Industry News AT&T, Verizon to Target Visa, MC With Smartphones AT&T Inc. and Verizon Wireless, the biggest U.S. mobile carriers, are planning a venture to displace credit and debit cards with smartphones, posing a new threat to Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc., three people with direct knowledge of the plan said. more... Carriers Said To Be Working On Mobile-Payments Bloomberg News was the first to report that AT&T Inc., Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile USA were working together on a payments system, along with Discover Financial Services and Barclays PLC (see story). The consortium is planning to test the system in Atlanta and three other U.S. cities. more... US risks becoming a global centre for card fraud A senior official at the US Federal Reserve has expressed alarm that the country is being left isolated by its reliance on mag-stripe cards while the rest of the world moves to more secure EMV-based Chip and PIN payment technology. more... Law Remakes U.S. Financial Landscape Congress approved a rewrite of rules touching every corner of finance, from ATM cards to Wall Street traders, in the biggest expansion of government power over banking and markets since the Depression. The bill, to be signed into law soon by President Barack Obama, marks a potential sea change for the financial-services industry. more... Durbin wins battle to pass interchange legislation The Senate on Thursday passed controversial legislation clamping down on fees that card issuers charge merchants, handing Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) a major victory. more... Wal-Mart: “It’s Time For Chip-And-PIN In The U.S.” With major card brands and the banks strongly opposed to Chip-and-PIN efforts in the United States, there’s only one way it’s going to happen–and that happened Wednesday (May 19): Wal-Mart publicly forced the issue. more... Hypercom, FD Step Up Attack on Card Data Fraud High security electronic payment and digital transactions solutions provider Hypercom Corporation (NYSE: HYC) and First Data Corporation, a global leader in electronic commerce and payment processing, today announced that First Data has approved Hypercom as an encrypting service organization for remote key injection and that Hypercom’s HyperSafe® Remote Key System will be available through First Data’s TASQ Technology. more... Vermont Interchange Bill Draws Praise A bill that has passed the state Senate in Vermont that would allow that state's merchants to begin setting minimum purchases for the use of credit and debit cards has drawn praise from retail groups and a lobbying push from the state's credit unions. more... Visa to phase out sig cards in New Zealand by 2012 Visa says all credit cards issued in New Zealand will be Chip and PIN from next month, with signature-based transactions at the point-of-sale phased out by 2012. more... Big Merchants Pay $225K on Average for PCI Audits Getting an annual assessment to determine their compliance with the Payment Card Industry data-security standard costs big merchants an average of $225,000, but some pay $500,000 or more and others much less, according to a new research report by Ponemon Institute LLC. more... EMV Gaining Momentum in U.S. The MAG is quoted in this article which summrizes discussions at the recent Smart Card Alliance Payments Summit around EMV and contactless deployment in the US. more... MasterCard Softens a Controversial PCI Rule MasterCard Inc. is changing a controversial policy, and pushing back a deadline, that it announced only six months ago regarding enforcement of the Payment Card Industry data-security standard. more... FD Integrating Accertify Fraud Prevention Platform First Data and Accertify have announced an agreement to integrate Accertify's fraud prevention platform with First Data's eCommerce processing gateways and platforms. more... First Data and Mobile Pmts at the POS First Data Corporation is a pivotal player in POS payments – a key provider of processing solutions to both the merchant and the issuing sides of the business. So it was particularly interesting to speak last week with Barry McCarthy, President, Mobile Commerce Solutions for First Data more... Support Grows for MC Advanced Auth for Chip MasterCard has announced that it has approved personal card readers and authentication servers from four vendors for MasterCard Advanced Authentication for Chip - a new EMV authentication solution that leverages the hundreds of millions of EMV cards already in the wallets of cardholders. more... U.S. mag stripe cards on brink of extinction? While Europe and Canada are steadily moving ahead with widespread adoption of chip-and-PIN credit cards, U.S. magnetic stripe cards are being left behind in the dust. more... BofA, First Data create payments company Bank of America Corp, the largest U.S. bank, and First Data Corp have created a joint venture to offer electronic payment services to merchants, the companies said on Monday. The venture will combine Bank of America's brand name -- and its 240,000 merchant relationships -- with First Data's payment services technology. more... MAG/Others ask for More Reasonable PCI Rules Representatives of seven of the largest retailer organizations sent a strongly-worded letter to the PCI Council on Tuesday (June 9), asking officially for several major changes to PCI to make compliance an easier goal. more... Weak security opens door to credit card hacks Every time you swipe your credit card and wait for the transaction to be approved, sensitive data including your name and account number are ferried from store to bank through computer networks, each step a potential opening for hackers. more... New CARD Act Requires Study of US Interchange Fees Although the MAG does not address the topic of interchange fees, MAG Members want to stay informed about news related to fees. This article addresses how legislation may affect interchange. more... RBS WorldPay Returns as Validated PCI Provider Following the successful completion of its Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) assessment, RBS WorldPay has returned to both Visa's and MasterCard's list of PCI DSS Validated Service Providers. more... RBS WorldPay Validates Its PCI Compliance RBS WorldPay has successfully validated its compliance with PCI DSS, following the completion of its annual Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) assessment. more... MAG Pushes Card-Security Encryption Standard This article discusses MAG's involvement with an effort to develop a standard for end to end data encryption. Please note that the MAG's only interest is in urging the payments industry to develop the best possible data security standard in an open environment. more... Heartland Returns as Visa PCI Service Provider Following the completion of its annual Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) assessment, Heartland Payment Systems has successfully validated its compliance with PCI DSS. As such, Heartland is returning to Visa’s List of PCI DSS Validated Service Providers. more... Total U.S. Visa Debit Volume Surpasses Credit Visa last week announced that spending on Visa debit cards in the U.S. had surpassed Visa credit card volume for the first time in the company’s history. For the period ending December 31, 2008, Visa's US debit payments volume was $206 billion, compared with credit payments volume of $203 billion. more... Visa & MC Fees Pose Profound Cost Increases Unfortunately, this spring, Visa® and MasterCard® have cultivated some new fees that will actually burn-up the hearts and minds of some direct marketers. more... Cybersecurity hearing highlights inadequacy of PCI The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is ineffective and major payment processing infrastructure improvements are needed to secure credit and debit card transactions, lawmakers said Tuesday. more... Visa Heartland/RBS WorldPay Stmt Brings Clarity A new Visa statement clarifies the positions of merchants concerned about the card brand's recent removal of two major payment processors from its list of Payment Card Industry-compliant service providers. more... Chase Paymentech Signs Up for Online PIN Debit The nation’s largest processor of e-commerce transactions this week announced its commitment to a test involving PIN debit payments on the Internet. more... Advisory on Securitizing MC Settlement Acct Funds Constantine Cannon LLP, Lead Counsel for United States merchants in the Visa Check/MasterMoney Antitrust Litigation,advises Class Members of petential change to timing of settlement payouts from MasterCard. more... Merchants Pushing PINs, Issuers Not Signing Off Merchants want to route more transactions as less-costly PIN-debit purchases, but bankcard networks and issuers are keeping signature-debit alive and well. more... EBay's Big Plans for PayPal Just when other companies have stopped giving financial guidance because of the unpredictable nature of today's world markets, struggling eBay plans to provide more details about its business than it has in three years, say company insiders. more... AmEx Can’t Use Arbitration To Thwart Class Actions A three-judge panel for the federal appellate court in New York reversed a lower court by ruling Friday that the arbitration provision in American Express Co. merchant agreements that requires merchants to give up their right to participate in class-action lawsuits against AmEx, or even to challenge the company as a group in arbitration, is unenforceable. more... Recession Is Sending Rates of Friendly Fraud Up With the recession throwing more and more people out of work by the day, payments processors are reporting that their merchants are experiencing sharp increases in e-commerce chargebacks stemming from so-called friendly fraud. more... Heartland Sniffer Hid In Unallocated Disk Portion The sniffer malware that surreptitiously siphoned tons of payment card data from card processor Heartland Payment Systems hid in an unallocated portion of a server’s disk. more... Heartland breach raises questions about PCI "Billions is being spent on PCI compliance, but it isn't really working," says Gartner analyst Avivah Litan. more... Heartland CEO Calls for Industry Cooperation This press release went out 1/23/09 from our valued Sponsor, Heartland Payment Systems, addressing their recent breach. more... The iPhone Rings Up Payments Innovation Apple Inc.’s iPhone accounts for only a tiny fraction of the cell phones out there, but it’s the undisputed headline grabber in the...focus of intense effort by third-party software developers who have devised thousands of applications tailored for the sleek device, some of which include banking and payments. more... Software And Smart Phones Will Drive Mobile Pmts Not every cog is in place yet, but payments from remote devices, especially so-called smart phones, are poised to grow from an estimated $389 million next year to $8.6 billion in 2014, according to a new report from Mercator Advisory Group. more... New Limits Imposed on Credit Card Companies When the federal government approves new rules banning "unfair and deceptive" practices today by credit card companies, it will hand a victory to consumer groups who have long complained of lax oversi more... New Contactless and Mobile Tools for Merchants The Smart Card Alliance Contactless and Mobile Payments Council today introduced new tools for merchants accepting or thinking about accepting contactless and mobile payments. more... Banks/Consumers Brace for New Credit Card Rules The U.S. credit card industry, harshly criticized for imposing surprise fees and interest rate hikes on consumers, may face a day of reckoning on Thursday. more... How Security Mandate Could Force Out SW Vendors The steady march toward more secure payment-processing software is likely to force many—possibly thousands—of small software vendors out of the market of serving merchants and card processors. more... Why NYCE Plans To Test 2 Online PIN Debit Systems The NYCE electronic funds transfer network, which earlier this month said it will pilot PINless purchase transactions online, has become the second EFT system to agree to test Web-based debit card tra more... Chase Paymentech Announces Gift Card Study Results Chase Paymentech, a leader in the merchant acquiring and payment processing industry, recently announced the results of a two-week survey the company commissioned to provide insight into consumers' at more... MC Mobile Partner Program Helps Drive Mobile The MasterCard Mobile Partner Program Helps Drive Growth of Worldwide Mobile Payments MasterCard Worldwide Demonstrates Commitment to the Development of the Global Mobile Payments Eco-syste more... U.S. Bancorp Tests Visa's Smallest Payment Device Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) and U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB) today announced a pilot program designed to test consumer preferences for an alternative electronic payment device, the Visa Micro Tag, the smallest Vi more... U.S. Bancorp Tests Visa's Micro Tag Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) and U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB) today announced a pilot program designed to test consumer preferences for an alternative electronic payment device, the Visa Micro Tag, the smallest Vi more... Amex Announces Reengineering Plan American Express announced today companywide reengineering initiatives expected to produce cost benefits of approximately $1.8 billion in 2009. more... Canada Is Set to Start Nat'l Rollout of Chip-Debit Canada’s financial institutions will start issuing microchip-embedded debit cards by the end of the year more... Contactless Stickers Near Prime Time So-called stickers, or chip-and-antenna inlays that can be affixed to mobile phones or other... more...