeted mobile marketing of its coveted SpaFinder Deal Days offers. The company initially launched with TWâs B2B wCentive solution for bulk gift card purchasing and delivery earlier this year in North America, England, France, Italy, Spain and Germany.

QuikTrip Expands Rewards Debit Card Program

5, Country, Priority, UNITED STATESBy Robert McKinley 08/03/2010

QuikTrip is expanding its “QuikTrip Rewards” Debit Card program on Tempo’s affinity debit card platform and re-issuing the cards with Tempo partner First Bank & Trust of Brookings. The “QuikTrip Rewards” Debit Card provides consumers with a fuel purchase discount of 5 cents per gallon at QuikTrip for the first 90 days after activation and 2 cents per gallon thereafter. As a special introductory offer, those activating their cards before November 30, 2010, will qualify for a fuel purchase discount of 10 cents per gallon during the initial 90 days, and 2 cents per gallon thereafter. Tempo-powered affinity debit cards link to consumers’ existing checking accounts and can be used everywhere Discover cards are accepted. It also provides quarterly cash-back rewards for purchases made at millions of merchant locations outside of QuikTrip.

MegaPath joins PCI Security Standards Council

5, Country, Priority, UNITED STATESBy Robert McKinley 08/03/2010

MegaPath managed IP data, voice and security services in North America has joined the PCI Security Standards Council. With this, MegaPath will work with the Council to evolve PCI DSS and other payment card data protection standards and will have access to the latest payment card security standards from the Council. The Company will also be able to provide feedback on the standards and become part of a growing community that now includes more than 500 organizations. In an era of increasingly sophisticated attacks on systems, adhering to the PCI DSS represents an entity’s best protection against data criminals. By joining as a Participating Organization, MegaPath is adding its voice to the process.

TNS Reports 2Q/10 Revenue Up 7.6%

5, Country, Priority, UNITED STATESBy Robert McKinley 08/03/2010

TNS transaction service reported 2Q/10 total revenue up 7.6% to $131.2 million since the year ago figure of $122.0 million, up 7.7% to $131.3 million on a constant currency basis. EBITDA increased 12.3% to $35.3 million, or 26.9% of revenue, versus $31.5 million, or 25.8% of revenue, in 2Q/09. Adjusted earnings increased 18.2% to $15.5 million compared to adjusted earnings of $13.1 million in 2Q/09. Revenue from the Payments Division increased 3.1% to $50.3 million from $48.8 million in second quarter 2009. Excluding the negative impact of foreign currency translation of $0.2 million, revenues increased $1.7 million on a constant currency basis. Revenue from the European payments business increased $1.4 million due to a $1.9 million increase related to market share gains which was partially offset by a reduction of $0.4 million due to the loss of an ATM processing customer; revenue from the payments business in Asia Pacific increased $0.2 million due to an increase of $0.6 million associated with increases in payment gateway services revenue; and revenue from the payments business in North America increased $0.1 million due to revenue from an equipment sale of $1.4 million.

Retail Solutions Launches Execution Platform

5, Country, Priority, UNITED STATESBy Robert McKinley 08/03/2010

Retail Solutions released its Retail Visibility and Retail Intelligence Retail Execution Management platform. The platform provides users 50 use cases directly embedded in the templates, including On-Shelf Availability, Promotions, Inventory Management, Replenishment, Demand Planning, New Product Introductions, Run-Downs, Unsaleables, Pricing, Field Sales Management, Channel Management. It also allows users to drive and automate best practices inside the organization by providing and supporting the creation of best practice workflows to answer key business questions and to create actionable insights by leveraging the advanced alerting capabilities built into the tool.

Three Largest Issuers See Revenue Up 6.5%

5, Country, Priority, UNITED STATESBy Robert McKinley 08/03/2010

Revenues for the three largest U.S. payment card networks were up 6.49% in the second quarter to $6.3 billion by $406million. MasterCard and Visa second quarter global revenues were up 7.7% and 12.4%, respectively. According to CardData (www.carddata.com), MasterCard’s second quarter global net revenues were $1.4 billion, compared to $1.3 billion for 2Q/09. Visa’s global operating revenue rose to $1.7 billion, up $19 million from the year ago quarter. American Express revenue (net of interest) for 2Q/10 was $3.6 billion for its U.S. Cards unit, compared to $2.8 billion one year ago and $3.5 billion in the previous quarter. For complete details on second quarter performance visit CardData (www.carddata.com).

REVENUES ($ millions)
AmEx Visa MasterCard

2Q/08: $3593 $1613 $1240
3Q/08: $3459 $1709 $1338
4Q/08: $3223 $1739 $1225
1Q/09: $3074 $1647 $1156
2Q/09: $2805 $1646 $1280
3Q/09: $2900 $1535 $1360
4Q/09: $3100 $2000 $1300
1Q/10: $3500 $1459 $1300
2Q/10: $3600 $1665 $1400
Note: American Express Figures are U.S. Cards Revenue
Net of Interest; Visa is Global Operating Revenue; MasterCard is Global
Net Revenues. Source: CardData (www.carddata.com)

MasterCard Posts 2Q/10 Revenue Up 6.7%

5, Country, Priority, UNITED STATESBy Robert McKinley 08/03/2010

MasterCard announced financial results for 2Q/10, with a net income of $458 million and a net revenue of $1.4 billion, a 6.7% increase versus the same period in 2009 (7.9% a constant currency basis). This was thanks in great part to an increase in cross-border volumes of 15.2%; Growth in MasterCardâs gross dollar volume by 8.5% to $656 billion; and pricing changes of Â± 4 percentage points. Additionally, worldwide purchase volume was up 7.9% year-over-year to $493 billion; processed transactions increased 0.1% compared to the year ago period to 5.6 billion with 1.6 billion cards in circulation. Net revenue for 1H/10, meanwhile, totaled $2.7 billion for an increase of 9.7% over the year ago period; net revenue was up 9.0%; cross-border volume growth was 13.1%, gross dollar volume growth was 8.4%, and the net impact of pricing changes of approximately 5 percentage points.

2Q/10 NET REVENUES ($ millions)
2Q/08: $1.24
3Q/08: $1.34
4Q/08: $1.23
1Q/09: $1.16
2Q/09: $1.28
3Q/09: $1.36
4Q/09: $1.30
1Q/10: $1.30
2Q/10: $1.40
Source: CardData (www.carddata.com)

Back to School to Cost Average Family $550

5, Country, Priority, UNITED STATESBy Robert McKinley 08/03/2010

Among consumers with children in preschool through high school, 39% expect to spend more per child on back to school shopping while 41% expect to spend the same this year. With this, the average family of four will spend $550; 39% plan to spend more on back to school shopping this year than in 2009; 63% will have a set budget and virtually all parents; and 94% will look for ways to be resourceful. These findings, according to the latest American Express Spending & Saving Tracker, also show 34% intend to buy electronics, the most common being laptops(18%) with an average ticket price of $530.

BACK-TO-SCHOOL
ITEM ON LIST AVG EXPENSE
Clothing 88% $240
Shoes 86% $100
Supplies 85% $90

Bank Freedom & MoneyGram Ink Loading Agreements

5, Country, Priority, UNITED STATESBy Robert McKinley 08/03/2010

Bank Freedom of Prepaid Card Holdings has inked a ‘Prepaid Card Program Manager Loading Agreement’ with MoneyGram International. With this, Bank Freedom prepaid debit cardholders, including a 1.6 million member union, will be able to load their prepaid debit cards for $3.95 at any of the over 40,000 MoneyGram agent locations nationwide. The MoneyGram load network allows cardholders to add cash to their prepaid cards in real-time for instant availability of funds. Three Bank Freedom prepaid debit card programs are now eligible to load cash through the MoneyGram network. The three eligible prepaid card programs are CardNowÂ® prepaid debit cards, AFSCMEÂ® Advantage, a 1.6 million-member union, and Bank Freedom prepaid debit cards.

Visa held Marketshare in U.S. Credit Card #GDV, Adding 100 bps in 2020, as Discover Delivers Strong CAGR Performance in Q4 dld.bz/jrgJ7 @VisaNews @MastercardNews @AmericanExpress @Discover #payments #creditcards #grossvolume

About a month ago from CardFlash News's Twitter via SocialOomph

#crypto #cryptocurrency #blufamilyoffice #Armbruester #currency #digital #bitcoin #coinmetro #paypal visa #ethereum Crypto draws more attention as Bitcoin surges 270% since March. The rich are ratcheting up investments in digital currencies dld.bz/jpnMB

About 2 months ago from CardFlash News's Twitter via SocialOomph

Abdulaziz AIDahmash, Head of Digital Banking & Payments of SABB in Saudi Arabia, will speak at the 10th Annual Middle East Banking Innovation Summit in Dubai on March 1st. pyvnts.com ecommerce payments pic.twitter.com/G2RWUjYnsd

About 2 months ago from CardFlash News's Twitter via SocialOomph

Review Updated List of February 2021 Payments Events dld.bz/jpaPe #retail #payments #ecommerce #retailpayments #ATMs #security #blockchain #fintech #cybersecurity #artificialintelligence #AI

About 2 months ago from CardFlash News's Twitter via Twitter Web App

Updated for 2021 dld.bz/jnMXP #ecommerce payments #retail #POS #moneylaundering fintech #prepaid #cybersecurity

About 2 months ago from CardFlash News's Twitter via SocialOomph

Daily Archives: 08/03/2010