NEWSThe acquisition of First Data Corp. by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. is complete. Under private ownership, First Data's common stock will no longer be listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
Michael D. Capellas will become First Data's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, replacing Ric Duques.
The company's operations in the United States will be led by Edward "Ed" Labry and will combine First Data's Commercial Services and Financial Institution Services segments. Labry has been serving as President of the company's Commercial Services division.
Other members of the executive team include David Yates, Tom Bell Grace Chen, Peter Boucher, David Dibble, Dave Money and Kim Patmore.
NACHA - The Electronic Payments Association has formed a "green coalition," comprised of leaders in the financial industries, to educate consumers about the positive environmental impacts of choosing electronic bills, statements and payments.
Leadership partners include Bank of America Corp., CheckFree Corp., Citibank, Citizens Bank, Electronics Payment Network, the Federal Reserve Banks, Fiserv, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Wachovia Corp., Wells Fargo & Co. and U.S. Bank.
A 2007 survey by Javelin Strategy and Research revealed that if all U.S. households received and paid their bills electronically, the country would:
The coalition will develop tools and resources to educate and inform consumers. This initiative is designed to complement the current and future efforts of organizations to educate their audiences.
The Payment Card Industry (PCI) Security Standards Council, an independent body providing management of the PCI Data Security Standard (DSS) on a global basis, held its first meeting in Toronto Sept. 17 to 19, 2007.
More than 320 representatives from the council's participating organization membership, Qualified Security Assessors (QSA) and Approved Scanning Vendors (ASV) gathered at this highly anticipated event.
Topics included important updates on the Council's feedback process for the PCI DSS version 1.1; the Self-Assessment Questionnaire version 1.1; the Payment Application DSS; the PIN Entry Device Program; and a quality assurance initiative for the Council's QSA and ASV programs.
The council also responded to many data security questions submitted by organizations from around the world.
The council was formed by American Express Co., Discover Financial Services LLC, JCB International Credit Card Co., MasterCard Worldwide and Visa U.S.A. to provide a transparent forum in which all stakeholders can provide input into the ongoing development, enhancement and dissemination of the PCI DSS.
ANNOUNCEMENTSCardtronics Inc. filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission relating to an initial public offering (IPO) of shares of its common stock. The offered shares will be sold by the company and certain stockholders.
Cardtronics plans to use the net proceeds to repay indebtedness under its credit facility, for working capital and for other general corporate purposes. Cardtronics will not receive any proceeds from the sale of shares by selling stockholders.
ISTS Worldwide Inc. developed a comprehensive platform for mobile payment application development. The platform is capable of supporting virtually any kind of mobile payment application, practically independent of service providers and supporting most of the mobile devices in the market. The platform comes with both Linux/Java and Microsoft .Net, and supports sending and receiving payment through SMS, client side applications and wireless application protocol system.
From Oct. 15 to Dec. 15, 2007, Cynergy Data ISOs will have a chance to win a Caribbean vacation for two through the company's Winter Warm-Up Cruise Contest. During sales visits, ISOs will notify merchants that by signing up for its payments processing, Cynergy Data will show gratitude by contributing donations to various nonprofit organizations striving to make a difference. The merchant will determine donation recipients from a list of 10 nonprofits.
The organizations provide college scholarships, combat hunger, seek solutions to homelessness and aim to preserve natural resources.
Orion Payment Systems now offers ISOs the POS-X Restaurant and Retail Solution for merchants. The systems include a Lifetime Replacement Warranty.
System benefits include free training, 24-hour technical support, no licensing or support fees and a low cost of ownership. Features include a time clock; multilocation support; inventory, customer and employee tracking; extensive reporting; and user friendly software.
PaymentAccess will now market exclusively under its corporate identity of GoToBilling Inc. and launch its new Web site www.gotobilling.com.
The site brings together resellers and merchants in a uniform way for stronger name recognition, and for marketing its on-demand payment application and other services.
PARTNERSHIPSCrossCheck Inc. has obtained application development and certification on the Orion multi-application payment terminal from 4Access Communications. The application supports authorizations through CrossCheck's host for standard guarantee and electronic check conversion services.
The Orion terminal is a comprehensive, stand-alone solution for reading checks, credit cards, debit cards, loyalty cards, electronic benefits transfer cards and gift cards that automatically launches the appropriate application upon card swipe or check insertion.
Digital Defense Inc., an information security threat assessment and risk management service provider, has formed an alliance with Harland Financial Solutions Inc. for its Cavion suite of electronic banking solutions.
Clients can inventory information technology assets across their enterprise, evaluate the security posture of these assets, and review the results of penetration tests, social engineering engagements and other evaluations through a single, comprehensive interface.
VeriSign Inc. will integrate ClairMail's secure two-way mobile customer interaction platform and applications with the VeriSign Mobile Banking Solution.
The integration agreement is part of a global technology solution alliance between the two companies.
Incorporating ClairMail's platform and applications enables the VeriSign Mobile to support the "triple play" of mobile interface types: messaging (short message service and e-mail), mobile web and native client applications. The joint solution integrates with a financial institution's systems of record and enables a broad set of two-way services on one platform with a single implementation, including account management, fraud mitigation, actionable alerts, mobile payments, marketing campaigns and no-hold customer service.
ACQUISITIONSMoneygram International Inc. reached an agreement to acquire Oakland, Calif.-based PropertyBridge Inc., a provider of electronic payment services to the residential real estate management industry. The acquisition is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2007.
CEO Ryan Gilbert and President Jason Gardner will continue at the helm. The company will retain its name and operate as part of MoneyGram's Global Payment Services group. Through the PropertyBridge Payments Platform, consumers can pay rent and other lease-related transactions using any of seven payment types, including payment cards (credit and debit), automated clearing house and e-checks.
APPOINTMENTSIndustry veterans Chris Alexander and Bill Kinard have joined the TriSource Solutions LLC executive committee as nonemployee members. The executive committee provides an advisory role in the development of the company's strategic direction, and short and long-term business goals.
Alexander retired as the Chairman of the Board and CEO of Hypercom Corp. Immediately prior to this position, Alexander served as President of Hypercom's Transaction Systems Group.
Kinard's 39-year payments industry career began with formerly National Data Corp., now Global Payments. He left NDC in 1989 to co-found formerly Innova Information System, now NOVA.
BlueStar recently named Rudy Bojorquez as Govern-ment Division Manager. Bojorquez will be leading BlueStar's government sales initiative, managing and overseeing the training of the sales team in government mandates and requirements.
Bojorquez brings 14 years of government sales management experience to the table. He previously worked as Eastern Regional Manager for Alternative Technology - a thin-client/server-based computing, edge infrastructure and government-approved security solutions distributor.
Ecount CEO Matt Gillin was elected to the National Branded Prepaid Card Association board of directors and Executive Vice President Andrew Newcomb was appointed to the advisory board.
The NBPCA is a nonprofit, inter-industry trade association created to advance the success of network branded prepaid cards.
Goldleaf Financial Solutions Inc. has named John R. Polchin as Chief Financial Officer. Most recently, Pol-chin was CFO of Convera Corporation.
Prior to Convera, he served as CFO of Intelidata Tech-nologies Corporation.
Women Networking in Electronic Transactions W.net has appointed Victoria Tobin as Managing Director. Tobin's role will be to facilitate the vision of W.net's board of trustees and assist in numerous strategic initiatives. Tobin previously served as the Executive Director of the National Association of Professional Geriatric Care Managers.
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