Chase Pay
Chase Pay has hooked up with 18 tech companies to accelerate merchant acceptance. Chase Pay uses QR Codes.
The Strawhecker Group Lands Houck
Merchant acquisition consultants The Strawhecker Group has hired Tara
Houck , previously with Noblett and Associates, as an Associate.
Houck was Vice President of M & A for Noblett
and Associates, where she led the development of 45 potential
acquisitions with over $500 million in bankcard assets. Previously, as
Vice President of ISO Channel Sales at Card Systems, Tara helped develop
and launch the sales effort to MSPs and ISOs. Prior to Card Systems,
Tara was Executive Vice President and owner of Meramak Bankcard, Inc for
10 years, which is still in operation today.
ClearCommerce Selects Certicom’s Security Builder
ClearCommerce has selected VA-based Certicom’s “Security Builder Secure Sockets” layer solution for card-not present payment processing. Security Builder SSL offers a single application program interface (API) for 30 platforms and is optimized for a variety of environments including mobile devices and applications. It is also part of the Certicom Security Architecture, a comprehensive, cross-platform solution designed to allow developers to quickly and cost-effectively embed security into applications and across multiple families and generations of devices. Security Builder SSL is optimized to provide secure communications between popular browsers on handhelds and mission-critical applications such as e-mail, e-commerce, instant messaging and virtual private network (VPN) connectivity. Certicom manages and protects the value of content, applications and devices with government-approved security.
Strawhecker Group to Consult on C-Stores
Omaha-based The Strawhecker Group, the largest consulting firm focused exclusively on the merchant acquiring and ISO community, announced it is expanding its consulting services to include the oil and convenience store verticals. Heading this new division is industry expert and TSG associate Rich Eyberg. Eyberg has extensive experience in this area, including five years managing a variety of functions at Alliance Data Systems, viewed as one of the top providers of processing services to the oil/convenience store marketplace.
Payment Data Systems Seeks Acquisitions
Payment Data Systems has engaged the services of management consulting company The Strawhecker Group. TSG is focused exclusively on the merchant acquiring sector of the payments industry. TSG specializes in providing financial institutions, acquirers, card associations, ISOs, processing companies and the investment community with advisory services to maximize their growth and profitability. TSG is also a resource of merchant acquiring industry research, benchmark studies and developing trends. Payment Data Systems, Inc. is an integrated provider of electronic payment solutions to merchants, billers, banks, service bureaus, and credit and stored-value card issuers.
eCommerce Specialist Lands Gumbinger
Assurz has appointed payment industry veteran Gregg Gumbinger, previously with Authorize.Net and First Data Merchant Services, to serve as VP of Business Development. Gumbinger has over 25 years of experience in the bankcard payment and eCommerce industries. He has also held marketing and business development positions at Visa USA, MCI, ClearCommerce, HomeAccount and the original Pay By Touch company. Assurz provides a “100% Satisfaction Guarantee” to consumers who shop online, enabling shoppers to evaluate their purchases for an extended 90-day period and, if dissatisfied, receive full reimbursement of their purchase as well as prepaid return shipping directly from Assurz.
Former Vital CEO Becomes WAY Systems CEO
Boston-based WAY Systems has named Fred O. Gumbel as its new CEO. Gumbel was the founding Chairman, President and CEO of Vital Processing Services when it was formed in 1995 by TSYS and VISA merging their merchant processing operations. However, he abruptly resigned in June 1998 following differences with Vital’s Board. Since 1998, Gumbel has been CEO of Payment Insight, a consulting firm. Prior to Vital, he held senior positions at Citicorp and First Bank System, as well as serving as President of Electronic Data Systems Electronic Commerce Strategic Business Unit. WAY Systems says that its Board now includes founders of Hypercom, VeriFone, and TNS, as well as an executive team comprised of those who have held senior positions with VeriFone, Hypercom, Lipman USA, ClearCommerce and First Data. WAY Systems is a specialist in wireless transaction processing. The Company also holds exclusive worldwide rights to pocket-sized merchant POS solutions based on granted patents licensed from Fractal Commerce. (CF Library 5/21/96/ 6/1/98)
Gateway Pricing Continues to Fall
A new research report found that the eCommerce arena continues to enjoy healthy growth and dramatic maturation. The report from The Strawhecker Group also says that gateway pricing continues to fall as merchants themselves improve their IT expertise and natural competition culls the priciest from the pack. Strawhecker notes there are so many more payment tools available off-the-shelf these days that merchants find it much easier to build an in-house solution, thereby cutting out the middle-man gateway. This aggressive stance by the merchants has driven gateways to carve their per-transaction pricing to thinner margins, just as large acquirers and processors have seen their margins reduced to slivers by the commoditization of transaction processing.
eFunds Launches RAPIDReviewer
eFunds Retail Solutions has released a new workflow and data management solution that helps Internet retailers improve the performance and efficiency of their manual order review process for suspicious transactions. The new “RAPIDReviewer” software is the first commercially available solution to automate the back-office manual order review process. eFunds says the new software can dramatically increase the number of orders reviewed with fewer resources and fewer mistakes. Without an efficient manual review, legitimate orders are often rejected and fraudulent orders are accepted, resulting in lost profits, increased operating costs and poor customer relations. “RAPIDReviewer” is expected to be available in the summer for companies in U.S., Canada, and U.K., and following soon in the rest of Europe. eFunds Retail Solutions was formerly known as ClearCommerce Corporation.
WAY Systems Expands MTT Terminal Line
MA-based WAY Systems has unveiled three new versions of its “Mobile Transaction Terminal” product line. The Company also announced it has hired some executives from VeriFone and ClearCommerce. The new “MTT 1571” is a dual-band device (850Mhz and 1900Mhz) and is capable of performing credit and online debit transactions with its integrated PCI/PED certified PIN Pad. The new “MTT 1570” operates at 900Mhz and 1800Mhz and can perform credit, debit and EMV transactions through its integrated PIN Pad and smart card reader which conforms to EMV Levels 1 and 2. The new “MTT 1510” now allows for the attachment of an optional enhanced antenna. Meanwhile, WAY Systems has hired Lance Nakamura, who spent 22 years at VeriFone, as its new CTO. George Devitt, formerly VP/Marketing at VeriFone and SVP/CMO at Hypercom, has become the new CMO. Stu Fullerton, formerly with ClearCommerce, has joined the firm as VP/North American Sales.
41st Parameter and Elite Analytics Team
The 41st Parameter and Elite Analytics have formed a strategic relationship to integrate their capabilities into a robust online fraud detection and prevention solution for merchants and financial institutions. The partnership will use their collective expertise in data mining, applied statistics and predictive modeling to help extend clients’ ability to understand, analyze and predict non-compliant and fraudulent behavior. The joint offering is designed to give customers the power to take large volumes of transaction and fraud data and create actionable intelligence from which they can better plan and prepare systems and processes for ongoing enhancements to compliance, security and risk management activities.
eFunds Grows with New Acquisitions
Arizona-based eFunds posted an 8% increase in first quarter net revenue to $114.2 million, excluding its ATM deployment business which it sold in November. During the quarter, eFunds acquired ClearCommerce Corporation, a provider of fraud prevention for card-not-present transactions. The Company also executed an agreement to acquire India Switch Company, a provider of ATM management and processing services in India, in the second quarter. Additionally, eFunds recently executed an agreement to acquire substantially all of the assets of National Check Protection Services. The Company expects 2005 full year net revenue to increase 8% to 12% and net income to increase 17% to 22%. For complete details on eFunds 1Q/05 performance, visit CardData ([www.carddata.com][1]).
[1]: http://www.carddata.com