NEWSThe Smart Card Alliance will hold its first international Certified Smart Card Industry Professional preparation course and exam at the CARTES & Identification event in Paris. The course will take place on Dec. 6, 2010, followed by the exam on Dec. 9. CSCIP denotes professionals with advanced levels of industry knowledge and experience who have passed the multipart exam.
"CSCIP is a strong credential for any individuals or organizations to have to set themselves apart as industry experts," stated Randy Vanderhoof, Executive Director of the Smart Card Alliance.
Course content has been updated on international standards and global implementations. The training includes nine topics, including the following usage models: identity and security; payments and financial transactions; and mobile, near field communication (NFC) and pay TV. For more information, visit www.smartcardalliance.org/pages/activities-leap.
NACHA - The Electronic Payments Association, the Association for Financial Professionals, and the American Payroll Association formed the Electronic Payroll Coalition to promote the adoption of electronic payroll technology. The coalition will trumpet the benefits of using both direct deposit and payroll cards.
NACHA President and Chief Executive Officer Janet O. Estep stated, "Quite simply, electronic payroll is the safe, smart and green way to be paid, providing efficiencies for both the employer and the employee."
Payment card spending grew 7.6 percent in dollar volume, year over year, for September 2010, according to First Data Corp.'s SpendTrend analysis. September transaction growth was 9.2 percent above the level for September 2009. Merchants lowered prices to generate sales, SpendTrend noted. The data includes credit, debit and electronic benefits transfer card use at U.S. retailers.
Visa Inc. recently opened its payment network, VisaNet, to independent developers via its Authorize.Net Developer Center.
"An enhanced Authorize.Net Developer Center pro-vides a complete platform, tools and community for independent developers and is built on the existing solution platform from Authorize.net, which Visa acquired as part of the purchase of CyberSource earlier this year," Visa revealed in a written statement. "The combination of developer ideas and Developer Center tools will result in the rapid development of innovations that will improve the payment experience for cardholders and deliver more efficiency and profitability for developers, merchants and financial institutions." Located at http://developer.authorize.net, the center is free to all developers.
ANNOUNCEMENTSPayment systems provider ACI Worldwide Inc. marked its 35th anniversary. The company has 750 customers in nearly 100 countries. Additionally, the company merged ACI Soluciones, its joint venture with processor 4B, into ACI's Spanish operations.
CardinalCommerce Corp. received a patent from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for its Centralized Identity Authentication for Electronic Communications Networks. It is CardinalCommerce's seventh patent and reportedly protects the company's methods and technologies related to secure informational and transactional exchange using authentication. The company submitted the application in 2000.
The Italian card association Consorzio Bancomat certified the Optimum T4200 payment terminal from Hypercom Corp. Hypercom complied with the association's new EMV CB 2 standard. The association represents Italy's banks.
Technology consultancy Frost & Sullivan awarded the 2010 Growth Leadership of the Year Award for managed security services providers to Trustwave. The award recognizes success in sustaining growth within its market by increasing sales and profitability.
Protegrity Corp., a data security software developer, joined the PCI Security Standards Council. Protegrity's software performs end-to-end encryption, tokenization and monitoring.
Nathan Reis, owner and CEO of ISO The Program LLC, which does business as Entrust Bankcard, won a contest held by United Bank Card Inc. Sales partners of UBC were eligible to win the $1 million prize by submitting eligible deals. The winner was randomly selected by an independent auditing firm.
PARTNERSHIPSAllpoint Network, an affiliate of Cardtronics Inc., partnered with Customers Ltd. to expand the Allpoint ATM network by 5,000 locations in Australia. With the agreement, Allpoint provides access to 40,000 ATMs across the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia.
Cambridge Trust Co. adopted an online payment network from Secure Vault Payments. Developed by NACHA, SVP provides merchants with real-time authorization of automated clearing house transactions.
CardinalCommerce is supplying e-commerce PIN debit services to issuer clients of the Shazam debit network. Internet-based PIN debit transactions take place through the Cardinal Centinel Universal Merchant Platform.
Payment gateway eProcessing Network LLC developed an Apple Inc.-friendly software application that works with the iDynamo card reader from MagTek.
The EPNMobile app operates on iPhone, iPod and iPad devices in conjunction with the card reader to secure card-present transactions for mobile merchants.
ISO Failsafe Payments N.A. adopted Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard (DSS) compliance services from SecurityMetrics Inc. The data security provider assists Failsafe merchants with self-assessment questionnaires and other requirements.
Fairwinds Credit Union of Orlando, Fla., named First Data Corp.'s STAR network its preferred provider of PIN debit POS and ATM access, with First Data providing the card processing.
Three major retailers renewed multiyear processing contracts with Fifth Third Processing Solutions LLC. The retailers include Wendy's/Arby's Group Inc., Beall's Inc. and Luby's Inc.
ISO Greenwise Bankcard LLC implemented POS signature capture devices from ID TECH for Greenwise's Green Receipt and DonateWiseNow programs. The devices are expected to lower the program-entry barriers for small to midsize merchants.
The Independent Organization of Little Caesars Franchisees endorsed Heartland Payment Systems Inc. as its provider of card processing and payroll services. The organization comprises 900 restaurant locations in the United States.
Lighthouse Software Development Inc. now utilizes SecureConnect vulnerability scanning services from BHI Advanced Internet Inc. The scanning services for PCI vulnerabilities are available to clients of Lighthouse, which provides software services to the payments industry.
Payment Processing Inc. integrated its PayMover hosted payments platform with the Mobile X POS system from New West Technologies Inc. for payment processing on handheld devices. The Mobile X received validation to the Payment Application (PA) DSS.
The TransNet payment engine from Precidia Technologies Inc. was integrated with the Crystal Point restaurant POS system from Prime Dine Systems. The TransNet software provides PA DSS-validated payment processing.
Sage Payment Solutions teamed with Ingenico S.A. to market an integrated payment product for small and midsize businesses. Sage customers may use Ingenico's card terminals with Sage Exchange - a PA DSS-compliant payment platform.
Two institutions became clients of Trustwave. Illinois State University is using Trustwave to secure its information technology (IT) labs, giving IT faculty and students access to production-level technology. Also, Euroline, the card acquiring unit of SEB Kort AB, partnered with the security service provider to help its Level 3 and 4 merchants comply with the PCI DSS.
U.S. Foodservice Inc. chose an integrated payment system and CardVault tokenization service from 3Delta Systems Inc. to safeguard credit card data. The company distributes food to 250,000 customers.
Atlanta Checker Cab Co. Inc. began installing passenger-activated MX 870 payment terminals from VeriFone Inc. The 200-vehicle fleet reportedly is the first to employ an integrated payment and information system that enables passengers to watch streaming media as well as swipe bankcards to pay for cab rides.
VeriFone also plans to integrate PayPal Inc. payment acceptance with VeriFone's PAYware Mobile card encryption sleeve for the iPhone. The move expands PayPal acceptance in mobile applications. After integration, VeriFone will promote PayPal and its Bump technology to the VeriFone reseller channel. And PayPal will market VeriFone's PAYware Mobile to its users. Bump enables iPhone users to touch phones together to transfer money between them.
ViVOtech partnered with Bell ID to provide trusted service manager (TSM) mobile applications for NFC handsets. Bell ID markets card-lifecycle and key management systems. The partnership enables third-party processors and financial institutions to implement NFC TSM systems. In other ViVOtech news, United Arab Emirates-based Teletech Middle East will deploy a TSM and over-the-air provisioning platform from ViVOtech Inc. together with ViVOtech's NFC mobile payment wallet software. The technology enables Teletech to provide an NFC add-on mobile payment service for the Middle East that allows cardholders to download credit, debit and prepaid cards over the air to smart phones.
ACQUISITIONSCredit data supplier Equifax Inc. acquired Anakam Inc., a developer of multifactor authentication software. The merger enables Equifax to provide an integrated, cloud-based platform for two-factor identification.
Anakam was founded in 2004 and was recently recognized by Inc. magazine as one of the fastest-growing private companies in the United States.
Fidelity National Information Services Inc. (FIS) agreed to buy global technology consulting firm Capco, the trade name of The Capital Markets Co. NV.
Capco is focused solely on the financial services industry. FIS will pay $290 million in cash. The deal is expected to close by the end of 2010.
APPOINTMENTSCredit Cash LLC appointed Stephen J. Boutte Senior Credit Manager. Boutte previously held managerial roles at EVO Merchant Services Inc., Cynergy Data LLC, Swipe Payment Solutions LLC and First Data.
Merchant Cash & Capital LLC appointed four managers to positions of Vice President. Receiving promotions were Zachary Chasin, Underwriting; Rory Crawford, Risk; Nick Gregory, Operations; and Seth Broman, Business Development.
JR's POS Depot named Tom Foley Director of National Sales. Foley previously worked at Thales, Hypercom and Way Systems Inc.
David Foss, President of the ProfitStars division of Jack Henry & Associates Inc., was elected President of the Association for Financial Technology at the organization's annual meeting in September 2010. Foss has been a member of the AFT board for three years.
Fleet One LLC added two executives to its management team. Matt Lattin was named Vice President of Product Management. Previously, he had been Vice President at Voyager Fleet Systems Inc. Laila Sotoodeh joined the company as Corporate Recruiter. She had been Senior Recruiter with Kingery & Associates.
Mark C. Monaco joined iPayment Inc. as Chief Financial Officer. Most recently, Monaco was Head of Principal Investments at Brooklyn NY Holdings LLC.
Ingenico appointed Matthias Schulz Chief Technology Officer and member of the Management Board.
Schulz had been Chief Information Officer at Ingenico's easycash unit.
Merchant service provider UK NxGen Payment Services promoted Joseph Swenson to CIO. He joined the company in 2004 and was promoted in 2007 to Vice President of IT.
Electronic Payment Exchange hired Karl A. Towns as Executive Vice President. A former bank president and CEO, Towns will direct EPX's banking alliance strategy.
BOTTOM LINESThe Green Sheet Inc. is now a proud affiliate of Bankcard Life, a premier community that provides industry-leading training and resources for payment professionals. Click here for more information.
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