The Western Union Co., in conjunction with The Western Union Foundation, and Co-Op Financial Services have stepped up to aid victims of Hurricane Sandy, which devastated a wide swath of the U.S. East Coast in addition to parts of the Caribbean in October 2012.

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Research and consulting firm RBR studied the prepaid card market in 66 countries recently and reported that between 2009 and 2011, the number of prepaid cards grew to 321 million, a 32 percent increase. RBR also noted that while great potential for development is seen for the prepaid market, projections indicate prepaid cards will comprise 5 percent of all cards globally by 2017, only 1 percent higher than prepaid's current 4 percent share.

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Isis, a mobile-commerce entity created by JVL Ventures LLC, rolled out its mobile wallet in two cities Oct. 22, 2012, and opinions differ regarding the significance of this development for the U.S. payments industry as a whole. JVL is a joint venture of AT&T Mobility, T-Mobile USA and Verizon Wireless. There are currently nine Isis-enabled handsets available to consumers but, Jaymee Johnson, Head of Marketing at Isis Mobile Commerce, said, "By year end, as many as 20 [types of] Isis-ready handsets are expected to be in-market."

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Following are research highlights from recently published payments industry reports. #h2Status report on merchant response to card not present fraud A poll of 379 online and offline merchants conducted jointly by SignatureLink Inc. and CardNotPresent.com in August and September 2012 about current anti-fraud efforts revealed most merchants are not only aware of fraud, but a majority are already addressing fraud through verification technologies. To view complete results of the SecureBuy 2012 CNP Fraud Study visit www.signaturelink.com/2012-cnp-fraud-study.html .

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Ceridian Stores Value Solutions Inc. (SVS) reported on Oct. 25, 2012, that National Retail Federation research points to a promising holiday season for gift cards in 2012. Indeed, SVS stated, "2012 promises to be the sixth consecutive year for gift cards to be the 'most popular gift' to give and receive. With electronic gift cards and mobile applications that allow consumers to purchase and redeem cards from any web-enabled device, gift cards have become that much more accessible."

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It's been a busy week in payments so far. Here are three news items that caught the attention of industry watchers: #h2Square heads north Alternative payment solutions provider Square Inc. released its free mobile card reader and POS system in Canada Oct. 24, 2012. This is the first time the company has made its payment options available outside of the United States. The company is currently handling more than $8 billion in annualized payments.

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ISOs and merchant level salespeople (MLSs) will remain at the center of the payments hub even as the tent surrounding that hub grows larger to include more players, SignaPay Ltd. President Kevin Jones said in an interview with The Green Sheet conducted shortly after he spoke at the Mobile Payments Conference in New York City in October 2012. "For more than 20 years, business owners have been getting all their payments needs met by banks or processors," Jones said, reiterating what he said at the conference. "Why should we assume that they will move away from this one-stop-shop model and look outside for mobile solutions?"

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Mesa, Ariz.-based ATM technology developer Better ATM Services Inc. reported from the 2012 ATM, Debit & Prepaid Forum in Las Vegas that Visa Inc. had approved the company's prepaid card ATM dispensing technology. Visa's go-ahead means that all financial institutions (FIs) that issue Visa-branded payment cards in the United States can equip their ATMs with the technology to allow the machines to dispense Visa-branded prepaid cards, according to Better ATM Services Chief Executive Officer Todd L. Nuttall.

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ISOs, acquirers and processors are beginning to confront the challenges they face as the United States moves toward adoption of the card company mandated Europay/MasterCard/Visa (EMV) standard, Randy Vanderhoof, Director of the Smart Card Alliance and Acting Director of the EMV Migration Forum, said in an interview with The Green Sheet.

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Isis, a mobile-commerce entity created by JVL Ventures LLC, rolled out its mobile wallet in two cities Mon., Oct. 22, 2012, a company spokesman confirmed. JVL is a joint venture of AT&T Mobility, T-Mobile USA and Verizon Wireless. Last week, Jaymee Johnson, Head of Marketing at Isis Mobile Commerce, said, "Isis will be launching in Austin and Salt Lake City on Oct. 22. By year end, as many as 20 [types of] Isis-ready handsets are expected to be in-market."

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Mobile payment technology provider Square Inc. recently notified the New York Taxi & Limousine Commission it is terminating its pilot mobile payment program in New York City taxis. In March 2012, the commission approved Square's application through the city's Taxicab Passenger Enhancements Program (TPEP) to test its taxi payment alternative. Square said it elected to discontinue the pilot, which involved approximately 15 vehicles, "in light of developments in prospective taxicab regulations in New York and other markets, and based on what we have learned from conducting the pilot program to date."

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As the push is underway to get all Social Security recipients in the United States on some form of digital disbursement by March 2013, the U.S. Department of the Treasury has turned its attention to Wisconsin. Senior citizens and others in Wisconsin are receiving nearly 62,000 benefit payments on paper checks monthly, the Treasury said. It is urging those Badger State residents to switch to direct deposit or the Treasury-recommended Direct Express Debit MasterCard prepaid card before the deadline.

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Police in Burlington, Wash., reported they suspect cyber thieves transferred approximately $400,000 out of a city account over a recent two-day period. The money allegedly went to a network of personal and business accounts across the United States.

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Security technology firm Gemalto NV collaborated with the Raiffeisen Banking Group Austria to launch what they call the world's first bio-sourced payment card. The first such card issued by Raiffeisen Bank is a Visa Inc.-branded, near field communication-enabled and Europay/MasterCard/Visa-compliant prepaid card. The body of the special edition prepaid card is comprised of renewable material derived from corn.

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In 2010, US Bank and Elavon Inc. filed a lawsuit with the Third District Court of Utah to collect data breach fines from Cisero's Ristorante Inc. The lawsuit is an attempt to recover more than $82,000 in penalties imposed on Cisero's after a 2008 card company investigation deduced data stolen from cards used at Cisero's resulted in $1.26 million in fraud losses. In a 2011 counterclaim, Cisero's argued that plaintiffs US Bank and Elavon – Cisero's acquiring bank and processor, respectively – owed it duties that were independent of the parties' merchant services agreement and that said duties were not fulfilled. It also argued that the contract was an unfair contract of adhesion. As a result, the merchant services contract is not enforceable, and Cisero's should not have to pay data breach fines sought by the plaintiffs, the counterclaim further stated.

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Following are research highlights from recently published payments industry reports. #h2First Data releases September SpendTrend First Data Corp.'s September 2012 SpendTrend monthly comparison of year-to-year, same-store consumer spending by payment type showed dollar volume in credit grew 2.3 percent; debit rose 8.9 percent; PIN debit was up 9.7 percent; closed-loop prepaid grew 6.4 percent; and check payment dollar volume declined 6.4 percent. For more information about First Data's monthly analysis, visit www.firstdata.com/infoanalytics . #h2Trends in Canadian payments Payment data collected by the Canadian Payments Association and published in the Examining Canadian Payment Methods and Trends report revealed that in 2011, cash remained the most widely used retail payment method, representing 46 percent of total volume.

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A mass transit open payment pilot on the East Coast is set to conclude Oct. 20, 2012. Cubic Transportation Systems Inc., developer of the PATCO Wave & Pay Anywhere Visa Prepaid Card, said October 20 is the last day commuters will be able to use the Wave & Pay card, any other near field communication- (NFC) enabled contactless bankcard, or a virtual card via a mobile wallet, to pay at Port Authority Transit Corp. parking terminals or for fares on PATCO's high-speed rail line that runs between Southern New Jersey and Philadelphia.

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Ken Paull, new Chief Executive Officer at mobile application and gateway services provider ROAM Data Inc., said in an interview after his September 2012 appointment that his mission is to focus the company on its flagship product, ROAMpay, a mobile POS system that competes with a solution developed by Square Inc.

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October is National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NCSAM). The theme for the ninth annual event is Our Shared Responsibility. The National Cyber Security Alliance, a public-private nonprofit organization working to promote cyber-security education, has a message for businesses and consumers this month: the Internet is a shared resource, and everyone has a responsibility to help protect it.

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A lost asset investigation and recovery firm believes it is only a matter of time until every U.S. state passes legislation that allows state governments to collect funds on unused gift cards. While retailers will ultimately lose out, as they will no longer be able to claim unused gift card balances as profit, consumers will be the ultimate winners, as they will be able to collect those balances from the state, according to UnclaimedMoneyDiscovery.com.

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A September 2012 conference call to discuss Global Payments Inc.'s first quarter 2013 earnings offered insight into the company's future and that of its ISOs and merchants. Global's first fiscal quarter ended Aug. 31, 2012. The discussion covered new partnerships, recent acquisitions and industry challenges.

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Retailers should know early in 2013 if the proposed preliminary settlement of retailer claims that Visa Inc. and MasterCard Worldwide interchange rates violate U.S. antitrust laws will be accepted by the Brooklyn Federal Court. So said Patrick Coughlin, one of the attorneys who negotiated the settlement on behalf of retailers, in an interview with The Green Sheet.

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The enforcement arm of the Federal Communications Commission proposed that prepaid calling card provider NobelTel LLC pay $5 million for marketing prepaid calling cards to consumers deceptively. The FCC said NobelTel's cards did not provide the calling minutes advertised and that fee disclosures lacked clarity.

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Well-funded mobile payments startup Square Inc. continued its expansion in a number of directions. In the first days of October 2012, Square acquired a New York-based web interface design company and unveiled a contest to encourage female university students to choose careers in technology. Additionally, a mall operator also headquartered in New York reported it had partnered with Square and had already entered a pilot program in California with the startup.

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Mobile security company TrustGo Mobile Inc.'s quarterly TrustGo Summer Mobile Mayhem Report revealed an upsurge in malicious and risky mobile application penetration globally during the second quarter of 2012. For the report, TrustGo scanned 1.7 million apps from 175 market regions, categorizing apps as certified (safe), malicious, high risk or low risk. TrustGo reported that among the world's estimated 700 million smart phone users, a majority of app downloads come from app marketplaces, stores and download websites based in the United States, Europe, China and Russia.

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As the U.S. Department of the Treasury pushes to get all Social Security recipients on some form of digital disbursement method by March 2013, a new scam involving Social Security payments and prepaid cards was disclosed at a congressional hearing. Fraudsters are reportedly obtaining the account details of Social Security recipients, including people who opt to have funds loaded on Direct Express prepaid cards, and then direct depositing payments to other bank accounts or onto other prepaid cards.

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Disruption in payments is so pervasive and compelling Visa Inc. and MasterCard Worldwide may lose their slots as the biggest players in payments in 10 years or less, The Members Group Vice President Brian Scott forecast in a TMG webinar Sept. 27, 2012.

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