NEWS
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office granted data privacy solutions provider CSR a patent on Nov. 7, 2012, for its PCI ToolKit. This was in recognition of the innovative nature of the ToolKit's questionnaire and attestation method, according to CSR. The patent is U.S. Patent No. 8,296,244.
The PCI ToolKit is a web application designed to assist merchants of all sizes in complying with the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard (DSS).
Specifically, it helps with completion of the annually mandated Self-Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ) by eliminating "the need to decipher complicated and confusing rules, regulations and forms, helping payment processors generate revenues while managing portfolio compliance," according to CSR.
In a press release about the patent, CSR President Rick Heroux stated, "We are proud to achieve this milestone, and assure our clients, colleagues and future clients that they can have confidence in our expertise to provide what is, to our knowledge, the only PCI compliance solution that is patented."
CSR noted that it has other patents pending, including one for its CSR Breach Reporting ToolKit, which assists organizations in complying with data breach notification rules and regulations.
Discover Financial Services released an outline of its U.S. Europay/MasterCard/Visa (EMV) deployment strategy and road map on Nov. 12, 2012. In line with other card companies, Discover will institute a POS fraud liability shift on Oct. 1, 2015, for retailers and on Oct. 1, 2017, for automated fuel dispensers on its Discover PULSE networks.
In addition, the company said PULSE will require direct-connect merchants and payment processors to support EMV by Oct. 16, 2013.
"This Fraud Liability Shift will be a risk-based payments hierarchy that benefits the entity that leverages the highest level of available payments security," Discover said.
Discover will grant Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard audit waivers to merchants who process 75 percent of Discover Network transactions on terminals that support both contact and contactless payments starting in October 2013.
The company will begin to issue EMV-enabled cards gradually, with the first EMV-enabled cards going to frequent travelers.
Square Inc.'s mobile payment application, Square Wallet, was deployed in 7,000 Starbucks Co. coffee stores around the United States Nov. 8, 2012. Starbucks is still accepting payments through its own mobile application, which is used by its customers more than 2 million times a week, the company said.
Adam Brotman, Starbucks Chief Digital Officer, said his company is supporting the Square Wallet because it believes in "the values and vision of Square."
Customers wishing to use the mobile wallet will download the Square Wallet application to their mobile devices and set up accounts linking their debit or credit cards to Square Wallet.
To make a payment, customers open Square Wallet, tap 'pay here,' and scan the quick response code - a process similar to that of the Starbucks' mobile payments app, Starbucks said.
Assistant U.S. Attorney General Lisa Monaco, the head of the Justice Department's National Security Division, told the 2012 Cybercrime Conference in Seattle Oct. 31, 2012, that cyber attacks will soon be the number one threat to American security.
One recent attack involved approximately 3.6 million Social Security numbers stolen and 387,000 credit and debit card numbers exposed in a cyber attack on the South Carolina Department of Revenue. The department reported on Oct. 26, 2012, that approximately 16,000 of the cards exposed were not encrypted.
The state encouraged all those who had filed South Carolina tax returns since 1998 to determine if their information had been stolen. It is also providing at-risk cardholders with a year of credit monitoring and identity theft protection. State officials said no public funds were accessed or put at risk.
Investigators believe several attacks were made on the state's system but "to the best of the department's knowledge" the theft occurred in "mid-September." The breach was discovered Oct. 10, 2012, and the vulnerability was reportedly closed and secured 10 days later.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Mobile communication and payment services provider Apriva LLC reported that $2 billion worth of transactions were processed over its online gateway in the third quarter of 2012.
Altogether, Apriva's gateway has handled approximately $5.91 billion in transactions through the first three quarters of 2012, surpassing the $5.14 billion it processed during the same period last year, Apriva said.
City of Industry, Calif.-based ISO bankcard club eliminated its merchant cancellation fee, which allows merchants to switch or alter merchant accounts without being penalized. A merchant that is happy with an ISO's services will continue to do business with that ISO, bankcard club said; eliminating the cancellation fee is a way of being merchant friendly.
Payment software provider LightSpeed Retail Inc. said its CEO and founder, Dax Dasilva, was named Ernst & Young's Quebec Entrepreneur Of The Year in the Information Technology category.
Dasilva steered LightSpeed to tremendous growth in a short time and has the company poised for future development and growth, said an Ernst & Young managing partner.
ATM terminal manufacturer Diebold Inc. entered a pilot program with the Missoula Federal Credit Union for real-time, face-to-face interaction between tellers and consumers via ATMs.
Diebold Concierge Video Services enables the credit union to visually connect with members to answer questions, fulfill marketing opportunities and process any call center-capable transactions from the ATM, according to Diebold.
Pune, India-based third-party payment processor ElectraCard Services (P) Ltd. launched what it calls a prepackaged, functionally rich, high performance payment switch, known by ElectraCard as Payment in a Box. The company is making its processing technology available to financial institutions, ISOs, retailers and other financial service providers in India.
First Data Corp. joined the 100,000 Jobs Mission, a coalition of corporations committed to hiring 100,000 veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces who are transitioning back to civilian life. First Data said hiring talented military veterans gives the acquirer a competitive advantage in the marketplace.
EMV certification service provider ICC Solutions Ltd. joined the Smart Card Alliance's EMV Migration Forum. The forum supports the U.S. financial services industry's migration to the EMV chip and PIN standard in the United States. ICC Solutions has advised EMV migration forums in Canada and the U.K.
New York-based ISO Advance unveiled a residual cash advance (RCA) program to ISOs and merchant level salespeople. RCAs range from $5,000 to over $1 million, with 6- to 12-month terms, the ISO said.
PayPal Inc. reported that Sherpa, its voice-enabled personal assistant app for smart phones, was downloaded over 100,000 times in 14 days by smart phone users in Spain.
The PayPal app, which is still in beta test, became available for download at Google Inc.'s Google Play app store on Oct. 1, 2012. PayPal said Sherpa can play songs, send text messages, update a user's Facebook status and initiate money transfers via PayPal.
Process Pink Payments, the charitable donation service of Unified Payments LLC, is providing a free breast self-examination kit to merchants who sign up to offer the Process Pink payment option.
A percentage of transactions made at Process Pink participating merchants (and funded by Unified's back-end split of the transactions) are given to the National Breast Cancer Foundation Inc. to fight breast cancer. Livgeiger is providing the LIV - a heart-shaped medical device that women use to perform breast self-exams.
POS terminal manufacturer VeriFone Inc. advanced its international taxi services business by signing a contract with Glob Taxi Co. of Warsaw, Poland. VeriFone is providing Glob's fleet of approximately 500 vehicles with in-taxi payment systems.
VeriFone said it now provides in-taxi systems that accept mag stripe and contactless payments for 70,000 taxis in 17 countries, including Australia, Singapore, the U.K. and the United States.
Visa Inc. said 53 banks and credit unions so far had signed onto the card brand's digital wallet, V.me. The digital wallet allows the instant population of data fields for consumers shopping with bankcards online. "This will change the way tens of millions of people shop and pay by making online checkout simple and secure," Visa said.
Copenhagen, Denmark-based WalletBit launched the Point of Sale Mobile Checkout feature for its online and mobile wallets that support the Bitcoin alternative currency market. WalletBit said the new payment feature generates a quick response code used to transfer BitInstant's alternative currency, called Bitcoins, to other Bitcoin-supported virtual wallets.
YapStone International Ltd., the European business unit of YapStone LLC, said it will create 120 new jobs at its new headquarters in Drogheda, Co. Louth, Ireland. The advancement is supported by the Industrial Development Agency Ireland, which seeks to attract foreign companies and jobs to Ireland.
PARTNERSHIPS
E-commerce payment gateway Allied Wallet formed a strategic alliance with Dinpay, a payment platform provider based in mainland China, to combine advanced technologies in payment processing, security, multicurrency payment acceptance, digital electronic wallet solutions, prepaid card and other services for Chinese merchants who serve international customers.
Payment provider Elavon Inc. aligned with European mobile payment pioneer payleven to boost mobile debit and credit card acceptance across Europe.
As of November, payleven's free software app and card reader, including its new chip and PIN card reader, coupled with Elavon's end-to-end payment processing, had been deployed in five European nations.
Boston-based ISO Merchant Warehouse and Miami-based PrestaShop, an e-commerce solution that powers over 125,000 online merchants globally, formed an alliance to deliver cost-effective payment processing to online merchants. Merchant Warehouse payment processing will reportedly be one of the features available in PrestaShop v1.5.
Parkmobile USA Inc. app users who pay for parking from mobile devices can now select PayPal to pay for parking in 20 U.S. cities. Parking sessions are activated when mobile phone users pull into a Parkmobile-designated parking space, key in a parking zone number and opt to make a payment from a PayPal account.
Total System Services Inc. (TSYS) signed an agreement with Truaxis, a MasterCard Worldwide company, to offer a new service that will integrate cardholder spending patterns with a platform that delivers personalized rewards, offers and loyalty incentives to customers, the companies stated.
Global information and technology provider VSoft Corp. teamed with online and mobile payment company Payveris to leverage Payveris' modular bill pay platform with VSoft's CoreSoft browser-based core banking system to increase the speed and accuracy of processing payments, the companies reported.
ACQUISITIONS
Payment solutions provider Ingenico SA executed an agreement to acquire the POS terminal services of PT Integra Pratama, a leading player in the Indonesian market representing an installed base of approximately 500,000 POS terminals. Terms of the sale, which is subject to approval by local authorities, were not disclosed.
Capitalizing on the global mobile payment technology trend, European payment service provider Ogone SA/NV finalized the purchase of mobile payment pioneer Tunz.com. As part of the purchase, Ogone secured the electronic money license required to become an accredited institution for financial services within the European Union.
American Bancard LLC recently purchased Trilogy Payment Solutions. The Strawhecker Group advised Trilogy in the sale.
"We are thrilled with closing another transaction, and look forward to a successful integration of Trilogy onto our platform," said Sam Zietz, Chief Executive Officer at American Bancard. Terms of the sale were not disclosed.
Payment processor Vantiv Inc. signed an agreement to acquire e-commerce payment processor Litle & Co. for $361 million. The combined service offerings will reportedly leverage Vantiv's scale and distribution channels to provide businesses multichannel POS, e-commerce and direct response payment processing solutions.
APPOINTMENTS
Charles T. Fote, who retired as President and Chief Executive Officer of international payment processor First Data Corp. in 2005, is now a Senior Consultant at payment services provider China Payment and Remittance Service (ChinaPNR) in Shanghai. Fote is tasked with advising ChinaPNR on payment technologies and financial service models, as well as strategy and management.
Texas-based mobile payment platform company Mozido LLC named David Luther its Executive Vice President Global Business Development.
Luther previously served as the North American General Manager at payment software provider Distra Pty Ltd. At Mozido he will lead business development, exploit growth opportunities and oversee the company's sales organization.
RETAIL BRIEFS
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