Chase Paymentech Launches All-In-One Pkg

5, Country, Priority, UNITED STATES

Chase Paymentech has introduced an integrated, “All-In-One” payments package geared to small and medium-sized businesses. The new package offers payment card processing and business growth services, including a “ready-to-market” gift card package. The “All-In-One” offer includes the Chase Paymentech Gift Card starter kit (100 cards) – a customizable gift card solution designed to help increase repeat store traffic and average ticket size; a card-swipe terminal, a high- speed Internet-connected terminal with dial-up capabilities; and online electronic statements, an interactive reporting tool that allows merchants to reconcile their accounts quickly and easily.

Consumer Confidence Hits a Two-Year Low

5, Country, Priority, UNITED STATES

U.S. consumer confidence hit its lowest level in more than two years. According to the “RBC CASH Index,” rising energy and food prices, falling house prices and tightening lending standards all contributed to the downward trend. The “Index” for November stands at 64, down more than 16 points from October’s 80.6 level. The “Index” is composed of four sub-indexes: “RBC Current Conditions Index”; “RBC Expectations Index”; “RBC Investment Index”; and, “RBC Jobs Index”. The “Expectations Index” dropped 30 points, the first time the index hit negative territory since September 2005. The “Current Conditions Index” dropped more than 10 points to 90.3 in November, compared to 101.1 last month. The “Jobs Index” slid to 111.8, down nearly 11 points from October’s 122.5 level due to consumers’ negative view of overall job security coupled with increased personal job loss experience. The “Investment Index” was down nine points to 83.4, compared to 92.5 in October.

TRAVELEX & POSTILION

5, CHINA, Country, Priority

Travelex foreign exchange has implemented Postilion’s currency exchange
processing services at its ATMs. With this development, the foreign
exchange
process will be made easier without subjugation to variable exchange rates.
Furthermore, the solution implements dynamic currency conversion (DCC)
allowing Travelex to set the exchange rate for withdrawals providing for
customer transparency on fees. The foreign exchange provider already has
DCC functioning with over 50 of its ATMs and is planning on significant
expansion before 2009. Travelex has nearly 700 retail branches, mostly in
airport and high-tourist locations, providing outsourced travel money
services
while Postilion, an S1 Corporation division, provides self-service
banking and
payment processing solutions to consumers in over 50 countries. S1
Corporation
employs over 1,400 worldwide and has over 3,000 customers in various
market segments.

GEMALTO & J/SPEEDY

5, Country, JAPAN, Priority

Gemalto has integrated JCB’s “J/Speedy” contactless payment with its NFC
SIM for mobile contactless payment, a fast-growing feature throughout the
payments industry. Implementing Open Mobile Alliance technology, the
project will allow users application and information access through a
mobile
phone browser. Gemalto provides software and devices for contactless
payment with projections for significant growth, has an annual revenue of
EUR1.7 billion and employs nearly 10,000 worldwide.

NCR Introduces the APTRA Promote 3.0

5, Country, Priority, UNITED STATES

NCR Corporation announced the latest enrichment to its popular “APTRA Promote” campaign management software platform for the ATM and self-service channel. The new “APTRA Promote 3.0” delivers enhanced functionality and usability of the manager tool, while adding additional couponing and campaign functions. Up to eight different coupon campaigns can now be offered to consumers at the ATM, including the choice of “no coupon.” Because coupons are printed directly from the receipt printer, FIs have complete flexibility to change campaigns at their convenience.

Fargo HDPii Financial Card Printer Debuts

5, Country, Priority, UNITED STATES

Fargo Electronics has introduced the “HDPii Financial Card Printer”, targeted toward banks, credit unions and retailers for on-site instant issuance of debit, credit and prepaid cards. Customers will not have to wait for days or weeks to receive their card, or be concerned that it may be lost or stolen in the mail. The HDPii can personalize all the static and variable data on a card, thereby allowing banks to dramatically reduce their SKUs of preprinted cards. By decreasing the inventory of preprinted debit, credit and prepaid cards on hand, the chances of theft are reduced. And, by instantly issuing the cards, the risk of cards lost or stolen in the mail is eliminated. Up to 40% of cards delivered by mail are never activated and never used. Fargo Electronics provides secure technologies for identity card issuance systems, including secure card printer/encoders, materials and software. Fargo provides physical, information and transaction security for a wide variety of applications and industries, including financial, retail, government, corporate, national IDs, drivers’ licenses, universities, schools and membership.

BMO/G&D & PAYPASS

5, CANADA, Country, Priority

The Bank of Montreal(BMO) and Giesecke & Devrient (G&D) have partnered to provide the Mastercard “PayPass” contactless solution throughout Canada. The contactless bankcards are projected for significant expansion throughout the country, by the end of 2007, transactions can be conducted securely with PayPass
technology. Furthermore, with this agreement, the BMO acceptance network
will process transactions conducted with the PayPass Technology over the G&D
contactless terminals. When transactions are conducted under this
newly-implemented
system, no signature or PIN is required and the customer is never
required to relinquish
card possession. Statistics supporting this agreement reflect that as
of 3Q07, over 19
million BMO customers use MasterCard PayPass cards and 40% of all
transactions
are conducted using plastic.

DESJARDINS & SMART CARDS

5, CANADA, Country, Priority

Desjardins has announced that it has conducted its first smart card
transaction using cards equipped with microchip technology. According
to experts, with this development the company is demonstrating its ability
to provide customers better security protection against fraud with a POS,
PIN-validated solution. In addition to these developments, Desjardins is
participating in NFC trials to verify interactions among cards and devices
further exemplifying the company’s migration to microchip technology.
The company has assets of over $143 billion, employs 40,000 and
provides 5.8 million clients with financial products and services.

Manhattan DA Indicts Western Express Group

5, Country, Priority, UNITED STATES

The Manhattan District Attorney has indicted seventeen individuals and one corporation on charges related to global trafficking in stolen credit card numbers, cybercrime, and identity theft. The corporation is Western Express International, formerly headquartered in mid-town Manhattan. The 173-count indictment charges that from 2001 through 2007, the defendants participated in a multi-national, internet-based criminal enterprise dedicated to trafficking in stolen credit card numbers and other personal identifiers. The group realized millions in illicit profits from the sale and fraudulent use of this personal data, with some members of the enterprise laundering these profits in a variety of high-tech ways. The indictment says the group created and participated in a computerized marketplace for the global trafficking, enabling the defendants to conduct anonymous transactions, via the Internet and by other means, using sophisticated payment schemes.

Circuit City Renews Chase Card Contract

5, Country, Priority, UNITED STATES

Consumer electronics retailer Circuit City has extended its credit card agreement with JPMorgan Chase for its Circuit City Rewards and Circuit City Rewards VISA cards. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.Circuit City Stores operates 652 Superstores and 13 other locations in the U.S., 800 retail stores and dealer outlets in Canada and operates Web sites at http://www.circuitcity.com, http://www.thesource.ca and http://www.firedog.com. JPMorgan Chase & Co. is a global financial services firm with assets of $1.5 trillion and operations in more than 50 countries with more than 154 million credit cards issued.

ASK/STIP & MOBIB

5, BELGIUM, Country, Priority

The STIB Belgian urban public transportation has partnered with ASK for
the introduction of MoBIB Teleticketing to provide multi-modal traveling in
multiple European urban centers. ASK “C.ticket” contactless paper ticket
also provides for self service bikes rental, transportation, museum and car
park service within the city and suburbs of Brussels, Paris, London, Porto
and Funchal. MoBIB is designed to be reloaded and to provide mass transit
convenience with a single card. ASK supplies contactless cards, tickets,
RFID tags, ePassport inlays and readers for mass transit, access control,
banking, e-Identity and supply chain markets with over 100 million
contactless products currently in use.

ARM SECURECORE SC300

5, Country, FRANCE, Priority

ARM has introduced its “Secure Core SC300” processor to provide smart
card and mobile phone SIM card transactions. The “SC300” processor is
capable of conducting transactions over multiple interfaces for contactless
applications and contributes to the growing industry trend of switching
from
8-bit to 32-bit processors. Specifically, the “SecurCore SC300” is designed
for very low power consumption for the 32-bit smart card migration enabling
hardware and software development collaboration. The foundation of the
processor is provided for by the ARM “Cortex-M3 processor” with its
low-cost requirements and memory size reduction. ARM designs and offers
microprocessors, data engines and graphic processors around the world.