NEWSVisa Inc. plans to extend its No Signature Required program to most merchant categories in the United States. The program allows merchants to accept domestic Visa transactions of $25 or less without a cardholder signature.
The program is already in use in 26 categories, such as quick service restaurants, commuter transportation, taxicabs, parking garages, book stores and other high-traffic retail environments. When the changes are implemented in July 2010, the program will be available to U.S. merchants assigned to 98 percent of Visa's merchant category codes.
"Innovation comes in many forms, and enabling Visa cardholders to swipe their card and go at most U.S. retailers is a small but significant advance in the ongoing migration to digital currency," said Bill Sheedy, President, the Americas, for Visa.
Business for Shared Prosperity, a U.S. network of business owners, executives and investors, prepared a statement containing hundreds of signatures of business people across the nation, requesting U.S. Senate approval of the proposed Consumer Financial Protection agency. In a Feb. 4, 2010, press release, the network said the agency would safeguard businesses, consumers and the American Dream.
The statement said, "The financial crisis has demonstrated the need for a new independent federal agency to promote financial product safety and establish clear, enforceable rules of the road. Business owners and consumers need full and fair disclosure of the costs and risks of financial products and services."
Signers of the statement include: U.S. Women's Chamber of Commerce Chief Executive Officer Margot Dorfman, American Business Leaders for Financial Reform Chairman Tim Duncan, American Made Alliance founder Wendy Rosen, Atlanta Women in Business founder Lya Sorano, American Income Life Insurance CEO Roger Smith, Seventh Generation Chairman Jeffrey Hollender and Main Street Alliance National Network Director Sam Blair. The statement, along with the full list of signatories, can be found at www.businessforsharedprosperity.org/financial%20reform.
The Secure POS Vendor Alliance, a nonprofit organization aimed at increasing transactional and cardholder security for the POS industry, established a Lab Network that will participate with SPVA members and its working groups, along with prospective members, on security evaluations of the SPVA implementation guidelines. Lab Network members will collaborate to share best practices and improve POS security for the industry.
"This network is an unprecedented milestone in the payments industry as it will connect us directly with the technicians, academics and researchers who are often behind product innovations and future developments and breakthroughs," said Steven Hughes, SPVA President.
"By tapping into this network, the SPVA can draw from a diverse pool of talent to further its mission, extending best practices and guidelines to a comprehensive compliance verification of the whole payment process," he added.
The goal of the Lab Network is to ensure particular technological and applied process components are subject to independent verification and standard guidelines. Visit the SPVA Web site at www.spva.org for more information on how to participate as a member and what is required to join Lab Network's working groups.
ANNOUNCEMENTSOn Jan. 26, 2010, Commerce Online Inc. moved to the Nasdaq Stock Market Inc. over-the-counter (OTC) bulletin board (BB) market. It was previously on the Pink Sheets run by Pink OTC Markets Inc. "This move to the OTC BB is a testament to the team effort here at Commerce Online that we are committed to the future success of this company for all stockholders and our employees," said Commerce Online founder Michael Friedman. The company trades under the CMIB symbol.
Comodo enhanced its Comodo Backup with the ability to export automated backup procedures commands into executable script files. The script files themselves can be backed up using Comodo Online Backup. Administrators can also edit the files between backups.
DepositNow, a wholly owned subsidiary of BankServ, certified two Canon Inc. scanners: the Canon ImageFormula DR-2010C and DR-2580C. DepositNow's remote deposit capture (RDC) service supports these scanners, which are primarily used in the medical services community due to their ability to scan driver's licenses and insurance identification cards, in addition to paper documents.
Payment technology provider NetDeposit expanded its offerings to pharmacies to provide them with more payment choices. The company now offers ProviderPay Complete, ProviderPay ERA and ProviderPay Remit to its pharmacy clients.
Payscape Advisors received recognition from the University of Georgia Alumni Association. The association and the university's Office of External Affairs released its Bulldog 100: Fastest Growing Bulldog Businesses ranking. Payscape secured the number three spot.
Portfolio Recovery Associates Inc. and its employees donated approximately $64,000 to the American Red Cross to support the relief efforts for the victims of the Jan. 12, 2010, earthquake in Haiti. PRAA provides outsourced receivables management, payment processing and related services. It also purchases, collects and manages portfolios of defaulted consumer receivables.
Information systems and communications security provider Thales made its payShield Cardholder Authentication for nShield available for its nShield Connect and nShield PCI Express hardware security modules. The solution authenticates card users, protects encryption key transfers and secures credit card data, which assists clients with Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard (DSS) compliance.
ThreatMetrix, provider of device identification solutions for online fraud prevention, declared 2009 a "breakout year." It cited substantial increases in number of customers, markets served, sales pipeline, financing, partnerships and industry recognition. ThreatMetrix gained more than 100 new customers, according to Reed Taussig, President and CEO of ThreatMetrix.
VeriFone rolled out its PAYware Mobile credit card encryption sleeve for the Apple Inc. iPhone. The PAYware Mobile App is available for download at Apple's App Store. "Pre-order response to PAYware Mobile for iPhone has been phenomenal," said VeriFone CEO Douglas G. Bergeron.
PARTNERSHIPSPreferred Health Technology Inc. signed a preferred provider agreement with the American Academy of Urgent Care Medicine.
The AAUCM selected PHT's A-Claim medical payment solution for its member care providers. The agreement provides a discount on A-Claim for all AAUCM members.
Naperville, Ill.-based payment provider BluePay Processing LLC joined the Chicagoland Area Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure to contribute to breast cancer research efforts. A percentage of its monthly profits from new merchant accounts will be donated to the nonprofit organization.
BlueStar Inc. partnered with Star Micronics Co. Ltd. to deliver an Intuit Inc. QuickBooks POS value bundle. The bundle includes a Star Micronics receipt printer, a cash drawer, scanner, card reader and software.
Elavon Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of U.S. Bancorp, extended its relationship with Banco Santander S.A., a retail and commercial bank headquartered in Madrid, Spain. Through the marketing alliance, acquiring services will be offered to Santander's prospective and existing merchants in Mexico.
Fifth Third Processing Solutions signed electronic funds transfer agreements with five financial institutions: Farmers State Bank in Pine Bluffs, Wyo.; Security State Bank of Farwell, Texas; Hawaii National Bank; Coffee County Bank in Manchester, Tenn.; and The Bank of Mauston in Mauston, Wisc.
In Defense of Animals selected Tempo Payments Inc., a San Mateo, Calif.-based affinity and co-branded debit provider, for its affinity debit card program. For each IDA debit card transaction, IDA receives a portion of the transaction fees. Cardholders can also receive cash back and use the cards at ATMs.
Mutual of Omaha Bank now employs Fiserv Inc. banking solutions for its branches across the nation. The rollout centered on Fiserv's Signature bank platform and provides for account processing, online banking and bill pay.
Troy, Mich.-based merchant acquirer North American Bancard Inc. engaged Deutsche Bank Securities as its financial adviser to explore growth opportunities.
"We are in a position where financial partners are available, and strategic opportunities are evident," said Marc Gardner, founder and CEO of NAB. Gardner also indicated the company experienced strong growth in the last two years.
Parkmobile USA Inc. and its parent company Park-mobile International B.V. received investment capital from Detroit-based Fontinalis Partners LLC.
Parkmobile USA is a mobile parking payment systems and transportation technology solution provider based in Atlanta.
Electronic payment processor ProPay Inc. applauded the expansion of eBay Inc.'s Buyer Protection program. The ProPay option now allows eBay customers to pay using their credit cards.
"As eBay's first electronic payment method added in addition to PayPal and credit cards, we're extremely pleased to be part of eBay's New Buyer Protection program," said Gary Goodrich, CEO of ProPay.
Tabe Foods Co. selected Precidia Technologies Inc.'s TransNet payment engine for its Casio Computer Co. Ltd. POS system. San Diego-based Tabe Foods operates a fleet of mobile catering trucks. Casio dealer Red River POS recommended and implemented the solution.
Los Angeles-based card-not-present risk mitigation company Verifi Inc. teamed with Kount Inc., a Boise, Idaho-based fraud prevention company, to deliver risk mitigation and business management capabilities to merchants. Under the terms of the agreement, Kount's multilayer device fingerprinting and predictive scoring technology will be integrated into Verifi's platform.
ACQUISITIONSGemalto acquired mobile authentication provider Valimo Wireless Ltd. in a deal with undisclosed terms. Valimo's mobile authentication solution is used for online banking, sending and receiving mobile payments, e-commerce, government services, and identity and access rights management for enterprise applications.
Merchant Data Systems added another ISO to its stable with ISO Merchant Services, a company founded in 2000 with the goal of attracting ISOs to its own family of businesses. MDS' acquisition model allows for the companies it purchases to continue operation with the existing workforces.
Louisville, Ky.-based Payment Alliance International acquired the ATM processing business of WRG Services Inc. Willoughby, Ohio-based WRG has more than 300 distributor relationships and has 12,000 deployed ATMs in its portfolio. The acquisition increases PAI's ATM locations to 45,000, according to PAI.
APPOINTMENTSTransaction Network Services appointed 20-year payment veteran John Banfield to the position of Senior Vice President and General Manager of TNS' Payment Division in the Asia Pacific. "The payments environment in the Asia Pacific region offers huge growth opportunities, and I am excited to be on board with TNS and its enterprising spirit," Banfield said.
Wireless transaction and information solution provider Apriva named Guilherme Blumenthal as General Manager of International Sales and Business Development and Brady Barnes as Vice President of Engineering for its POS division.
"Each of these individuals brings in-depth technology and market expertise that are essential as we continue to expand into new areas," said Paul Coppinger, President of Apriva POS.
Network Merchants Inc. welcomed Nicholas Cucci as its new Marketing Director. Cucci, a Benedictine University graduate, previously worked in the payment processing division of a large company. He consulted on credit card fraud protection, screening and risk management with several major retailers before accepting the job with NMI.
Global smart card, contactless and EFTPOS solution manufacturer Castles Technology Co. Ltd. appointed Dale Laszig as Vice President of Sales in the United States. Laszig brings 20 years of bankcard and technology sales experience to the Taipei, Taiwan-based firm, including stints at First Data Corp., Hypercom Corp. and VeriFone.
NYCE Payments Network LLC, a Fidelity National Information Services Inc. company, named Neil Marcous as its President. Marcous will lead the company's Payment Network Solutions business. He comes to NYCE from BISYS Group Inc., where he served as Group President and Chief Operating Officer.
CardWare International, provider of payment products, services and support, welcomed Brad McCoy to its executive team as Director of National Sales. McCoy's background is in equipment and service sales, most recently with Alliance Data Systems Inc.
Cardtronics Inc., a nonbank operator of ATMs, appointed G. Patrick Phillips as an independent director for its board of directors. Phillips will also fill a seat on the company's audit committee and its nominating and governance committee. The board voted to increase its size by one seat to accommodate the appointment.
In conjunction with the recent investment in Parkmobile by Fontinalis Partners, Parkmobile appointed Mark Schulz as Chairman of its board. Schulz, a founding partner at Fontinalis, is the former President of Ford Motor Co.'s International Operations.
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