The unemployment rate was once again stagnant in June as the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics posted a rate of 9.2%, up slightly from 9.1% in May. This equates to 14.1 million unemployed persons and has climbed a total of 545,000 since March. Meanwhile, the number of involuntary part-time workers sat at 8.6 million while…
The outlook on the U.S. economy is a mixed bag, with bankers remaining optimistic about the financial health of consumers but indicating that the “credit gap” for small businesses will grow. Moreover, 38% of bankers expect credit card delinquencies to remain flat, while 31% expect them to fall and only 30% expected them to rise…
ScanSource distributor of AIDC (automatic identification and data capture), POS, communications and physical security products for the reseller market, announced sales results for its quarter ended June 30, 2011 are expected to be in the range of $724 million to $734 million, compared to $582 million for the same period one year ago. On our August 18, 2011 quarter- and fiscal year-end conference call, ScanSource executives will provide sales results by geographies and product areas, net earnings, and a forecast for the following quarter. This reflects ScanSource’s normal reporting practice whereby quarterly sales results are disclosed in a release at a practicable date soon after quarter-end.
Aptys Solutions payments network provider for financial institutions nationwide announced that the automated clearing house (ACH) functionality within its “PayLOGICS” payment platform now allows customers the ability to manage and perform same-day settlement (SDS). With “PayLOGICS'” design, customers can take advantage of the service offered by the Federal Reserve through their SDS services and extend that benefit to respondent customers. The settlement functionality within PayLOGICS is customizable, designed out of the box to provide the built-in flexibility for operators to adapt to today’s changing payment landscape. The “PayLOGICS” solution lets adjust to the shifting demands of customers.
Javelin Strategy & Research announces its latest research report Evolving Rewards Strategies: How Merchant-Funded Programs Will Usher in a New Era of Loyalty for FIs.” In it, Javelin highlights incentives for financial institutions to jettison their traditional payment card-based rewards programs in favor of merchant-funded rewards that reduce costs, generate revenue, and build customer loyalty, allowing merchants access to FIs’ transactional data to develop highly targeted marketing campaigns. Based on data from three surveys totaling more than 15,000 consumers, changing payments and rewards environments, presents the key strategic ways merchant-funded rewards programs can be a win-win for both FIs and merchants, and recommends how FIs should evaluate, implement, and promote these programs. Javelin predicts that Durbin and Regulation E together will create up to a $16.4 billion loss of annual revenue for debit card issuers.
StillSecure network security solutions and certified compliance company announced the immediate availability of the StillSecure Managed Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) Service for organizations seeking a higher level of security and those currently struggling with PCI DSS compliance. The service can reduce the incidence of network security breaches by requiring multiple factors to properly identify a user and to ensure they are who they say they are. StillSecure’s MFA service, based on RSA SecureID technology, provides an added layer of defense to existing network security. It allows network administrators to access the StillSecure Radar Portal by entering a highly secure password and a random code generated by a token keychain held by the user.
Global Payout is introducing a payroll debit card specifically developed for active military personnel and their families. In addition, anyone with a valid U.S. address and proper identification is eligible for the card. As a reseller for the Tyburn Group, Global Payout will be marketing the military card through various direct marketing channels. The “TrustCard” is a payroll card designed to support the daily needs of armed services families and is backed by a leading national bank, with deposits guaranteed by the FDIC. It ultimately allows cardholders’ pay direct deposited to so he/she and family members can buy groceries, go shopping, pay utilities, withdraw cash, or set up automatic bill pay.
Sprint is launching its “Sprint Biz App Marketplace” at http://marketplace.sprint.com. The self-service portal gives customers the ability to browse and purchase a variety of applications targeted specifically to address businesses’ mobile application needs. Businesses can discover and acquire applications that Sprint has vetted as trusted and appropriate to a business customer, including those for location, navigation, fleet asset and time tracking, wireless payments, workflow and productivity. To quickly guide customers towards solutions that are relevant to them, users can find applications by industry or search by type, keyword or provider. Mobile business applications are available through Sprint Business, which is composed of sales, support, marketing and operations personnel solely dedicated to enterprise, small- and medium-sized business and public sector customers.
More than 300 Wachovia banking locations across the southern half of Florida became Wells Fargo stores following the conversion of locations in the north, central, and greater Tampa area of Florida last month. Now over 70 million Wells Fargo customers can access nearly 700 Wells Fargo stores and more than 900 ATMs throughout Florida while the Bank added more than 1,500 new jobs across the state. For instance, the Wells Fargo ExpressSend distribution network includes more than 27,000 remittance payout locations with 26 remittance companies located in Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Dominical Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Peru.
Corporate Insight research reports focusing on the credit and charge card offerings currently available to small business owners will now evaluate the current card products and online services provided for small business clients through its new Small Business Card Monitor subscription service. The series launches with a detailed overview of the attributes, rewards and annual fees of the 53 small business cards now offered by American Express, Bank of America, Capital One, Chase, Citibank, Discover, U.S. Bank and Wells Fargo. Moreover, about 50% of all U.S. employees work for a small business and small businesses pay 44% of the nonfarm U.S. private payroll. It is up to credit card companies to provide these businesses with tools and rewards that best suit the need of each individual business. Corporate Insight currently provides a comprehensive selection of syndicated research to 90% of the top financial services companies within the Fortune 500, representing 70% of the brokerage industry and 60% of US banking assets.
Fifth Third formally announces the opening of its Wilkinson Banking Center located at 2752 Ashley Road in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Wilkinson Banking Center is Fifth Third’s first green banking center in its North Carolina market and its second facility in its 12-state footprint. The Company opened its first green location in Orlando, FL, in May of this year. The Wilkinson facility was designed to use less energy and water than standard buildings and incorporates a number of environmentally-advanced features that lessen its impact on the environment. The facility will pursue Silver recognition under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards set by the U.S. Green Building Council.
Sourcefire cybersecurity solutions, announced that senior security experts from Sourcefire, Citrix and VMware will present a webinar to discuss the impact of the new PCI Security Standards Council guidelines on customers. The companies will leverage their experience in the security industry and the PCI Council’s Virtualization Special Interest Group (SIG) to provide recommendations for addressing new and more specific PCI security guidelines within virtual environments. Sourcefire also recently published a report to help customers understand the PCI Council’s new virtualization guidelines. The report explains key PCI requirements affected by virtualization and offers a three-step process for security and virtualization teams to achieve compliance for virtualized platforms.