Household Debt
Total household debt in the U.S. was $13.512 trillion at the end of 2014 and credit cards accounted for 6.52% or $881.57 billion. The ratio of credit card debt to household debt was highest in 1996 at 10.05%.
Credit Trends Data
Equifax has opened up its treasure trove of consumer credit statistics drawn from its consumer credit database of more than 210 million consumers. Investors will now have access to a special subset of data from the company’s National Consumer Credit Trends Report.
Priority Pass
London-based Priority Pass finds that a subset of millennials are inclined to open their wallets a little wider when it comes to some travel luxuries, like Four and Five Star accommodations.
Staples Card Breach
The U.S. Secret Service is reportedly investigating a potential breach of credit and debit card data at several Staples office supply locations in the Northeast. The potential major breach comes on the heels of the The Home Depot, Target, Neiman Marcus and Chase hackings.
Data Risk Management
Enterprises are dedicating increasing resources to security and risk. Nevertheless, attacks are increasing in frequency and sophistication. Security and risk leaders need to fully engage with the latest technology trends if they are to define, achieve and maintain effective security and risk management programs that simultaneously enable business opportunities and manage risk.
China Outlook
The once “red-hot” Chinese economy continues to cool off. The OECD Composite Leading Indicator (CLI) has declined for four consecutive quarters. The year-on-year change in the China CLI was 10.6% in the third quarter, the lowest in more than three years, down sharply from the 16% and 17% of 2006 and 2007. Private domestic debt has soared from $9 trillion in 2008 to more than $23 trillion in 2013. While most of the money has been poured into infrastructure and expanding manufacturing capacity, it has also fueled credit card spending.
India CPI Performance
India’s prior “white-hot” economy has been gearing down for the past three years, but so are consumer prices. The year-on-year growth in the OECD Consumer Price Index for India has dropped from 15.3% in 2009 to 10.9% this year. RAM Research projects the India CPI will increase slightly by ten basis points in the fourth quarter. So far this year, India’s Y/Y CPI was up 11.1% in June, declining to 10.7% in Sept and back up to 11.1% in October.
Japan CLI Projection
Japan’s economy is picking up real steam. The OECD Composite Leading Indicator (CLI) has moved from 0.7% in January to 1.9% at mid-year and now hitting 2.6% at year-end. RAM Research projects the CLI will hit 2.8% at year-end. The world’s third biggest economy has been dogged by deflation for almost 20 years but is…
UK Forecast
While the U.K. has done very well in a recovery, expanding by 3% this year, the country is still dealing with a downturn in exports, persistent unemployment and lower productivity. While, the current OECD Composite Leading Indicator (CLI) for the U.K is 1.9% for September, it will likely drop to 1.8% for the fourth quarter according to RAM Research. The Bank of England says it has no plans to make any changes in interest rates or policies anytime so, reflecting the U.S. domestic stance. The CLI is a subset of Main Economic Indicators and comprises a set of component series selected from a wide range of key short-term indicators. The CLI is designed to provide qualitative information on short-term economic movements, especially at the turning points, rather than quantitative measures. Therefore, the main message of CLI movements over time is the increase or decrease, rather than the amplitude of the changes. Rate of change at end of the calendar quarter month compared to the corresponding year-ago month. Not Seasonally Adjusted.
Collis Contactless NIV Test Tool MasterCard Qualified
ULUL announced Collis Brand Test Tool, developed by UL’s Transaction Security team, has passed qualification by MasterCard for Contactless Network Interface Validation (NIV) testing. To correctly process PayPass™ transactions, acquirers need to validate their network interfaces with MasterCard. NIV testing checks that authorization and clearing interfaces are in accordance with the current MasterCard requirements. NIV Subset 7 ensures that acquirers send correctly formatted PayPass™ M/Chip authorization requests and successfully process the resulting response messages. UL Transaction Security has recently implemented the NIV Subset 7 in the Collis Card Simulator, which is an integral part of Collis Brand Test Tool. This new implementation includes two brand new card simulations related to mobile behavior (MCC_420 and MSI_420) to cover the NIV Subset 7. Now the Collis Brand Test Tool is now fully equipped to support acquirers in the full range of terminal and the network interface validations, as it is now qualified for both contact and contactless NIV testing.
Barclays Launches Exchange Traded Note
Barclays Bank launched Barclays ETN+ Select MLP Exchange Traded Note (“ETN”) on the NYSE Arca stock exchange under the ticker symbol ATMP. The ETN is designed to provide investors with exposure to a basket of midstream US master limited partnerships (“MLPs”), limited liability companies (“LLCs”) and corporations by tracking the volume weighted average price (“VWAP”) of the Atlantic Trust Select MLP Index (the “Index”). Additionally, the Index will also provide exposure to general partners of US MLPs in Canada. Barclays ETN+ ETNs are senior, unsecured, unsubordinated debt securities issued by Barclays Bank PLC. Barclays Bank PLC is the issuer of Barclays ETN+ ETNs and Barclays Capital Inc. is the issuer’s agent.
USA Technologies Shows Cashless Sales Up 84% Y/Y
USA Technologies released new data collected from its 2012 Knowledge Base Study that highlights the business-building benefits of cashless payment adoption realized by USA Technologies’ ePort Connect vending customers. Most notably, the study revealed an impressive 84% increase in average annualized cashless sales in terminals that had adopted the cashless option for longer than one year compared to terminals using the cashless option for less than a year. USAT evaluated data over a two and one-half month period from approximately 57,000 ePort Connect® cashless vending terminals across 39 different channels or industry sectors and customer types. From the 57,000 connections studied, USAT compared a subset of 27,000 terminals where ePort Connect service had been live for greater than one year (the “Mature Subset”) to 30,000 terminals that were in early adoption stage or had been live for less than one year with a cashless option (the “New Installations” subset).