In Other News: FAPS (ASTREX); WALTZ (investors); MERCATOR (report); and MASTERCARD (China). FAPS – First American Payment Systems and UL Transaction Security have partnered together to offer ASTREX, a real-time payments simulator, to reduce development time and streamline EMV validation for ISVs and VARs. Paired with First American’s semi-integrated EMV solution, the testing environment will…
CardWeb.com’s CardData database of Company Profiles today features TransFirst.
CardWeb.com’s CardExecs database of payments industry movers and shakers today features Stanley Linkous, Senior Vice President for Primax.
Yapyzal social commerce tool for business design product share through social media sites is officially available. The service, which is initially launching on Facebook and which requires no additional coding or programming by the business, allows customers to complete a social commerce transaction securely and seamlessly with their credit or debit card, while remaining on the business’s Facebook page. Reckert explains that while the launch is on Facebook, the Yapyzal technology is designed to grow into a global brand that can be adapted to any social media application. Facebook was selected as the first social media site for launching the Yapyzal brand because it allows businesses to reach the largest concentration of potential customers on the planet, with more than one billion users. ePaymentAmerica’s one time underwriting process for social commerce activation generally takes 24-48 hours.
First Data announced its Board of Directors named Ed Labry interim CEO while it conducts a selection process. For continuity and stability, Ed’s experience and knowledge of the company will maintain its position in a dynamic electronic payments industry. Bringing with him almost 30 years’ experience in the payments industry- most of that time at First Data or one of its subsidiaries- Ed will ensure the company remains customer-focused with a drive to its 2013 objectives.
North American Bancard added Tracy Metzger as chief information officer. Tracy’s executive experience features roles as CIO, CTO and president over the past 20 years. Metzger has been credited with increasing sales, decreasing costs and growing margins and comes to NAB from TGate Payments, a cloud computing payment processing Platform as a Service (PaaS) company, where for two years he served as president and chief technology officer. Tracy served eight years as president and CTO at payment processing and technology company Abanco International and was CIO at Gate Gourmet, the second largest global airline catering company, and vice president of technology strategy at Concord EFS, a credit/debit card transaction processing and settlement services provider.
Citi is giving customers another way to get tickets to see their favorite music live through its Citi ThankYou Rewards. Members can redeem their “ThankYou Points” directly to purchase tickets to sought-after performances on LiveNation.com. Through Citi’s relationship with Live Nation and the Citi® Private Pass® program (www.citiprivatepass.com), customers already can enjoy exclusive ticket presales, preferred tickets, VIP experiences and access. Now, Citi ThankYou Rewards members (www.thankyou.com) can use their points to buy tickets to concerts at Live Nation venues.
Cardtronics retail ATMs has appointed Todd Clark senior executive VP, Sales and Relationship Management Group. He joins Cardtronics with more than 20 years’ success in sales and client relations leadership roles, having driven revenue growth in both entrepreneurial and global corporate environments. Most recently senior VP/GM of strategic accounts at First Data, Clark led financial institution-facing sales teams at Concord EFS, Inc, which he joined in 2002 when Concord acquired Core Data Resources Inc., which Clark co-founded in 1991. Under Clark’s leadership, Core Data Resources grew to become the second largest ATM processor in the U.S., counting Cardtronics among its earliest clients.
Cardtronics retail ATMs announced a unified team designed to better serve the financial institution and national retailer marketplaces. With this, Todd Clark has joined Cardtronics as senior executive VP, Sales and Relationship Management Group. He joins Cardtronics as senior executive VP, Sales and Relationship Management Group with more than 20 years of demonstrated success in sales and client relations leadership. He was most recently senior vice president and general manager of strategic accounts at First Data, with responsibility for its largest customer, Bank of America, which included the revenue for Bank of America Merchant Services, a payments company with more than 350,000 merchant relationships across the U.S. that started as a joint-venture between Bank of America and First Data.
Clipper card reader technology and decals have been installed throughout the San Francisco Bay Area transportation network and is now set to distribute its smart cards to local commuters. The reloadable Clipper card allows riders to transfer from one transit agency to another by simply touching the card to the Clipper card reader on board each bus or at rail stations for one card to pay for all the rides. The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), the agency that plans, coordinates and finances transportation projects in the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area, chose the name Clipper because of its connection with the region’s transportation history. Cubic joined with MTC officials in officially launching the new smart card on June 16 and will be useful on the Muni, BART, AC Transit, Golden Gate Transit, Golden Gate Ferry and Caltrain for about 80% of Bay area transit riders. The Clipper system will eventually extend to 25 transit agencies.
Heartland Payment for CITGO, Marathon and RBS WorldPay have approved Passport with PA-DSS POS system software for retailers on their networks. They join BP, Chevron, Concord, ExxonMobil, NBS/Cenex, and Shell software applications that are already shipping. Gilbarco Veeder-Root continues to develop and certify additional networks because the broad approval is important to multi-branded retailers who benefit from using the same point of sale system at all their locations. Passport systems are being installed across the country as retailers approach the July 1 Payment Card Industry (PCI) deadlines to replace point of sale systems that do not meet PCI requirements. Passport provides a highly intuitive touch screen interface that minimizes training time, errors and shrinkage
Scott Galit has joined i2c payment solutions as company president.
Bringing with him extensive background in the financial services and
prepaid industries, focusing especially on emerging payments, Galit was
most recently executive VP at Meta Payment Systems. In this capacity, he
served on the executive committee of MetaBank and lead all payments
business lines, including credit, prepaid/debit, ACH, loyalty, agent
bank and ATMs. He was also senior VP at MasterCard, serving on the
global debit senior management team and with responsibility for the
global prepaid business; a senior VP and GM at First Data; and was the
founder and CEO of Solspark, and formerly an investment banker at
Donaldson, Lufkin& Jenrette. i2c payments solution provider helps card
issuers and program managers deliver profitable programs.