GSQ's for the Year 2007:
GSQ v10n1
A global view of payments: What's your plan?
Some folks may rail against it. Others might not have confronted the reality of the situation. But it's a fact: We live in a global economy. This is not just apparent on the macro level, but the individual consumer level as well. Even if you have no intention of taking your business beyond the United States, examining what drives globalization of retail electronic payments is a valuable exercise. Globalization is a fact of life, and retail payments are going global, just like every other industry. What's your plan for growing business in a global market? (pdf file is 4.47 Mb in size)
GSQ v10n2
Value-added products and services: It's all in the presentation
The ATM industry is large. According to Dove Consulting, a division of Hitachi Consulting, ATMs in the United States dispense a total of $600 billion a year, with an average surcharge of $1.77 per customer. However, after nearly a decade of gold-rush like growth, the domestic industry is mature and may have reached saturation. (pdf file is 4.22 Mb in size)
GSQ v10n3
Defend the Data
The payments business is rich in data. But data thieves and their cronies are proliferating. Between January 2005 and August 2007, nearly 160 million data record compromises of U.S. residents were disclosed, according to the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse.
And these breaches are costly. Companies that reported breaches in 2006 spent, on average, $1.4 million on remediation, according to the Government Accountability Office. Ensuring compliance with industry-accepted rules and standards for protecting customer data must be "job one" for acquirers and their agents.
(pdf file is 3.55 Mb in size)
GSQ v10n4
Play Ball
2007 Acquirers Report
In 2006, the majority of card transactions were acquired by companies that were either publicly owned or units of public companies. Not so today. For example, First Data Corp. is owned by the private equity investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., and BA Merchant Services spun off its ISO portfolio to GTCR Golder Rauner LLC, a private equity investment firm.
The acquiring business has grown tremendously in the past 25 years—in terms of sheer numbers as well as vertical markets. This GSQ takes a broad look at the acquiring business and includes metrics and profiles of some of the largest acquirers. It also explores changes in consumer payment preferences and acquirer business models.
(pdf file is 4.51 Mb in size)
GSQ LEADS ISOs IN RIGHT DIRECTION
ISOs/MLSs have a guide to steer them through these confusing times of ever changing technology, policies and procedures. Since February 1998, when the first issue of GSQ: The Payment Systems Authority was published, GSQ has served as a sales tool offering in-depth analyses of the financial services community.
A four-color, glossy trade publication for the payment systems industry, GSQ issues have covered POS equipment, Internet commerce, electronic check presentment, acquiring banks, rankings of bankcard merchant acquiring organizations, benchmarks throughout the industry and profiles on independent sales organizations.
Discussions are targeted to the ISO/MLS, focusing on the burgeoning sales opportunities open to sales professionals, while translating the techno-speak into the kind of sales-speak that you can use to advantage. Display advertising is available.