A number of payments industry leaders and security experts spoke with The Green Sheet recently to share insights, educational guidance and unique perspectives on how to stay safe, healthy and solvent during the coronavirus pandemic. Their common and generous goal is to provide practical, actionable advice that will help people avoid becoming prey to fraudsters seeking to exploit new vulnerabilities at this time.

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The massive stimulus package that came out of Washington late last week could deliver welcome relief to ISOs, merchant level salespeople (MLSs) and their small business clients. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, which garnered near unanimous support in both the House and the Senate, was signed into law on Fri. March 27, 2020.

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A March 19, 2020, memo from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security supports leading ATM manufacturers’ decisions to remain open and help local communities during the COVID-19 crisis. The DHS memo included ATM workers as part of the country’s essential critical infrastructure workforce in financial services, granting exclusive rights to workers who maintain services and machines to continue their public work, even when state governments have ordered U.S. workers to stay at home to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

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PayRange Inc., a payment network for everyday purchases, launched a mobile app pay-later program designed to support the company’s mobile app users during the COVID-19 virus outbreak. The solution enables participating consumers whose payment methods are declined at self-attended venues on the PayRange network to repay at a later date, the company stated.

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A new study by OneSpan, published March 19, 2020, confirms remote account openings are on the rise. Payments analysts expect this trend to continue in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. “The State of Digital Account Opening Transformation” surveyed more than 100 financial institutions tasked with balancing security with customer convenience.

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The financial technology firm Square Inc. is one step closer to becoming a full-scale financial services provider. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation this week gave conditional approval for Square to open an industrial loan company in Utah.

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Payments industry leaders are adding value and context to the Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act, an $8.3 billion dollar package signed into law on March 6, 2020, by the Trump Administration. Recognizing that small and midsize merchants need more than just cash to weather current economic uncertainty, commerce leaders are offering unprecedented levels of resources, support and leadership to U.S. communities and businesses.

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The National ATM Council, Inc. (NAC) released guidance on March 18, 2020, designed to assist U.S. independent and retail ATM stakeholders during the current Coronavirus outbreak. NAC Executive Director Bruce Renard thanked ATM manufacturers Hyosung, Genmega and Triton for offering assistance and staying open throughout the crisis.

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The Electronic Transactions Association (ETA) disclosed March 16, 2020, that its annual conference, Transact, will be moved to a later date in response to the COVID-19 public health emergency. The event had originally been scheduled to take place at the Las Vegas Mandalay Bay Convention Center on April 27 to 30, 2020.

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In response to the global COVID-19 pandemic, The Southeast Acquirers Association rescheduled its 19th annual conference to June 15 to 17, 2020, event planners stated. The event had originally been scheduled to take place on April 6 and 7 at Intercontinental Miami. The hotel and professional organizers at Cypress Planning Group have been phenomenally supportive during this difficult time, according to SEAA founder and board member John McCormick. "Over the past few weeks, the SEAA Board of Directors has been working with our hotel partner and other vendors to address the concerns regarding the spread of the coronavirus," McCormick said in a statement. "Given the advice of health professionals to limit large gatherings until the infection rate has subsided, the SEAA Board of Directors has elected to move SEAA 2020 to June 15-17."

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The travel and tourism industries have been hit hard by the coronavirus outbreak, and indications are that things will get worse before they get better. One trend to watch for is an anticipated spike in chargebacks as concerned Americans put vacation plans on hold only to learn they can't get refunds or will incur substantial cancellation fees. "Imagine you've been saving for a dream vacation, you book the ticket and then are forced to cancel [because of concerns about coronavirus], only to discover the operator has no refund policy," said Monica Eaton-Cardone, chief operating officer at Chargebacks911. "It's a very unfortunate situation that could well result in a chargeback claim," Eaton-Cardone said. "There's legitimate pain on both sides. But consumers shouldn't leverage the dispute resolution process to try to get money they don't deserve."

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In advance of Transact 2020, the Electronic Transactions Association's annual tradeshow coming up April 27 to 30 in Las Vegas, the payments industry's leading trade organization inaugurated the third annual class of Forty Under 40 honorees. Begun in 2018, the Forty Under 40 initiative recognizes young leaders and game changers in the payments technology industry, the ETA stated. The ETA, which represents 500 payment and technology companies globally, noted that its 2020 Forty Under 40 class is sponsored by Discover Global Network and includes people whose actions and leadership are driving the industry forward and moving the world toward smart, secure and frictionless commerce.

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Regular, consistent communications and education are keys to ensuring merchant compliance with PCI security protocols. Combining these two with technology services, such as managed firewalls, can be the equivalent of a hole in one. That’s the upshot of a new report from ControlScan and the Merchant Acquirers’ Committee. “High merchant compliance rates translate to reduced business risk, which is mission critical for the MAC membership base as well as the payments community at large,” said Vadeene Sisk, MAC education committee chair.

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The National ATM Council Inc., the U.S.-based trade organization representing America’s independent, nonbank ATM entrepreneurs, opposes recent efforts to characterize cash usage as a health risk during the global coronavirus epidemic. Simplistic statements that have been circulating on major media fail to account for unique attributes of U.S. markets and currencies, NAC representatives stated. “U.S. currency is composed of 75 percent cotton and 25 percent linen, unlike other world currencies which are typically composed of wood pulp materials that comprise standard paper,” said Bruce Renard, Executive Director of the National ATM Council. “This is an important distinction, given available scientific research that indicates COVID-19 type viruses live much longer on hard surfaces – such as plastic charge cards, point-of-sale terminal buttons, and cell phones – versus fabric-like surfaces made of materials such as those used in U.S. bills.”

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EMVCo issued new guidelines on March 4, 2020, designed to optimize security and efficiencies across the rapidly expanding Internet of Things (IoT). The global technical body affirmed its commitment to support a growing number of IoT payments use cases, which require agile, up-to-the-minute methods for evaluating and enabling emerging solutions and devices. These capabilities will enable users, service providers and sentient machines to safely and seamlessly transact across the evolving IoT ecosystem, according to Bruce Rutherford, EMVCo executive committee chair.

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The Green Sheet Inc., a leading online resource and payments industry trade publication, has tapped marketing executive Danielle “Danni” Thorpe to lead a series of marketing programs across all media touchpoints and print and digital channels. The promotion is effective immediately, according to Kathleen “Kate” Gillespie, CEO at The Green Sheet. “I have worked with Danni for more than 20 years,” Gillespie stated. “She’s an energetic, innovative thinker who has designed and developed one-of-a-kind promotions for our partners.”

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A key takeaway from the annual ATM Industry Association (ATMIA) conference, held in February 2020, is that ATMs have a rightful, enduring place in the commerce ecosystem. Survey highlights from the conference, published March 2, indicate respondents showed strong support for next-gen ATMs and for ATMIA’s global API designed to augment legacy ATMs with mobile and digital capabilities, ATMIA representatives stated. “The results show strong support for adoption of next gen starting in 2020,” said Mike Lee, CEO of ATMIA. “An overwhelming majority feel app-based ATMs are important to the long-term welfare of our industry. Furthermore, almost half of those responding said their business will be an early adopter of next gen.”

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