ATM industry acquirers face major revenue declines following MasterCard Worldwide's April 2010 implementation of a new fee structure for Cirrus, its ATM transaction routing network. MasterCard's revamped interchange structure divides into three tiers what had been a uniform rate levied on issuers for Cirrus-routed transactions and makes the previous flat rate the new top tier.

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In a bold move that many think could be an absolute game-changer for the payments industry, Visa Inc. acquired e-commerce processor and fraud management firm CyberSource Corp. for $2 billion. CyberSource processes about 25 percent of all e-commerce dollars in the United States and is the owner of payment gateway Authorize.Net, which the company bought in 2007.

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Four key players in the payments industry received awards for outstanding leadership and innovation during the 20th Gala Anniversary Celebration and President's Dinner held April 12 at the Electronic Transaction Association's 2010 Annual Meeting & Expo in Las Vegas. Also honored were two of the ETA's founders, Biff Matthews of Cardware International and Joyce Cook of International CyberTrans.

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ControlScan Inc., a payment security and Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard (DSS)-compliance solutions provider, settled with the Federal Trade Commission over allegations that it certified online merchant domains as secure without properly inspecting them.

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In addition to providing exhibitors and attendees its unique cornucopia of educational sessions, ceremonies, parties, keynotes, panels, demonstrations, networking and business meeting opportunities, and more, the Electronic Transactions Association celebrated its 20-year milestone at the 2010 Annual Meeting & Expo held at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. Before introducing former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, keynote speaker for the expo's opening general session on April 14, the ETA recounted some of its many accomplishments.

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Arguing that the revelation of its connection to the Heartland Payment Systems Inc. data breach in 2008 would cause "confusion and alarm," department store chain J.C. Penney Company Inc. tried to keep that news under wraps, according to court documents unsealed in March 2010. The documents were part of the trial of Albert Gonzales, who received a 20-year prison sentence in March for his role in three major hacking cases. Additionally, the clothing and jewelry retailer said that forcing the company to reveal its connection to the breach would set a bad precedent and cause retailers in similar situations to not report data breaches of their networks.

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According to an April 2, 2010, report from the United States Department of Labor, the financial services sector was the only major private U.S. industry to have significant job losses in March 2010. Yet the job outlook for the payments business specifically may be a lot brighter than what the report seems to indicate. Overall, the country's private industries added 123,000 jobs in March – among them, 36,700 in health care, 17,000 in manufacturing, 15,000 in construction and 14,900 in retail.

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ATM fraud is on the rise in the United States, and consumers victimized by such crimes aren't always indemnified, according to a new report by Javelin Strategy & Research. Javelin said the number of breached bank records rose 16 percent in 2009. The report found that 10 percent of all fraud victims in the United States last year were hit by ATM fraud, defined as an ATM withdrawal by an unauthorized person using a real customer's account credentials.

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A new program from Tempo Payments Inc. is providing money to a charity founded by musician and crooner Barry Manilow by way of affinity debit payments. The program consists of a partnership between Tempo and the Manilow Fund for Health and Hope, a nonprofit organization that promotes "education, health and care" on a number of fronts.

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The Payments Processing Information Sharing Council is urging the payments industry to expand the standardization of card system protocols. The strategy will no doubt face resistance, as proponents seek to overcome vested interests. The PPISC, a forum for sharing fraud threats within the payments industry, issued a policy statement March 23, 2010, calling on vendors of payment hardware and software "to develop cost-effective security solutions that promote open architectures, interoperability and the potential for widespread adoption."

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The payments industry is in a holding pattern while awaiting a final version of new rules from the Internal Revenue Service governing reporting requirements. Most provisions of the rules, which would require payment processors and third-party networks to report annually the total dollar amount of card-based sales transacted by individual merchants, are expected to take effect Jan. 1, 2011. (See "Uncle Sam's finger in the payment pie," The Green Sheet, Dec. 14, 2009, issue 09:12:01.)

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