In a May 3, 2011, earnings call and first quarter 2011 financial statement, prepaid card processor Fidelity National Information Services Inc. (FIS) approximated the loss from a data breach at $13 million. The breach involved one client and 22 prepaid card accounts on its Sunrise platform, FIS said.

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Wells Fargo Bank N.A. is again leading the industry in the rush to makeup losses imposed on the debit card industry by the Durbin Amendment to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010. Wells Fargo recently launched a five-state trial of a monthly $3 debit card fee. The bank acknowledged the unprecedented fee is a response to the Durbin Amendment. Now Wells Fargo is terminating its debit cardholders' rewards program.

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Social media gamers and European retailers are the likely beneficiaries of a new partnership between social network game developer Zynga Inc. and prepaid card distributor epay. The collaboration involves the distribution of Zynga's prepaid game cards to retailers in 18 countries across Europe, marking the first time the cards will be available in many of the countries, according to epay.

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An IRS B notice is easy to acquire and difficult to lose, Convey Compliance Systems Inc. Product Manager Neal Lefebvre pointed out in a recent webinar focusing on backup withholding notices (B notices) and 6050W compliance. In the first of a two-part webinar, he offered detailed advice for payment processors and acquirers seeking to comply with IRS rule 6050W, which goes into effect Jan. 1, 2012.

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The global trade organization Prepaid International Forum reported its India chapter will implement prepaid card programs to speed up expansion of the products across the South Asia country. The first roll outs will be focused on expanding the use of government benefits cards and on promoting prepaid cards as alternative financial tools for India's unbanked, PIF said.

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Wells Fargo Bank N.A. confirmed to The Green Sheet it is testing debit card fees charged to customers' business and personal checking accounts. The trial will be held in five states beginning Oct. 14, 2011. According to Wells Fargo Assistant Vice President Lisa Westermann, the fee will allow customers to continue to receive such services as zero liability fraud protection, fraud monitoring, My Spending Report and card personalization from the bank's Card Design Studio.

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Guidelines for tokenization – which allows for hiding payment card primary account numbers (PANs) by replacing them with randomly generated numbers – were recently released by the PCI Security Standards Council (PCI SSC). The guidelines immediately drew words of praise, caution and criticism from the security industry. Tokens are a popular way for merchants to reduce the scope of Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard (DSS) requirements.

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On Aug. 8, 2011, Illinois enacted HB 1560, which immediately takes effect. HB 1560 lowers the unclaimed property abandonment period from five years to one. Unclaimed wages, payroll and salary in any form – such as prepaid payroll cards – that are held or owed by a bank, financial institution or business association, are considered abandoned and reportable to the state after one year.

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Google Inc.'s purchase of Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. could alter the mobile phone market landscape. It could also change the perception of Google as a search engine to potentially becoming known as a major mobile device manufacturer, software developer and retailer on par with Apple Inc. But the merger may hinder ISOs and merchant level salespeople in determining which mobile payment platforms will best serve their needs.

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On Aug. 16, the Prepaid Press Expo 2011 opened the exhibit hall at the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas. The theme of the convention is convergence, as reflected in the wide range of companies attending the show, including representatives from wireless, calling card, loyalty, mobile payments, gift card and prepaid debit card providers. Industry leaders from Boost Mobile Inc., InComm and Discover Financial Services will deliver keynote addresses.

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An amicable settlement was reached when Yahoo Inc. agreed to take no less than $2 billion and no more than $6 billion if there is an Alipay initial public offering (IPO). The agreement, reached with Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, also has the support of the other major Alibaba investor, Japan's SoftBank Mobile Corp. Yahoo and SoftBank, which together own more than 90 percent of Alibaba, said they were both surprised to learn Alibaba spun off its Alipay payments business last year in order to meet China's regulatory requirements.

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Two annual Awards for Publishing Excellence (APEX) were awarded toThe Green Sheet by Communications Concepts Inc. and the editors of Communications Concepts' publication Writing that Works: The Business Communications Report. The Green Sheet won awards for its website and feature writing. The APEX awards are given for excellence in graphic design, editorial content and effectiveness in communication. APEX awards for publishing excellence have been handed out for 23 years

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In the July 29 conference call to discuss Green Dot Corp.'s second quarter 2011 financial results, Chief Executive Officer Steve Streit provided an update on the Monrovia, Calif.-based prepaid card company's progress in becoming a bank holding company through the purchase of Bonneville Bancorp of Provo, Utah. "Our legal team has been working nearly around the clock over the past few weeks in an effort to wrap up the final details needed to provide our regulators with all the final documentation needed to formally consider our application," Streit said.

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Payment professionals are invited to suggest topics for a new special interest group (SIG) of the PCI Security Standards Council (PCI SSC). Previously established SIG topics include wireless security, Europay/MasterCard/Visa technology, point-to-point encryption and virtualized environments. Proposals for new topics must be submitted to the PCI SSC by Aug. 29, 2011. A short list of recommendations will be submitted for a vote of those attending community meetings in North America and Europe this fall.

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U.S. Bank, the main bank of U.S. Bancorp, launched VITAband which combines near field contactless (NFC) payment technology with emergency contact and medical information in the form factor of a wristband. The MasterCard Worldwide PayPass technology-enabled device allows for "Tap & Go" payments at the POS and includes universal health record technology for the storage and retrieval of medical information.

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Payment software company S1 Corp. finds itself caught between the crosshairs of a friendly merger and a forceful acquisition. Negotiations over the outcome are turning decidedly hostile as S1's board of directors attempt to move forward with a $700 million all-stock merger with payment software company Fundtech Ltd. while fighting off a $540 million cash offer by payment software competitor ACI Worldwide Inc. to acquire S1. The story began with the June 2011 announcement of S1's plan to merge with Fundtech.

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Chris McWilton, U.S. President of MasterCard Worldwide, told analysts on an earnings conference call that his company sees the changes in regulation resulting from the Durbin Amendment to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 as a net benefit. The exclusivity provision of the amendment demands every debit card have at least two processing options. McWilton said MasterCard now handles only 9 percent of the PIN debit transactions in the United States. He believes the company is positioned to acquire a much larger share of the market when merchants are given the routing choice starting Oct. 1, 2011. (Full debit card issuer compliance is required as of April 1, 2012.)

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Middle East payroll card processor Mint Technology Corp. is reportedly growing at a rapid rate. A research bulletin issued by the research division of Ubika Corp. said the largest non-bank prepaid card provider in the Middle East has over 400,000 prepaid cards in circulation in the United Arab Emirates. It was only in April 2011 that Ubika Research said Mint had over 200,000 prepaid cards in circulation in the region.

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A new white paper authored by PayFusion LLC Chief Executive Officer Thomas "TJ" Riha asserts the biggest impact for community financial institutions (FIs) of the Durbin Amendment to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 is not the cap on debit interchange fees but the loss of network routing control on debit transactions. In his paper titled Race to the Bottom: Debit Card Network Routing in a Post-Durbin World, Riha describes the impact allowing merchants to make routing decisions will have on the payments industry.

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At Prepaid Summit: Europe 2011 to he held in Milan on Oct. 10 to 11, research will be released that analyzes the growth potential of prepaid cards in the corporate world. According to Financial News Publishing Ltd.'s VRL Financial News, prepaid cards used in the workplace are "likely to experience massive growth in the next 12 months."

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Visa Inc. will lower fixed and variable processing fees and reach out to more merchants in an effort to keep its leadership in the U.S. debit card industry after implementation of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act's Durbin Amendment, according to Visa Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Joseph Saunders. Visa, the runaway leader in U.S. debit card issuance, seeks to prevent erosion of its market share after April 2012, when rules go into effect that require all debit card issuers to offer merchants the choice of at least two unaffiliated processing networks.

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