NEWSThe House Committee on Financial Services recently voted to approve the Internet Gambling Regulation and Consumer Protection and Enforcement Act (H.R. 2267) legislation introduced by Committee Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass.
The legislation passed by a vote of 41 to 22 and is designed to regulate Internet gambling activity in the United States and ensure that operators implement safeguards to protect against underage and problem gambling. It contains several amendments, including a requirement for licensed operators to have customers choose their loss limits before being able to play online.
"With Congress bitterly divided and only a handful of bipartisan bills coming out of the Financial Services Committee, we're pleased committee members from both sides of the aisle were able to come together to advance this important legislation," Michael Waxman, spokesman for the Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative, stated in a release about the vote.
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas ordered notification to begin to payment cardholders who may be eligible for reimbursement of expenses relating to identity theft in the case known as In re Heartland Payment Systems Inc. Data Security Breach Litigation, Civil Action No. 4:09-MD-2046. The case arose from a suit against Heartland Payment Systems Inc. as a result of a criminal intrusion into Heartland's system in 2008.
The notices are part of a settlement given preliminary approval by the court. Cardholders who used their credit or debit cards between Dec. 26, 2007 and Dec. 31, 2008, and incurred eligible expenses related to identity theft as a result of the intrusion can submit claims. The deadline to claim benefits is Aug. 1, 2011. Heartland agreed to pay up to $2.4 million to fund the claims.
Notices will appear in newspapers and consumer magazines leading up to a hearing on Dec. 10, 2010, when the court will consider whether to grant final approval to the settlement. For more information, visit www.hpscardholdersettlement.com or call 1-877-271-1547.
The Smart Card Alliance endorsed the White House's National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace, which was developed by National Security staff. The framework outlined in the NSTIC policy limits its role to being an enabler and accelerator in the development of an Identity Ecosystem, according to the SCA.
The NSTIC document attributes the need for an Identity Ecosystem to the rising tide of identity theft, online fraud, the proliferation of user names and passwords, and the need to deliver online services more securely. The framework cites smart cards as a technology appropriate as an identity medium.
ANNOUNCEMENTSThe market share leader in high assurance SSL (secure sockets layer) certificates is Comodo with 22 percent, according to the company. Comodo recently completed a survey of 4 million certificates on domains worldwide. Comodo built a Web crawler that scans the Internet for SSL certificate data, and the company made the SSL market share information publicly available. To download a copy of the results, go to www.whichssl.com/ssl-market-share.html.
Visa Inc. awarded a Global Service Quality Performance Award to Fifth Third Processing Solutions for the 15th consecutive year. Fifth Third was distinguished for its lowest assured transaction rate in the issuer-processor category in 2009. The award recognizes the issuer with the best system availability for authorization requests.
ProfitStars, a division of Jack Henry and Associates Inc., initiated the ATM Online Knowledge Center to provide guidance on cost-effective ATM management. The center is designed to offer a means for any financial institution to better manage its ATM channels and track cash levels, monitor events and report performance from a centralized location.
ProPay Inc. made available on its website resources to educate merchants on data security, regulatory compliance and risk issues. The information includes a blog, newsletter and white papers. Expert contributors to the blog, posted at http://blog.propay.com, write on the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard (DSS), payment processing and legal issues. White papers are available at www.propaysecure.com.
PARTNERSHIPSAirdrie Savings Bank signed a five-year contract with Fidelity National Information Services Inc. for hosted debit card processing with the FIS Cortex card management system. The deployment will go live in the third quarter of 2010. ASB reported it has 60,000 customers at seven branches in Scotland.
Alpha Card Services Inc. will market ExaDigm Inc.'s XD 1000 dual-communications countertop payment terminal to merchants. Wireless connectivity can be added to the terminal.
CheckAlt, a division of Skyline's DirectFED Payment Solutions, signed global corporate legal firm Rimon Law Group as a client for its e-check transaction processing service. The firm is using CheckAlt to receive check payments electronically via the automated clearing house (ACH).
GlobalCollect will begin processing online card payments for U.K.-based Nymgo, a division of Splendor Telecom U.K. Ltd. Nymgo also plans to expand the partnership to include alternative payments for multiple currencies.
ISOs of Graphite Payments will begin reselling Harbortouch touchscreen POS equipment from United Bank Card Inc. as part of a partnership agreement. The agreement also covers electronic cash registers. In addition, Graphite ISOs will be eligible to participate in UBC's leads program.
Servant PC Resources Inc. integrated its Servant Keeper Church Management database software with Heartland Check Management, a product of Heartland. Servant Keeper is used by 22,000 organizations.
Jack Henry & Associates agreed to remarket applications from Intuit Inc. and Lodo Software Inc. The data-processing service provider will resell Intuit's FinanceWorks. Intuit is developing a single sign-on version for financial institutions using Jack Henry's NetTeller online banking platform. Lodo's OurCashFlow software, which is integrated with NetTeller, will be available from Jack Henry Oct. 1.
The National Lottery Authority of Ghana is installing 10,000 wireless terminals from Ingenico, which will have responsibility for field service of the terminals. The authority chose model EFT930G, which will be connected via general packet radio service.
San Francisco-based Patelco Credit Union integrated CashEdge Inc.'s Popmoney person-to-person (P2P) mobile electronic money transfer service for cell phones. Popmoney payments are made on the MShift Inc. mobile banking platform. The Popmoney name derives from the phrase "pay other people." It enables credit union members to send payments to any individual from mobile phones.
Transaction processing system vendors Samport Payment Services AB and Structab AB are supplying 1,600 Optimum M4100 EMV mobile payment terminals from Hypercom Corp. to Taxi Stockholm AB. With the payment terminal and Structab's taximeter, passengers can complete transactions themselves by choosing a language, adding optional gratuities, swiping cards and entering PINs.
Oklahoma-based Security BankCard Center Inc. said that with the assistance of SecurityMetrics, 94 percent of its clients achieved validation of compliance with the PCI DSS, and 100 percent are enrolled in its compliance program. SecurityMetrics and Security BankCard began the program in September 2008.
PayLink and vECR products from SoundPOS LLC were certified by USA ePay for its gateway. PayLink is designed to remove cardholder data from POS applications, while virtual electronic cash register software helps merchants manage retail businesses.
U.K.-based The Co-operative Food, a division of The Cooperative Group Ltd., and Barclaycard will roll out contactless payments at the grocery chain in 2011, beginning with a pilot at 100 stores. The program is being done in partnership with Visa.
TSYS Acquiring Solutions extended its contract with Sage Payment Solutions, the payment division of Sage North America. TSYS provides authorization, settlement and terminal services to Sage and its 155,000 merchants in North America.
In other company news, TSYS gave Class A certification to the Orion payment terminal from 4Access Communications Co. TSYS will now provide direct support to acquirers and merchants that use theterminals.
U.K.-based supermarket chain Waitrose went live with a POS retail payments infrastructure system from S1 Corp. The system is in use at Waitrose's 227 U.K. stores and consists of a central transaction switch, back-office software and an in-store payment component installed on 4,000 tills.
The way5000 mobile payments device from WAY Systems Inc. is now available as a fully supported option throughout the ISO network of Payment Alliance International. The device will enable the ISO to sell successfully into the growing mobile payments market, according to PAI.
APPOINTMENTSFlorida-based Charge Card Systems hired Wayne Crews as Sales Relationship Manager. He will focus on recruiting new sales partners and providing support for all agents in the CCS organization.
Steve Klebe joined BilltoMobile as Vice President of Business Development and Strategy. Previously, Klebe held senior management positions at Vindicia, VeriFone Inc. and CyberSource Corp.
Charge Anywhere LLC hired Rosie Machado as Sales Director to lead the company's distribution for ISO, processor and software-vendor channels in the Northeast region. Machado previously worked in business development for MBF Leasing LLC and First Funds LLC.
TSYS appointed former Bank of America Corp. executive Tim Munto as Group Executive, Sales and Client Relations. Munto had been Merchant Services' Sales Executive for BofA. He also had sales experience for National Processing Co., eFunds Corp. and Bank One Corp.
The Merchant Risk Council elected a new slate of board members. New global board directors include:
They join re-elected advisory board members Floris de Kort, Chief Commercial Officer for GlobalCollect; James Pierson, Trust and Safety Program Manager at Linden Lab; and Michael Petitti, Chief Marketing Officer for Trustwave.
Tom Sullivan, Senior Director, Global Payments & Risk at Expedia, was re-elected as MRC Board Chair. Pete Pouridis, Vice President, Loss Prevention, at Neiman Marcus Group, was re-elected Board Secretary. And Karl Hebert, Director at Big Fish Games, was re-elected to the post of Board Treasurer.
Earlier in 2010, the MRC expanded operations into Europe, created the European Advisory Board, hired Nicolas Vedrenne as Managing Director for Europe, and amended its bylaws to assure that a European-based merchant holds a seat as a global board director.
The MRC Global Board of Directors and the Americas Advisory Board will next convene at the Merchant Risk Council's semiannual Platinum Meeting and 10th Anniversary Celebration in Austin, Texas, Sept. 29 to Oct. 1, 2010.
Fleet One LLC made a series of promotions and new hires. Jeff Stuck was promoted to Channel Manager of Over the Road Alliances, and Jennifer Roney was promoted to Sales Manager. Recently joining the fleet-related payment solutions provider are Account Executives Montana Stewart, Michael Pearson, Keith Adkins, Jeannie Astorino, Candice Lambert, Jody Abeita and Lori Gleason.
Also joining Fleet One in sales and marketing are Tina Kimble, Grayson Walker, Robert Baumgardner and Josh Dawson. Trey Bland joined the channel and partner team. Vernon Calton, formerly General Manager of a trucking company, was hired to an unspecified position.
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