NEWSTo foster growth and exploit new opportunities, American Express Co. altered its corporate structure. Some of the changes put in place in October 2009 are as follows:
Also, AmEx President Alfred F. Kelly Jr. resigned to seek a chief executive position elsewhere. His resignation will be effective early in 2010.
"American Express has a strong, experienced management team and a unique collection of assets," said Kenneth I. Chenault, the company's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "The new organizational structure I am announcing today will help us realize the full potential of these assets and ensure that American Express continues to be a leader in global payments."
Fidelity National Information Services Inc. (FIS) completed its acquisition of Metavante Technologies Inc. The combined company will retain the FIS name. FIS also unveiled a new logo and the tagline: never compromise. FIS serves community banks, credit unions, and mid-tier and large financial institutions. It supports payments for international banking, government, health care and education.
According to the terms of the acquisition, Metavante shareholders receive 1.35 of FIS common stock for each share of Metavante common stock held. "The combined scale, complementary product capabilities and market breadth of these two great companies will drive significant competitive advantages in the increasingly dynamic marketplace," said FIS Chairman William P. Foley II.
Frank Martire, FIS President and CEO added, "We will continue to make business and product investments, and we will strategically integrate our products where it makes sense to do so in order to deliver high-value solutions to our clients and prospects."
Under Martire, the executive team of FIS consists of the following Corporate Executive Vice Presidents: Mike Hayford, Chief Financial Officer; Frank Sanchez, Strategic Solutions; Brent Bickett, Business Development; George Scanlon, Finance; Ron Cook, Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary; and Mike Oates, Chief Human Resources Officer.
Executive Vice Presidents include Anthony Jabbour, Financial Solutions; Frank D'Angelo, Payment Solutions; Jim Susoreny, Sales and Client Relations; Mark Davey, International; Brian Hurdis, Technology Services; Ram Chary, Global Commercial Services; and Marcia Danzeisen, Senior Vice President, Global Marketing and Communications.
QSecure Inc., a powered card platform company, received $10 million in Series D funding from Worldview Technology Partners Inc., Allegis Capital LLC, UMC Capital and Société Générale.
Powered cards contain embedded batteries for such purposes as displays, dynamic account information, authentication services, light and sound. Some even have a keyboard for typing a password to generate a one-time authentication code to verify who is in possession of the card and cardholder identity for transacting online.
The funds raised by QSecure will be used to complete final development and initial pilots of QSecure's first powered card products and the continued development of its powered card platform.
"Powered cards offer a unique set of benefits to financial institutions - greater security, in both online and offline transactions, as well as the ability to expand functionality through future software enhancements," said David Krall, CEO of QSecure.
"Unlike mobile platforms, the issuer maintains complete control of branding and distribution," Krall added.
Pete Goettner, General Partner, Worldview Technology Partners, said the capital raised in this round of financing "will allow QSecure to begin card deployment at customer sites while continuing to innovate the platform. QSecure is uniquely positioned to be a market leader in this rapidly growing segment."
ANNOUNCEMENTSGlobal Finance magazine's 2009 "Who's Who in Treasury and Cash Management" listed Bottomline Technologies' Chief Technology Officer Eric Campbell and Director of Global Marketing Marcus Hughes. Campbell's expertise is in Web-based cash management products and services. Hughes has 20 years of experience in international banking.
Digital Check Corp. rolled out its new check scanner series, TellerScan TS240, which features built-in scanner diagnostics. "Our goal is to deliver a foolproof and hassle-free user experience and to minimize help desk requirements for training and support," said John Gainer, Executive Vice President of Digital Check.
Javelin Strategy & Research's annual assessment of identity safety named Discover Financial Services as best in detecting fraud among 25 U.S. credit card issuers. It also came in second on Javelin's Card Issuers' Identity Safety Scorecard. In other company news, InformationWeek named Discover to its InformationWeek 500 for 2009, which lists the most innovative business technology organizations.
Fiserv Inc. developed a global account processing solution that it claims will change the way large credit unions do business. Fiserv's Acumen's server deployment model, using Internet technologies such as Java and AJAX, is designed for rapid and cost-effective scalability.
In other company news, Fiserv launched its Merchant Acceleration Program to help financial institutions promote merchant capture, a remote deposit capture solution. It also unveiled its Fraud Risk Manager 4.6 and Anti-money-laundering transaction monitoring solutions. In addition, Fiserv reported it renewed 217 credit union account processing clients in the first eight months of 2009.
Doin' it rightIn September 2009, Trustwave - a firm of security experts specializing in solutions that facilitate merchant compliance with the Payment Card Industry standards for data, software and POS device security - received a five-star rating from SC Magazine for its Managed Security Services. Trustwave was also the only company the magazine ranked "recommended" for its fraud prevention services. "I think it means - to us - that they recognize we have become sort of a visionary in this market with respect to providing cost-effective solutions for the smallest merchants all the way up to Fortune [1000] accounts," said Robert J. McCullen, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Trustwave. "It's not the Nobel Prize, but for us it demonstrates that third parties are acknowledging our capabilities to help merchants feel better and mitigate their risk." For 20 years, SC Magazine has offered information technology (IT) professionals a forum in which they can learn from their peers' experiences and access analysts' findings and vendor information. Trustwave was honored for its entire package of services including its Unified Threat Management, Intrusion Detection Services, Network Access Control and mailMAX, an e-mail security solution. "The two big things we acquired this year were our network access control and data loss prevention solutions," McCullen said. "So now we can prohibit unwanted users or devices - even USBs - trying to enter your network as well as keep cardholder data safe." Continual presence McCullen added that SC Magazine is a big deal in the IT world in terms of its in-depth reviews of technological innovations and how companies deliver products and services to market. "We're not a company that's just going to ship you a CD or box and say, 'Here you go, you install it,'" McCullen said. "I believe where we are unique is our ability to offer all of our services as a subscription, which is much better in the economic environment today. We differentiate ourselves because we can apply that expertise worldwide more efficiently and cheaper than you having to install it, train on it and then keep it running." McCullen added that merchants cannot merely load up a shopping cart of fraud prevention technologies and expect to solve their security problems. "They need experts who uniquely understand their needs," he said. "We feel we have the forensics and applications in place to monitor every attack threat merchants in all sectors face today." Holistic care Trustwave was founded in 2000 and has since expanded to 20 countries on six continents. The company has call centers in Europe and the United States and offers continual customer and technical support in 12 languages. McCullen noted that Trustwave has over 700,000 customers and is adding nearly 100,000 new merchants every month. "Sustained growth and trusted relationships are created by providing merchants an inexpensive means to get and stay compliant," McCullen said. "We've been building and acquiring solutions over the past three or four years that include all the technology merchants need like secure e-mail, anti-virus software and SSL [secure socket layer] certificates, to name a few. And there's really no one provider in the market that offers all those things" as a software-as-a-service. "They can simply pay for what they need and have an expert monitor all that holistically," he noted. "The comprehensive suite of offerings we are able to provide prevents our merchants from having to switch out terminals and replace them with new ones that have encryption software. We feel we enable our merchants to get down to business quickly and help them avoid all the disruptions that can adversely impact their bottom line." |
Frontline Processing Corp. opened a new office in the Midwest. "With the Indianapolis office we have taken yet another integral step in our mission to provide unparalleled support to our clients nationwide," said Chris Kittler, President of Frontline Processing, which is headquartered in Bozeman-Montana.
Security Analyst Justin Folkerts of Fusepoint Managed Services Inc. addresses Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard (DSS) compliance in a free webinar hosted by Fusepoint and available on its Web site at www.fusepoint.com/webinars/PCI/player.html. Folkerts is a 12-year veteran in the information technology space.
Merchant Cash & Capital LLC released the Starter Plus cash advance program. The program is designed to provide financing options to businesses that fail to qualify for traditional cash advances.
"The Starter Plus program gives merchants that would ordinarily be declined due to poor credit, restricted industry type or other reasons the ability to start with a small advance and graduate to a customary cash advance in as little as four to six months," said Paul Giuffrida, Director of Renewals and Starter Plus Program at MCC.
100 Best Inc., an online resource for consumers on e-commerce solutions and services, named Merchant Warehouse the best merchant account provider. Criteria considered in this decision included pricing, merchant support, equipment options, technology, ethical business practices and customer satisfaction.
Panini North America showcased its Panini I:Deal, which it launched early in 2009, at the AFP 2009 Annual Conference in San Francisco. Doug Roberts, President of Panini North America, expressed his pleasure in bringing the new check scanning platform to the small businesses that participated in the design via Panini's market research activities.
Secured Financial Network Inc. changed the moniker of its wholly owned subsidiary, Virtual Payment Solutions Inc., to RedFin Network Inc. The name was changed to brand the payment gateway provider and to avoid the impression that it sells merchant service processing, according to Jeffrey Schultz, RedFin Network's President and CEO.
US Dataworks Inc. exhibited its enterprise payment platform, Clearingworks, at the AFP 2009 Annual Conference in San Francisco. "No other company has the full range of capabilities that banks and billers need to streamline the entire transaction lifecycle, including payments processing, check processing, payment remote deposit capture, payments decisioning and routing, and returns management," said Mario Villarreal, US Dataworks Chief Operating Officer.
Visa Inc. rolled out a global information tool to provide extensive reporting and expense management functions for any size organization on a single, scalable platform. IntelliLink Spend Management comprises three core solutions: reporting, data services and program support.
CTS North America's LS150 check scanner was certified by Wausau Financial Systems Inc. to be sold, serviced and delivered to WFS and its customers through MTS Software Solutions Inc. Urs Bockli, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for CTS North America, said this certification "is another example of our strong partnership - where we seek to bring innovative solutions to the market which are both effective and affordable."
PARTNERSHIPS3Cinteractive LLC, a mobile marketing and technology company, added Billing Revolution's credit card transaction processing to its mobile payment platform, enabling 3Cinteractive to increase its footprint in the mobile commerce market.
Century Payments signed a multiyear agreement with Susan G. Komen for the Cure, a breast cancer research fundraising organization. Through its Every Swipe Counts program, Century now donates $25 for each new customer signed and 5 percent of revenue generated from said customers.
Money Movers of America Inc. provides merchants and consumers the ability to easily donate to the National Breast Cancer Foundation at no cost to the merchant or the donor, using its Process Pink program. "If they contract with MMOA for their processing, a portion of their fees goes toward a very worthy cause - at no added cost," said Anthony Holder, Chairman and CEO of MMOA.
Motorcycle Superstore Inc. chose Merchant e-Solutions Inc. to process its domestic and global transactions through MeS' Global Acquiring Platform. Now Motorcycle Superstore can "manage global payments through a single interface," said Jason E. Miller, Vice President of Technology for Motorcycle Superstore.
NAFCU Services Corp. added Sage Payment Solutions, a division of Sage North America, to its list of preferred partners. NAFCU, a wholly owned subsidiary of the National Association of Federal Credit Unions, reportedly uses a stringent process to approve companies for its Preferred Partner Program; Sage's reputation for exceptional customer service helped it secure this partnership.
Take Charge Business Consulting LLC partnered with MicroBilt Corp. to give its customers access to consumer or commercial information to verify, authenticate and make decisions regarding new business and help control risk in merchant processing.
ACQUISITIONSCo-op Financial Services signed an agreement effective Oct. 31, 2009, to acquire The LoanLink Center from CUNA Mutual Group.
This move is designed to expand Co-op's call center support and provide Co-op members another way to have anytime access to their CU accounts.
Jack Henry & Associates Inc. completed its acquisition of Goldleaf Financial Solutions Inc., making Goldleaf a wholly owned subsidiary of Jack Henry. Outstanding shares of GFS common stock can be redeemed for 98 cents each. Goldleaf will be folded into Jack Henry's ProfitStars, its third primary brand.
In an agreement signed in September 2009, VeriFone became the lead investor in Series B financing of Semtek Corp., doubling its stake in the company. VeriFone also acquired an option to purchase the remaining shares of the security technology developer at a future date. The two companies also expanded their worldwide distribution agreement.
APPOINTMENTSMercator Advisory Group recruited Bob Landry to expand its services for retail banking. Landry, a 30-year financial services veteran, assumes the role of Vice President, Banking Group Services. "It's a rare opportunity to join a research organization of this caliber and be tasked with expanding its core competencies into new areas," Landry said.
To help push global growth, PayPal Inc. hired three new executives: John McCabe, is the new Senior Vice President, Worldwide Operations; Ed Eger is Senior Vice President, Transaction Management; and Renier Lemmens now leads PayPal's business in Europe. All three industry veterans will report to PayPal President Scott Thompson.
Ezic Inc., digital payment solution provider, added several positions in sales, finance and engineering. Angela Stamison stepped in as Vice President, Channel Sales; Valerie Salgado moved into the CFO spot; Shannon Burke joined the check support team; and Rob Crossley joined Ezic as a Software Engineer.
David Torgerson, former Vice President at CheckFree Corp., joined Cardlytics as Senior Vice President of Bank Sales. "He is a proven innovator in every sense, and his close working relationship with major clients led to the development of many new successful product lines at CheckFree," said Scott Grimes, CEO and founder of Cardlytics.
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