he Green Sheet had the pleasure of being invited to attend Secure Payment Systems' (SPS) annual ISO conference held in Las Vegas in August 2004, joining at least 70 ISO management personnel for a briefing by SPS on its new product initiatives.

Needless to say, the number of new services being rolled out and the continuing expansion of the breadth of this company's payment offerings impressed us.

Additionally, all of SPS' major industry suppliers were present, which enabled attendees to see and hear from resource vendors including VeriFone Inc., Hypercom Corp., Ingenico, Lipman, RDM Corp., MagTek, Systech Corp. and GO Software, among others.

In the past, we have reported on the highly competitive SPS host system processing capabilities in check authorization, guarantee, conversion, stored value processing and Automated Clearing House (ACH) file transfers.

Now, SPS has rolled out three new services including a Web-based recurring debit platform; a stored value processing enhancement that now has a "one card does it all" integrated gift and loyalty card capability; and an exciting PIN-based payroll/point-of-sale (POS) debit card.

With these product and service offerings, SPS extends the payments envelope and displays versatility and a broad based range of skill sets not often seen in the payments space.

But what particularly interested us is the enCASH Access Card, the SPS proprietary PIN-based ATM and POS debit card aimed squarely at automating the electronic transfer and distribution of financial benefits of any type.

Moreover, as a payment vehicle, consumers can use the card for domestic and international card-to-card electronic funds transfers in lieu of traditional Western Union wire transfers.

SPS tackles the challenge of the expanding payroll debit card market, the large un-banked population and increasing employer requirements for paperless payroll.

Based on access to virtually all ATM and debit networks, cardholders have access to millions of ATMs and PIN-based points of opportunity spanning the globe.

The payroll card market has evolved over the last year as a "must have" in the arsenal of products and services deployed by sales agents nationwide.

Employers offer payroll cards to un-banked, non-direct deposit employees, independent contractors and short-term/temporary hires to replace the traditional paper-based paycheck.

The card can also be used as a financial vehicle to load compensation or financial benefits of any type, including but not limited to payday advances, expense reimbursements, travel advances and commission payments.

Cardholders do not need a "bank" financial account and all cardholder funds are FDIC insured.

The enCASH Access Card saves employers time and money and provides employees and independent contractors with a flexible, cost-effective method for getting paid; they don't have to go to a check cashing establishment that might charge up to 3% as a service fee.

Through an SPS proprietary URL, www.encash.com, SPS also provides a feature rich, secure, Web-based electronic platform for performing online lookup of ATM and POS debit transactions in addition to showing load and balance transfer history.

Cardholders can directly manage personal PIN data, set and modify parameters on other accounts, view transaction history, order more cards, set "velocity" limits on additional card balances that are tied to the "master" account, and even load (and schedule) value increases tied either to a credit card or ACH debit.

The card comes delivered in a prepackaged, scratch-off PIN card carrier with all fees, terms and conditions clearly spelled out in English and Spanish.

The primary card or any additional cards tied to the main account can be mailed anywhere in the world for use by family and friends in the ATM networks of those countries.

What makes this even more impressive? For cardholders not having access to the Internet, SPS provides a fully functional integrated voice response (IVR) system to allow password-controlled functionality to access the same features available on the Web.

Employers can have their business names and even employee names thermally imprinted on the card. Employers load payroll onto the cards by either (a) passing a payroll data file to the SPS enCASH processing center or (b) loading the payroll data via a secure Web interface.

In either instance, SPS will debit the employer (or the employer will ACH credit SPS) for the payroll two business days in advance of creating good funds for the employees.

As an extra feature, employees may also view online pay stub/tax withholding information via the online Web interface.

Much like a prepaid phone card, the enCASH Access Card is also marketed to retail establishments nationwide where consumers may purchase and have cards activated in real-time.

This is done through a financial loading process that arises from the buyer paying with cash, a credit card or even a payroll check encashment. As a result, this is not simply a benefit program marketed to corporate employers.

SPS' Chief Executive Officer and President Linden Fellerman also affirmed that for certain partners of the right size (either bank, acquirer or ISO), SPS will provide a soup-to-nuts private label program, both for the card as well as the Web site.

So what do we think? We think SPS continues to hit the nail on the head.

For more information on ISO/MLS opportunities with SPS, contact Steve Eazell, SPS Director of National Sales and Marketing by phone at 866-300-3376 or by e-mail at seazell@securepaymentsystems.com .