New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman filed suit April 23, 2012 accusing POS leasing firm Northern Leasing Systems Inc. and its affiliates of stealing between $3.6 million and $10 million from former customers. "These companies engaged in a series of deceptions to squeeze unauthorized fees out of their former customers up to a decade after their contracts expired," Schneiderman said.

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The Electronic Transactions Association, in conjunction with public relations firm Trevelino/Keller, conducted a merchant survey in February 2012 to measure awareness of the ETA and its Certified Payments Professional (CPP) program. The survey also asked merchants to rate certain attributes of their merchant service providers (MSPs). Preliminary findings from the survey, revealed during the ETA's April board meeting, suggest merchants are generally satisfied with their MSPs.

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Square Inc. founder and Chief Executive Officer Jack Dorsey told Charlie Rose, "Our aspirations are to carry every single transaction in the world." This was on the talk show host's Public Broadcasting System interview show April 25, 2012. Dorsey outlined for Rose his vision of where Square is headed both as a company and as a technology. He reported Square is now processing an annualized $5 billion through its payment system – up from $4 billion just one month ago.

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On April 11, 2012, the European Central Bank endorsed Recommendations for the Security of Internet Payments, a report created by the European Forum on the Security of Retail payments. The report contains recommendations for payment services providers. These include advice on best practices and key considerations for card payments on the Internet, registration of payment data in electronic wallets, Internet credit transfers, and direct debit mandates. Other recommendations target acquiring and issuing services and card payment governance authorities.

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Jason Oxman, former Senior Vice President of Industry Affairs for the Consumer Electronics Association, was named Chief Executive Officer of the Electronic Transactions Association on April 18, 2012. The appointment was disclosed at the ETA Annual Meeting & Convention in Las Vegas. Eddie Myers, ETA Board President as well as President and Chief Operating Officer of Payment Processing Inc., said. "We are thrilled that Jason Oxman will bring two decades of technology, policy and association experience, and strategic thinking to steer this great organization into the future.

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The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld a ruling from a lower court that the technical processes of Visa Inc., MasterCard Worldwide and American Express Co. that underscore Europay/MasterCard/Visa (EMV)-enabled contactless chip technology do not infringe on a SmartMetric Inc. patent. The April 11, 2012, ruling was met with approval by Visa and MasterCard.

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A conclusion reached by Chicago-based telephonic authorization technology firm Authentify Inc. may surprise payments industry security professionals. When Authentify analyzed the results of its 2012 Faces of Fraud Survey, the company found that only when banks supply consumers with fraud monitoring tools will data security reach its highest level of protection. The survey, which polls banks on the latest fraud trends and deterrence strategies, said 82 percent of fraud incidents reported to banks were originally detected by consumers.

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In a Krebs on Security blog post, Brian Krebs reported on a new fraud trend – cyber thieves turning to prepaid cards to launder the proceeds from identity fraud schemes. Krebs said the movement to prepaid cards arises out of a need for criminals to reduce their dependency on unreliable money mules.

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Following are research highlights from recently released payments industry reports. #h2Prolexic report finds FIs under DDoS onslought Internet security firm Prolexic Technologies said Distributed Denial of Service attacks against financial institutions (FIs) increased almost threefold in the first quarter of 2012. Prolexic also reported a 3,000 percent increase in malicious packet traffic.

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On April 17, the opening day of the Electronic Transactions Association 2012 Meeting & Expo in Las Vegas, The Strawhecker Group issued a report on card brand pricing. Changes to fees and the introduction of new fees on the part of Visa Inc. and MasterCard Worldwide are causing U.S. acquirers to "wrestle with potential modifications" to merchant pricing strategies, TSG noted.

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Users of Intuit Inc.'s TurboTax tax preparation software who elect to have refunds loaded onto general purpose reloadable (GPR) prepaid cards have experienced delays in receiving refunds. In a YouTube video directed at TurboTax users, a member of the TurboTax Refund Card Team acknowledged that Intuit was experiencing "challenges" in getting refunds loaded onto the cards and attributed the delays to increased tax fraud.

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The automated clearing house (ACH) system was used to deliver 20.2 billion transactions in 2011, an increase of 4.35 percent over 2010, according to statistics just released by NACHA the Electronic Payments Association. Altogether, financial institutions moved $33.91 trillion through the ACH last year, NACHA reported. NACHA said greater adoption of three specific types of transactions drove "the steady growth" of the ACH network in 2011.

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The Smart Card Alliance touted its new smart card payment certification program as the first of its kind. The Smart Card Alliance Certified Smart Card Industry Professional/Payments (CSCIP/P) credentialed course and exam will be offered in May at the NFC Solutions Summit 2012 in San Francisco. Randy Vanderhoof, Smart Card Alliance Executive Director, said the CSCIP/P credential will "fill a noticeable gap in education and information" around smart card technologies, such as Europay/MasterCard/Visa (EMV) and near field communication (NFC).

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Intuit Inc. and Morgan Stanley Global Private Equity are in the spotlight, each having made significant acquisitions in the payments sphere #h2Intuit buys AisleBuyer Business software firm Intuit purchased AisleBuyer LLC, the manufacturer of a mobile shopping application. AisleBuyer technology allows shoppers to scan bar codes from smart devices to redeem coupons, see product reviews, check and compare prices, and purchase items without waiting in a checkout line.

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An open payment pilot for mass transit entered stage two on the East Coast. Cubic Transportation Systems Inc., developer of the PATCO Wave & Pay ANYWHERE Visa Prepaid Card, said Port Authority Transit Corp. (PATCO) mass transit riders will be able to use near field communication-enabled contactless payment cards, or a virtual card via a mobile wallet, to pay for fares at gates and parking terminals. PATCO operates the high-speed rail line between Southern New Jersey and Philadelphia.

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All consumer and financial institution suits brought against Heartland Payment Systems Inc. are now finished. In March 2012, Federal District Judge Lee Rosenthal of the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division, approved a consumer settlement brought in the wake of the theft of 130 million debit and credit card numbers from Heartland. The theft was first reported in January 2009. Now the judge has dismissed all claims brought by financial institutions against Heartland Suits brought against Heartland were divided into two tracks: consumer litigation and financial institution litigation.

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Results of International Research Foundation research prove the effectiveness of non-cash reward and recognition programs to substantially increase business' bottom lines. Companies that implement reward programs, such as those tied to prepaid cards, can realize an average revenue increase of 9.6 percent, while companies that don't have reward programs see only 3 percent growth, the IRF found.

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On April 2, 2012, eBay Inc. appointed David Marcus, formerly Vice President of Mobile for its payments subsidiary PayPal Inc., to succeed Scott Thompson as President of PayPal. Thompson left PayPal in January 2012 to take over as the new Chief Executive Officer at Yahoo! Inc.

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In an April 3, 2012, conference call, Global Payments Inc. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Paul Garcia said the recent data breach of Global's payment network has put the processor in a "Catch 22" with the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard (DSS). By being breached, the processor was deemed not compliant with the PCI DSS, even though Global was officially compliant before the breach, he said. The breach was disclosed March 30, 2012, and reportedly involved the compromise of 1.5 million North American accounts. Garcia said Global received a report of compliance prior to the breach. But Visa Inc. stripped away Global's PCI DSS compliant designation following the breach. "[I]t's a little like a Joseph Heller novel Catch 22," Garcia said. "You are compliant prior, [but] if something happens, by definition you are no longer."

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A divergence of opinion shook through the first few hours of the Strategic Solutions Network's Mobile Contactless Payment Innovations Summit in San Francisco April 4, 2012, the way an earthquake shakes a building. The building in this case is the push to near field communication (NFC) technology towering over the payments industry. The earthquake is rapidly accumulating and disruptive mass of old, new and yet-to-come payment technology that offers advantages NFC doesn't while avoiding NFC problems. NFC technology uses a radio frequency embedded in a payment tool, most often a card or a smart device such as a phone or tablet, to send a signal to a receiver in the POS device.

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Competition in the prepaid card industry is forcing down fees on prepaid cards, according to Consumer Reports. The analysis of 16 different general purpose reloadable (GPR) prepaid cards showed that seven of the card programs did not charge activation fees at all, including cards managed by NetSpend Holdings Inc. and the Western Union Co. However, the report faulted businesses for not always offering fee disclosures upfront.

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As a consequence of a New Jersey law that allows the state to seize funds from unused gift cards, American Express Co. removed all of its network-branded gift cards from the J-hooks and shelves of retailers in the Garden State. AmEx said it took the unprecedented step because it could not comply with the law's ZIP code collection mandate, where retailers have to collect the ZIP codes of customers who purchase AmEx-branded gift cards at the POS. New Jersey is using the ZIP code collection requirement as a way to establish the basis for staking a claim to money that lies dormant on unused gift cards purchased in New Jersey.

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As a consequence of a New Jersey law that allows the state to seize funds from unused gift cards, American Express Co. removed all of its network-branded gift cards from the J-hooks and displays of retailers in the Garden State. AmEx said it took the unprecedented step because it could not comply with the law's ZIP code collection mandate, where retailers have to collect the ZIP codes of customers who purchase AmEx-branded gift cards at the POS.

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Total Systems Services Inc. (TSYS) was named by business think tank Ethisphere Institute as among the 2012 World's Most Ethical Companies. The recognition came at a dinner in New York City, March 15, 2012. TSYS was honored for starting and nurturing progressive and conscientious business practices and initiatives.

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