Global Payments Inc. recently activated strategic ISO relationships to enable acquisition of Discover Network merchants. The ISOs include EVO Merchant Services, Mercury Payment Systems LLC, North American Bancard and Total Merchant Services. Discover Financial Services operates Discover Network, a network that connects to millions of merchant and cash access locations, according to the company. Discover also markets and supports a range of credit, debit and prepaid cards, including the Discover Card.

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Registration for the Electronic Transactions Association's 2008 Annual Meeting & Expo, held each spring in Las Vegas, will begin the first week of December at www.electran.org. More than 3,000 attendees flock to the event each year, and the Expo hall now includes more than 175 exhibitors, covering thousands of square feet.

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The next time you purchase a prepaid gift card, it might be loaded with more than just money. Retailers are starting to recognize the potential of gift cards as promotional vehicles and ways to enhance customer satisfaction and retention with freebies this holiday season. These high-tech, content-rich gift cards resemble ordinary plastic gift cards. On one side is a magnetic stripe loaded with the card's dollar value. It can be swiped, as usual, at the POS. But on the other side is an encoded CD or DVD designed to slip into a computer or stand-alone player for interactive multimedia content such as movie clips, video games, music downloads, discount coupons, educational information and product catalogs.

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According to a recent filing with the U.S. District Court for Massachusetts in a class action lawsuit brought by various banks against The TJX Companies Inc., Visa Inc. had fined Fifth Third Bancorp $880,000 as of June 2007 for the massive security breach disclosed by TJX in late 2006. TJX is the parent company of TJ Maxx and Marshalls, the retailers compromised by the breach.

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Consumers flock to stores where they get what they want. And besides quality merchandise sold at decent prices, they crave quick service. With that in mind, a growing number of retailers are reducing long lines by using mobile, wireless hand-held devices that do it all – scan products, accept bankcard payments and print receipts – from anywhere in the store. Apple Inc. stores first employed mobile checkout in 2005 as a solution to the holiday rush. By fall 2006, the stores eliminated checkout lanes and traditional POS terminals.

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MasterCard Worldwide and Visa Inc. continue to progress on their separate corporate paths. MasterCard reorganized its executive team and created several new positions. Visa Inc. filed a registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). MasterCard's organizational realignment is designed to improve performance in the marketplace by broadening executive responsibilities. The company's new executive committee will oversee major policy and operating efforts across the company.

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After a three-year legal battle, Visa Inc. (which is absorbing Visa U.S.A. in its reorganization as a public company) and Visa International agreed on Nov. 8, 2007, to pay American Express Co. $2.1 billion to settle damages relating to an antitrust lawsuit. What does this mean for the payments industry? Very little, according David H. Press, founder and President of Integrity Bankcard Consultants Inc.

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The Payment Card Industry (PCI) Security Standards Council, which manages the PCI Data Security Standard (DSS) and the PCI PIN Entry Device Security Requirements, just took another step forward in ensuring protection of cardholder account information. The council adopted the Payment Application Data Security Standard (PA DSS), based on Visa Inc.'s Payment Application Best Practices (PABP). This new standard will give the council the ability to establish and promote criteria for secure applications in all payment card transactions.

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From Nov. 7 to Nov. 28, 2007, electronic voting is taking place for the 2008 National Association of Payment Professionals (NAOPP) board. The slate of nominees includes:

• Craig A. Lesser, candidate for President
• Jeff Fortney, for Vice President
• Anna Solomon, for MLSO Director

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The Southern California wildfires of October 2007 drove almost half-a-million people from their homes. Winds of up to 100 mph fanned flames that swept seven Southern California counties, burned more than 500,000 acres and destroyed more than 2,000 homes. The bulk of approximately $1 billion in insured losses involved more homes than businesses. But thousands of small businesses were affected by the blazes.

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Visa Inc. will issue a series of five security mandates pertaining to payment applications starting Jan. 1, 2008. In a bulletin issued Oct., 23, 2007, Visa stated the mandates "require acquirers to ensure their merchants and agents do not use payment applications known to retain prohibited data elements and require the use of payment applications that adhere to Visa's Payment Application Best Practices (PABP)."

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A new advisory published by the law firm Alston & Bird LLP characterizes the recently proposed regulations that would implement the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIGEA) as adding more regulations to the payments industry without curtailing the ability of gamblers to illegally gamble online. Entitled, "Proposed Internet Gambling Regulation Would Require New Policies and Procedures for the U.S. Payment System," the advisory warns that the proposed regulations require essentially all participants in the payments system "to impose effective controls on prohibited Internet gambling payments."

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