NEWS

Debit card white paper available

A new white paper from TNB Card Services, "Debit Cards: Survival and Success in a Changing Market," addresses how to fight debit card fraud. The paper also examines the background of debit cards and their growth, weighs the pros and cons of PIN and signature debit for cardholders and credit unions, and offers advice on keeping pace with the competition. The paper is at www.tnbcard.com

Visa examines small ticket payments

According to a recent Visa U.S.A. survey, 38% of consumers use payment cards at least four times per week for small ticket purchases. The breakdown by purchase type is gas and service stations (71%), meals and fast food restaurants (60%), drug stores (51%) and convenience stores (50%). Respondents overwhelmingly said that they use payment cards for their convenience (73%); efficiency came in at (44%) and speed (39%).

NACHA releases direct deposit study

A recent study sponsored by NACHA - The Electronic Payments Association shows that large companies are much more likely to use direct deposit than small (2 to 49 employees) and medium-size (50 to 499) businesses. Although 75% of small businesses surveyed were aware of direct deposit, only 26% used the service. Of small business owners, 42% who don't use direct deposit said that they thought the service was for larger companies.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

AmbironTrustWave named partner of year; launches new business unit

The Electronic Transactions Association (ETA) named AmbironTrustWave Business Partner of the Year. The award is presented to an ETA member company that has demonstrated overwhelming support of the association, evidenced by company-wide involvement, volunteer support and financial commitment to ETA in furthering the association's goals and objectives. In other company news, AmbironTrustWave formed a new business unit to focus on detecting and mitigating the threats from online hazards, such as hackers and viruses. The new unit, SpiderLabs, will serve as the firm's data security services division.

Billeo closes Series A investment

Billeo, provider of free online bill management, secured $4 million in Series A funding from Altos Ventures, Claremont Creek Ventures and Pacifica Fund. Altos Ventures General Partner Ho Nam, Claremont Creek Ventures Managing Director Randy Hawks and Pacifica Fund Managing Director Tim Oren have taken seats on Billeo's board of directors. Steve Elefant will serve as a board and technology adviser.

Webby nominees announced

The International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences unveiled the nominees for Best Banking/Bill Paying Site at The 10th Annual Webby Awards. The five nominees are Washington Mutual Inc. ( www.wamu.com), Chase Blink ( www.chaseblink.com), Barclays Bank PLC ( www.barclays.co.uk), ING Direct ( www.ingdirect.com) and Bank of America ( www.bankofamerica.com).

XENTISSIMO named most innovative terminal

XENTISSIMO, the new mobile payment terminal launched by Banksys, was named "Most Innovative Terminal Solution" by the European Payments Consulting Association. To qualify for the award, products had to be innovative and conceptually new, use new technology or processes, present radically improved offers to consumers and substantially improve payment process efficiency.

Discover expands ATM acceptance

Discover Cards are now accepted at PULSE ATMs, making it possible for card members to withdraw cash at 58% more ATMs nationwide. Discover Cards are now accepted at approximately 350,000 ATMs and cash access locations.

ECHO to receive patent

Electronic Clearing House Inc. (ECHO) received a Notice of Allowance from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for a new patent covering Internet-based check cashing and clearing. The patent is expected to be issued within the next several months.

MagTek receives award for technology innovation

ETA recognized MagTek Inc. with a Technology Innovation Award at the 2006 ETA Annual Meeting & Expo. MagTek was selected for its innovative product MagnePrint, a card authentication technology that allows any magnetic stripe card to be recognized as a unique and nonreproducible security token.

NetBank Payment Systems lauded

Industry publication Convenience Store Decisions awarded NetBank Payment Systems Inc. its 2006 Readers Choice Award, deeming it one of the nation's top performing ATM companies.

Payment Data Systems receives patent

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued Patent Number 7,021,530 for Payment Data Systems Inc.'s technology and method for managing and processing bill payment via a stored-value debit card, check card, signature debit card, PIN-based card or ATM card from a variety of access points.

POSLynx220 certified by RBS Lynk

Precidia Technologies Inc. received Class B certification of its POSLynx220 with NetVu by RBS Lynk. This certification will allow RBS Lynk's retail and restaurant merchants to process transactions over an Internet protocol (IP) network using existing dial-based terminals.

Resource Finance receives $50 million

Resource Finance Co. obtained new financing of up to $50 million. The company is also expanding its preferred processor program, which allows ISOs processing through selected processors to obtain more generous loan terms.

UBC offers $0.03 transactions

United Bank Card Inc. (UBC) reduced its transaction fee to $0.03 for dial transactions and $0.02 for IP transactions. The pricing is available to new and existing sales partners.

PARTNERSHIPS

ACH Direct partners with Global Payments

Global Payments Inc. formed an agreement with ISO ACH Direct Inc. Global Payments will provide front-end credit card authorization services and back-end settlement for MasterCard International and Visa transactions.

Affinion and Edentify join forces

Affinion Group and Edentify Inc. entered into an exclusive marketing agreement that will allow Affinion to incorporate Edentify's IDBenchmark solution into its product offerings. Edentify's IDBenchmark assesses and scores the risk of fraud associated with specific manipulated identities.

American Savings Bank joins NYCE Network

American Savings Bank joined the NYCE Network. American Savings Bank is Hawaii's third-largest financial institution and operates the state's second-largest branch network. With American Savings Bank in the fold, NYCE grows by 165 ATMs and more than 425,000 cards.

Catuity integrates to Hypercom platform

Catuity Inc. integrated Hypercom Corp.'s Optimum T4100 terminal. Catuity expects to broaden its commitment to Hypercom's product line by also integrating to Hypercom's T7Plus and, selectively, to POS hardware manufactured for the chain retailer market.

ECHO extends partnership with EZCheck

ECHO signed a three-year agreement extending its partnership with EZCheck Check Services Inc. Under this new agreement EZCheck will continue to use ECHO's automated clearing house and authorization processing services to augment its own check processing and check conversion infrastructure.

EVO teams with Hypercom

EVO Merchant Services selected and Class A certified Hypercom's Optimum T4100 multi-application card payment terminal. EVO will market the device to its merchant base, and provide support for the promotion of the IP-enabled terminal.

JR's POS Depot partners with ExaDigm

Under a new strategic partnership, JR's POS Depot will offer ExaDigm Inc.'s XD2000 cellular wireless solution as the wireless POS solution of choice to its key channels, specifically the merchant acquiring industry.

FAPS selects Planet Financial Services

First American Payment Systems (FAPS) selected Planet Financial Services' Acquire360 Merchant Acquiring and Settlement solution for its back-end processing. Acquire360 has been integrated with First American's current back office and customer support.

Heartland, Verizon choose POSDATA

POSDATA Inc. will provide repair and refurbishment services for much of Heartland Payment Systems' payment terminal inventory. Terminals will be repaired and refurbished in POSDATA's Louisville, Ky., facility, with back-up services available through an additional Gig Harbor, Wash., facility. POSDATA will also provide repair, refurbishment and distribution services for Verizon Business Systems in support of the State of Texas Department of Fish and Wildlife's hunting and fishing license sales system.

Merchant e-Solutions to use TriCipher tools

Merchant e-Solutions will deploy the TriCipher Inc. Armored Credential System (TACS) to deliver risk-based, multifactor authentication and encryption key management. Using TACS, Merchant e-Solutions will comply with FFIEC guidelines in protecting bank customer information and will exceed the requirements of the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard.

LS Financial selects NetSpend

PLS Financial Services finalized an agreement with NetSpend Corp. to sell NetSpend's all-access prepaid cards at PLS locations across the country. With more than 200 stores in nine states, PLS Financial Services is the country's largest privately owned operator of financial services centers.

Q Comm partners with GBS

Global Business Services (GBS) has selected Q Comm International Inc. to provide POS terminals and transaction processing software for distribution of prepaid products throughout the Middle East and North Africa. GBS purchased 4,100 Q Xpress 200 POS terminals and is responsible for buying and reselling prepaid products, deploying POS terminals, generating sales reports and managing customer support.

VeriFone wins $7 million contract

VeriFone was awarded a $7 million contract from RBS Lynk to provide payment solution systems and connectivity services for resale to U.S. merchants. The annual contract includes countertop and wireless systems, portable and wireless connectivity, help desk support, asset management and billing.

ACQUISITIONS

EarthLink completes New Edge Networks acquisition

EarthLink Inc. completed its acquisition of New Edge Networks. EarthLink acquired 100% of New Edge Networks for 2.6 million shares of EarthLink common stock and $114.3 million in cash.

Vision Bankcard to acquire POS Card Systems of California

Vision Bankcard Inc. entered into an agreement to acquire POS Card Systems of California Inc. This provides Vision Bankcard with the bank sponsorship and sales engine that will allow for its expansion in the payments space.

APPOINTMENTS

Moneris Solutions expands management

Moneris Solutions Inc. has two new members on its executive team. Gregory A. Leos was appointed Senior Vice President, National Sales & Account Management, and David Granoff was named Senior Vice President, Strategic Partnerships. Leos comes to Moneris Solutions from Wells Fargo Merchant Services. He previously served as a regional manager at Global Payments. Granoff has more than 20 years of sales and business development experience. Most recently, he was Senior Director of Renewal Sales for TravelCLICK.

Peppercoin names Caserta VP

Charles Caserta joined Peppercoin Inc. as Vice President of Sales and Market Development. He will lead Peppercoin's financial services partnerships and merchant sales programs. Caserta has more than 20 years of sales experience. He served as Executive Vice President of Business Development and Chairman of the Board at Thornebrook Associates as well as President and Chief Executive Officer of Livewire.

Debitman appoints CEO

Debitman Card Inc. appointed Mike Grossman CEO. Founder R. Scott Hatfield assumed the role of Vice President, Business Development and continues as a member of the board of directors. Grossman founded and was CEO of LiveCapital. Previously, he was employed at Intuit and Johnson & Johnson. The company also announced the opening of its new headquarters in San Mateo, Calif.

Q Comm International makes changes to board

Q Comm International Inc. recently changed its board of directors. Tom Tesmer has replaced Bill Jurika as Chairman; Jurika will continue to head the board's compensation committee.

First Annapolis welcomes Samuels

Brent Samuels joined First Annapolis as a member of the company's card-issuing team. He will focus on serving the partnership finance clients in the agent, affinity and retail sectors. With over eight years of card industry experience, Samuels joins First Annapolis from MBNA.

Acies expands board of directors

Bonnie K. Wachtel and William B. G. Scigliano will serve as independent members of Acies Corp.'s board of directors. Jeffrey A. Tischler, Acies' Chief Financial Officer, will also join the board as an Executive Director.

For 22 years, Wachtel has been Vice President and General Counsel of Wachtel & Co. Inc., a brokerage and investment banking firm. She is also on the boards of VSE Corp. and Information Analysis Inc.

Scigliano is Co-chairman of the board of Wherify Wireless Inc. and is also a Director for AlphaTrade.com. Previously, he was Chairman and CEO of IQ Biometrix.

BOTTOM LINES

• The average consumer spends about $25 to take his or her mother on a special outing for Mother's Day, such as brunch or lunch, the National Retail Federation reported (based on results of a survey conducted by BIGresearch, April 5 - 12, 2004).

• An increasing number of fraudulent credit and debit card transactions are contributing to significant dollar losses for online retailers. In order to better fight fraud, retailers are outsourcing payments risk management, STORES magazine reported.

• Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has partnered with CheckFree to offer customers walk-in bill-payment services.