|
Links Related |
Industry UpdateNEWSSynthetic ID Fraud Poses New Challenges
Few ARC Concerns, Research Shows Consumer market research conducted for NACHA - The Electronic Payments Association by The Response Center shows that consumers have a high awareness of accounts receivable check conversion (ARC) and most don't mind having their checks converted into electronic automated clearing house (ACH) payments. NACHA estimates that 1.25 billion consumer checks were converted into ARC payments in 2004, and at its current growth rate, this number might reach 2 billion payments in 2005. When provided with an opportunity to express objections or concerns about check conversion, 55% of respondents said they had none. The research also found that only 4% of check writers have called their financial institutions in the past six months in reference to a check conversion payment. Some Affluent Consumers Embrace Middle Class Values Visa U.S.A recently polled the country's "new affluent consumers," the 7% of the population age 35 - 54 with incomes of at least $125,000. The study found that while household incomes are at least triple the national median, these individuals identify primarily with the middle class. Two-thirds of new affluent consumers surveyed said that they regularly shop at club discount or warehouse stores; this compares to less than half of the general population. Seventy-eight percent have a payment card that enables them to earn rewards. The study reports that these thrifty individuals represent 15% of total U.S. spending. ANNOUNCEMENTSEMG To Expand Eliot Management Group (EMG) will open six new sales facilities in Spokane, Wash.; Chicago; Minneapolis; Austin and San Antonio, Texas; and Albuquerque, New Mexico. This will bring EMG's local office total to 21 by year's end. First American Payment Systems VP Resigns Rusty Martz, Vice President of Sales for First American Payment Systems, has resigned. Martz has decided to spend more time with his family. JUSTCHEX Integrates Flexible Commissions JUSTCHEX LLC resellers can determine their own commissions on a client-by-client basis through the company's transmodus.net solution. JUSTCHEX designed this feature to provide resellers with more control over their client-specific business models. The company issues all transmodus.net resellers a secure interface within the platform to track their client activity and results. Additionally, resellers can perform the new client service set-up process online. Global Electronic Technology Opens Memphis Office Global Electronic Technology Inc. recently opened its regional office in Memphis, Tenn. The Memphis location will serve as the launching point for the opening of six new satellite sales offices throughout the Mid-South region. Merchant Services Weblog Debuts Joel Rydbeck, Chief Executive Officer of Minneapolis-based Nubrek Inc. launched merchantTechnology.org, a Weblog for the merchant services industry. The blog, available at www.merchantTechnology.org, provides technology updates for members of the merchant services industry. Topics posted on the blog include tips for starting an office network and steps for ridding personal computers of troublesome spyware. Future postings will continue to focus on technology applications and might grow to encompass other industry-related subjects. Visa's Metric to Track Global Spending Visa International unveiled the first standardized metric to track business and government spending globally. The new index, the Commercial Consumption Expenditure (CCE), allows the global payments industry to measure and forecast commercial expenditures. Global CCE draws upon government data in methods similar to the Personal Consumption Expenditure index. Using CCE, Visa International estimates that total business and government spending in 2004 amounted to $54.8 trillion, a 32% increase over five years ago. For 2005, Visa predicts global CCE to grow to $58.5 trillion, a 6.7% increase. Visa will provide an updated global CCE forecast annually. PARTNERSHIPSAlliance Merchant Services Selects T3 Alliance Merchant Services Inc. selected Transaction Transport Technologies LLC (T3) as its outsourced provider for Internet protocol (IP)-based payment transaction transport services. Under the agreement, Alliance will offer its merchants the T3 transactions over an IP suite of secure sockets layer (SSL) and virtual private network (VPN) solutions. Certegy Check Services Licenses Intelli-Check Technology Certegy Check Services Inc. licensed Intelli-Check Inc.'s proprietary ID-CHECK technology to add another level of security to Certegy's risk-management and loss-prevention services. Certegy plans to integrate it into its own check-authorization system. BB&T Signs With STAR Network STAR Network completed an agreement with BB&T Corp. for BB&T to participate in STAR CHEK Direct, STAR's direct check debit and verification service. BB&T will use STAR CHEK Direct to help reduce its check fraud losses and processing costs, streamline check processing administration and generate income. Regions Financial Extends With First Data Regions Financial Corp. extended its relationship with First Data Debit Services for STAR Network PIN-secured and signature debit processing services. In addition, the parties will extend Regions Financial Corp.'s STAR Network membership for more than 1,700 ATMs. Regions intends to consolidate its participation in networks. As a result, the STAR Network will serve as the primary network for ATM and PIN-secured debit access for Regions' debit cardholders. T-Systems Signs With New Edge Networks T-Systems North America selected New Edge Networks' nationwide broadband access solutions to expand its global IP VPN solution. New Edge Networks will provide T-Systems North America with nationwide frame relay over DSL and xDSL broadband access services, enabling broadband access into T-Systems' global network platform. SST, Philips and 3united Join Forces Royal Philips Electronics formed an alliance with SMART System Technologies Inc. (SST) and 3united to deliver mobile entertainment applications as well as loyalty and reward programs via near field communication (NFC) technology. NFC, developed by Philips and Sony, links wireless connectivity with contactless smart card technology, so that consumers can access entertainment, information and payment services through their mobile phones. The joint effort allows consumers to make purchases and redeem points or e-coupons by waving an NFC phone in front of a smart poster, contactless retail POS device or kiosk. USA ePay Adds Blackberry; Signs Prime Time Shuttle USA ePay added the Blackberry mobile phone to its list of devices supported for Wireless ePay. Wireless ePay is USA ePay's solution for processing credit card transactions wirelessly through a merchant's existing phone on any wireless network. Additionally, Prime Time Shuttle Co. now uses Wireless ePay in their vans. The company implemented the program in 150 vans across the Los Angeles area and plans to deploy it to 3,200 vans nationwide. Q Comm Inks Contract With The Big Apple The Big Apple Food Stores will install Q Comm International Inc.'s q xpress 200 POS terminal in all 90 Big Apple convenience store and gas stations. Using the q xpress terminals, the stores will have the ability to sell any of the 50 prepaid services offered by Q Comm, including prepaid wireless minutes and prepaid long distance. TransAKT, Red Spider Sign Agreement TransAKT Corp. entered into an agreement with Red Spider Technologies for the private labeling of TransAKT's voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) hardware, software and proprietary U&Me VoIP network. Red Spider will integrate TransAKT's VoIP technology into its proprietary Spider Builder software system. ACQUISITIONSHarland Financial to Acquire Intrieve Harland Financial Solutions signed a definitive agreement to acquire Intrieve Inc. The acquisition includes service bureau operations that deliver core processing for more than 150 thrifts and community banks, comprehensive item processing, and electronic banking and payment processing. As part of the transaction, Harland will also acquire a datacenter operation providing co-location, hosting, managed data services and host-site backup. APPOINTMENTSVECTORsgi Promotes Anderson VECTORsgi appointed Patricia D. Anderson to Vice President, ePayments and Workflow Systems. Previously, Anderson was Director of ePayments, Research and Control. Anderson has 28 years of experience in the banking industry, including IT, software development, bank operations and project management. Q Comm Hires VP of Business Development Q Comm International appointed Charles Callis Vice President of Business Development with responsibility for developing industry alliances as well as new product and revenue sources. Callis brings 17 years of experience to Q Comm. Most recently he was Vice President, Worldwide Sales and Marketing for ClearOne Communications. Prior to ClearOne, Callis served as Vice President of Sales for Learnframe and Vice President of Worldwide Sales and Alliances for Altiris Inc. In nearly a decade with Novell Inc., Callis served as Vice President of Marketing and as Vice President of Enterprise Customers. Floyd Selected TransFirst COO TransFirst named Joni Floyd Chief Operating Officer. Previously, Floyd served as President of TransFirst's Shared Services division and interim COO. Floyd has more than 24 years' experience and played an active role in the development of the ATM industry. A member of Affiliated Computer Services Inc.'s management team from 1988 to 2000, she held numerous executive positions, including Executive Vice President of the E-Commerce Division. VeriFone Appoints Henske to Board VeriFone Inc. appointed Robert B. (Brad) Henske to the Board of Directors. Henske serves as the Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President of Finance and Administration of Intuit Inc. Prior to Intuit, Henske was CFO of Synopsys Inc. He has also served as CFO at American Savings Bank and as a partner at Oak Hill Capital Management. Hypercom Appoints Mardis and DeBraal Hypercom Corp. named Bill Mardis Vice President, Value-added Services, and Dan DeBraal Vice President, Processor Sales. Mardis will manage the North America value-added channel and the company's repair center program and parts sales. Mardis most recently served as Director of Sales and Marketing for VeriFone. A 25-year veteran of the electronic payments industry, Mardis has also served with POS Systems Inc., Deluxe Data Systems, GTE EFT Services, and Financial Institution Services Inc. DeBraal will focus on processor product development and certification. He will also serve as an internal product development/certification support coordinator and liaison. DeBraal joins Hypercom from Fifth Third Bank, where he served as Assistant Vice President, Merchant Products, Fifth Third Processing. A 20-year veteran of the electronic payments industry, DeBraal has also served with Visa Merchant Bank Services and Vital Processing Inc. Visa International Picks Piasecki for CCO Visa International appointed Matthew A. Piasecki Chief Commercial Officer. In this newly created role, Piasecki will have direct responsibility for global strategy, consumer and commercial products, and innovation for Visa Worldwide Services, as well as acquisition/ acceptance and operating regulations. Prior to joining Visa, Piasecki served as President of Map Management Consulting Ltd. Before that, he was Senior Vice President and head of the United Kingdom financial services practice at Mercer Management Consulting. SST Chooses President/COO and CTO SMART System Technologies (SST) appointed Michael M. Richardson President and COO, and promoted Raymond Garcia to Chief Technology Officer. Co-founder Mark Johnson, formerly the President and CEO, will continue to serve as an advisor to SST. As President and COO, Richardson will oversee the company's day-to-day operations. Formerly the CTO, Richardson brings more than 25 years of experience to his new role. He is a former Director of Hewlett Packard/VeriFone division's Payment Systems Product Development Center. Immediately prior to joining SST, Richardson served as CTO for Eventra Inc. Richardson holds 17 issued U.S. Patents with others pending. As CTO, Garcia will oversee the development and delivery of new products for SST. A co-founder of the company, Garcia formerly served as Senior Vice President, Engineering. Garcia has more than 20 years of experience in the IT industry. He is also a former CTO for Clearcross and Vice President of Technology for Citicorp. Columbia Bank Promotes Stetz, Montana Columbia Bank promoted Pat Stetz to Vice President and Merchant Card Services Department Team Leader, and Colleen Montana to Merchant Vault Officer. Stetz has more than 30 years of banking experience and has worked with Columbia Bank for six years. Montana has over 18 years of banking experience and has worked with Columbia Bank since 1996. Bottom Lines
|
 |
 |
 |
© 2005, The Green Sheet, Inc. |
ccording to research from ID Analytics Inc., "synthetic identity fraud," fraud in which the identity is fabricated, is becoming the new identity fraud challenge for organizations. The research found that synthetic identity fraud comprises 88% of all identity fraud events and 74% of the total dollars lost by U.S. businesses. The research also found that systems relying on public record databases generally detect 85% of synthetic identity fraud attempts and 72% of true-name identity theft attempts. Fraudsters using synthetic identities like to substantiate them by attempting to open wireless subscriptions in the fake name, the research found.