NEWS

Merchants Have Until 2007 to Truncate Account Numbers on Receipts

By law, businesses have until 2007 to begin truncating credit or debit card account numbers (displaying only the last four or five digits) on receipts printed using an ECR or POS terminal that has been in operation before Jan. 1, 2005. This new law is part of a provision of the Fair Credit Reporting Act that was signed into law on Dec. 4, 2003. The three-year "phase in" is meant to give businesses time to purchase updated software or equipment.

Visa U.S.A.'s policy, which went into effect July 1, 2003, requires merchants with new terminals to truncate consumers' account numbers on receipts, displaying only the last four digits, and to eliminate the card's expiration date from receipts.

Visa wants all merchants and all terminals to comply with the rule by July 2006. (MasterCard said adoption of its all-terminal policy goal is April 2005.)

Debit Now the Preferred Card in Wallet

Debit cards beat out any single type of credit card as consumers' most preferred card in their wallet, according to a study conducted by Edgar, Dunn & Co. (EDC), a strategy and consulting firm. The study is titled "PaymentDynamics 2004 Preferred Card Study" and data were compiled from a national sample of more than 6,500 card owners and credit card decision makers. "The study shows debit card use is tied to consumers' increasing commitment to greater personal financial discipline," said F. Alan Schultheis, a Director of Edgar, Dunn & Co. The survey also showed that more than half of consumers have a debit or credit card today that wasn't in their wallet a year ago-the number of cards in the wallet increased to 4.3 in 2003 up from 3.3 in 1999. In addition:

• 38% of consumers in 2003 stated they prefer using their debit card for purchases

• Almost 40% of consumers report canceling or reducing the use of an average of nearly two payment cards

• Six out of 10 consumers have chosen rewards-based cards as their preferred credit card

For more information about the study, visit: www.edgardunn.com

ANNOUNCEMENTS

ETA Annual Meeting Info Now Online

The Electronic Transactions Association (ETA) announced that online registration is now available for its upcoming 2004 Annual Meeting and Expo, April 20-22, 2004 in Las Vegas.

Full conference information such as a schedule of events, exhibit and sponsorship opportunities and hotel and travel information are also online. To register or for more information about the event, visit www.electran.org/annual/

Ingenico Multi-lane Terminals PED-certified

Ingenico's eN-Touch 1000 and eN-Crypt 2100 multi-lane payment terminals have been PIN Entry Device (PED)-approved by Visa's sanctioned testing facility. Ingenico said the eN-Touch 1000 is the only touch screen-based payment terminal for multi-lane retailers to have passed compliance testing. Per Visa, terminal providers should not sell non-certified PED's after Jan. 1, 2004 and PED's installed after Jan. 1, 2010 must be compliant.

IRN Certifies Gift Card Solution

IRN Payment Systems announced that it has certified TenderCard's gift and loyalty card products on its most popular-selling terminals, allowing IRN sales offices to offer TenderCard's gift solution and online reporting as a value added resource when pursuing merchant accounts.

TenderCard offers a gift and loyalty program designed for small to medium sized merchants and the program typically works using a merchant's existing POS terminal.

NURIT PIN Pad Certified in Canada

Lipman Canada received certification for its NURIT 292 S PIN Pad from an Interac Association accredited Device Certification Agent (DCA). The NURIT 292 S PIN pad is compatible with all Lipman terminals and third party POS systems.

PNC Joins NACHA

PNC Bank, a member of The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc., has joined NACHA - The Electronic Payments Association as a financial institution member. The number of NACHA's direct financial institution members has increased from eight to 17 since January 2001, when a reorganization of the association re-opened membership opportunities.

NACHA now has 36 direct members consisting of 19 payments associations and 17 financial institutions. PNC is the 12th largest bank originator of ACH payments, according to the NACHA Top 50 list for 2002.

PreCash Reaches $1 Billion in Payments

Electronic payment company PreCash, Inc. announced that PreCash payments on its nationwide network totaled $1 billion in 2003. The PreCash patented solution offers an alternative to customers who pay cash for subscription-based services such as cellular, Internet, cable/satellite television, etc.

This is how it works: Customers carry a reusable card that is permanently linked to their service account. Customers hand the PreCash card along with any amount of payment to a PreCash retailer, who swipes the card at a terminal and applies the payment transaction to the consumer's account within seconds.

PARTNERSHIPS

Hypercom and Diebold Partner

Diebold, Inc. will distribute Hypercom Corp.'s HFT 505 outdoor card payment terminal and technology to drive-up pharmacies in the United States and Canada for accepting debit and credit card payments.

EWI Prepaid Wins Two Mexico Partners

EWI Prepaid, a provider of advanced prepaid services and technologies, announced two new separate distribution partnerships with Avantel and Todito, S.A. de C.V. Avantel offers prepaid long-distance in Mexico and Todito is an Internet portal, ISP and e-commerce site for both Mexican residents and North American Spanish-speakers. EWI will distribute these companies' prepaid services electronically with its PinXpress payment processing solution, allowing consumers to purchase prepaid services from convenience stores and other locations throughout Mexico.

NPC Renews with Kwik Trip

National Processing Co., LLC a wholly owned subsidiary of National Processing, Inc., renewed a multi-year processing agreement with convenience store operator Kwik Trip Inc. Under the terms of the contract, NPC will continue providing credit card authorization and settlement services for all Kwik Trip Visa and MasterCard transactions.

National City Replacing All ATMs

National City Corp. said it plans to spend $30 million to replace or upgrade its entire six-state network of approximately 1,580 ATMs over the next 30 months. More than 1,000 ATMs will be replaced as part of this investment. The new machines, Opteva ATMs, were purchased from Diebold, Inc.

They are equipped with touch screens, liquid crystal display screens, consumer awareness mirrors, recessed keypads and faster processing speeds. They run on Windows XP operating system and offer users a choice of English or Spanish text.

ISD Signs Two New Customers

Integrated Systems Development, Inc. (ISD), a provider of payment information management software for the retail, wholesale, manufacturing, government and non-profit industries, announced two new customers: Clovis, NM-based Allsup's Convenience Stores, Inc. signed a contract to purchase ISD's Message Sentry electronic payment processing software for transaction routing. The Allsup's chain consists of more than 300 stores in small towns mostly in N.M., Texas and Okla.

In addition, Grand Rapids, MI-based Family Christian Stores, Inc. is implementing ISD's Message Sentry. Family Christian operates 350 stores in 39 states.

Precidia Joins Vital VIP Program

Precidia Technologies, Inc., a designer and manufacturer of IP access devices, joined Vital Processing Services' Integration Partner Program, which consists of software developers, system integrators and third party vendors. Precidia's EtherDial and Ether232AT products are Class-B approved with Vital, and these products connect older payment terminals to newer, faster IP LAN's and WAN's. EtherDial migrates transaction data from dial-up to TCP/IP infrastructure. The Ether232AT connects existing dial-based terminals to an Ethernet LAN, acting as a modem replacement. Vital is a joint venture of Visa U.S.A and TSYS.

ACQUISITIONS

TCM Bank Buys $3.1 Million Credit Portfolio

Midwest Independent Bank, a bankers' bank owned and directed by community banks, sold its $3.1 million consumer credit card portfolio and transferred Visa sponsorship of 71 Main Street agent banks and their 182 branches to TCM Bank, N.A., which is owned by ICBA Bancard, the payment services subsidiary of Independent Community Bankers of America.

APPOINTMENTS

Adam Atlas Advisor to Edgetech

Adam Atlas, Contributing Editor to The Green Sheet, has joined Edgetech Services, Inc., an enterprise security solution provider, to serve in an advisory role. He will focus on privacy and security issues relating to the new Canadian Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA). He will also work with the company on security compliance in both Canada and the United States.

Atlas is a specialist in both transaction and privacy law. He holds a Bachelor of Civil Law, Bachelor of Common Law and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science with Honors from McGill University. He is a member of the Bar of the Province of Quebec and the Bar of the State of New York. He is also a member of the American Bar Association (ABA), the ABA Section of Science and Technology, the ABA e-Privacy Law Committee.

Ursula Burns Elected to Amex Board

Ursula M. Burns, Senior Corporate Vice President and President of Business Group Operations, Xerox Corp., was recently elected to the Board of Directors of American Express Co. (Amex). Burns began her career in 1980 at Xerox where she first held a variety of engineering positions.

From 1992 to 2000, Burns served as the VP and General Manager of a series of Xerox businesses. In May 2000, she was appointed Senior VP of Corporate Strategic Services, and in October 2001 she became President of the Document Systems and Solutions Group. She assumed her current position at Xerox in January 2003.

Doug Edwards Joins VeriFone

VeriFone, Inc. hired Doug Edwards, to work with its North America sales team. Edwards previously served as a former Senior Vice President and National Sales Manager for Hypercom Corp., where he worked for seven years. He has more than 15 years of experience in the payments industry.

WesPay Announces New Officers

The Western Payments Alliance elected new officers to its Board of Directors in December 2003. James Ramsey, Senior Vice President and CFO of First National Bank of Northern California, was elected to a one-year term as Chair along with the following officers:

• Vice Chair: Dick Williams, First Vice President, Washington Mutual Bank
• Secretary: Danne Buchanan, Executive Vice President, Zions Bancorporation
• Treasurer: George Mackinaw, SVP Transaction Processing, Bank of the West

Ramsey succeeds outgoing Chair Dennis Toda, Vice President of Operational Integrity at WesCorp. Toda was named Chair of the organization's Symposium Committee, which oversees WesPay's Payments Symposium 2004.

BOTTOM LINES

• Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. opened its very first urban prototype store in Tampa, Fla. The store is 99,000 square feet and features pharmacy, health and beauty items near the entrance, "Drug Store News" reported.
• Wilsons The Leather Experts Inc. is closing about 100 stores (nearly 20% of its total) and is eliminating more than 1,000 jobs, including 950 retail positions, after a dismal 2003 holiday season. The store closings will be completed in May.
• Factory 2-U Stores Inc. voluntarily filed for protection under Chapter 11 of the U.S. bankruptcy code; it will remain open and plans to continue normal business operations.
• The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index increased nearly five points in January 2004. The Index now stands at 96.8, up from 91.7 in December 2003