The Casino of the Payments Marketplace

PayX News
| September 20, 2012
| Newsletter
| No Comments
| Acquisitions, consolidation, Discover, Google, MasterCard, mobile, payments, PayPal

The Payments marketplace continues to consolidate with acquisitions and strategic partnerships, and at the same time attract masses of new innovative players with the next “silver bullet” solutions/models.

With low Interest Rates around the world making money cheap, so rising investments are plentiful. This month’s acquisitions include the acquisition of Distra by ACI and the acquisition of Luottokunta, Finland by Nets, each respectively absorbing another vendor and another country in their space, a “eat or be eaten” trend showing no sign of abating. Partnerships continue to grow momentum too with Discover, MasterCard, Google Wallet and PayPal active in this arena.

For everyone in the marketplace, choosing vendors, partners, and even customers, is a critically important activity. This extreme market volatility is quickly rising to be the number one concern in selection, as few can be sure the company they sign with today will be the same one next year; a major dilemma for multi-year initiatives. It appears now is the time to either spread bets wide or choose very carefully using new levels of due diligence (due diligence becoming a common PayX service nowadays). Both strategies need constant strong leadership and execution focus to achieve results, or else all is busy but getting lost in the noise.

Autumn is one of the best times of the year for action; we look forward to continuing our analysis and reporting our insights to you in the coming months.

Industry News
Company Announcements

First Data, Accenture and VocaLink team up to offer solution for real-time payments in Australia

SYDNEY, 11 September 2012 – First Data Corporation, a global leader in electronic commerce and payment processing, today announced the signing of an exclusive teaming agreement with Accenture and VocaLink to introduce a technical solution for Immediate Payments in Australia.

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U.S. telco mobile payments venture Isis to delay launch again – Reuters

NEW YORK, 13 September 2012 – (Reuters) – Isis, a venture of three big U.S. mobile providers, is delaying the launch of its mobile payments service for the second time this year, an executive for the company said on Thursday.

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Visa and PayPal Reign Over Budding Mobile Wallet Industry

San Francisco, 10 September 2012 – A new report from Javelin Strategy & Research defines the mobile wallet industry in its initial stages, with many players like Apple IPhone5 and others entering the field, jostling to grab early market leadership, and technologies to increase use and adoption.

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Discover Brings Google Wallet to Its Cardmembers

RIVERWOODS, Ill.16 August 2012 – Discover announced today that it is partnering with Google to allow cardmembers to save their credit card directly into Google Wallet by logging into the online Account Center at discover.com/googlewallet.

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Google Wallet terminates Prepaid Card Program

Since we recently launched the ability to use any debit or credit card in Google Wallet, we are going to discontinue the Google Prepaid Card soon.

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Barclaycard US Supports Google Wallet

WILMINGTON, Del., 13 September 2012 – Barclaycard US will promote mobile and online commerce by encouraging its cardholders in the U.S. to save their card to Google Wallet which enables consumers to securely and easily shop online where they see the ‘Google Wallet Buy’ button or in-person using the Google Wallet mobile app.

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PayPal Teams with Discover to Bring PayPal to Millions of In-Store Locations Across the U.S. Starting in 2013!

22 August 2012 – I’m very excited to share the news today that PayPal and Discover are teaming up to bring the convenience, security and functionality of PayPal to millions of participating in-store locations starting in 2013.

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Are global traveller’s driving the business case for EMV?

18 September 2012 – Visa Inc. and MasterCard recently announced plans to accelerate chip migration in the United States by 2015; long overdue some may say. This includes the initial approach of migrating the payment infrastructure over to accept EMV® and NFC technology (contactless).

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Visa to Launch Encryption Service to Help Protect Sensitive Cardholder Data and Improve Merchant Security

SAN FRANCISCO, 21 August 2012 – Visa Inc. today announced a new service, Visa Merchant Data Secure with Point-to-Point Encryption, to help acquirers and their merchants protect payment card data. Visa will make the service available to acquirers and their merchants by early 2013. Visa is currently working with acquirers, processors and payment technology vendors to provide specifications for integrating Visa’s solution into payment terminals as well as into all critical systems across the payment processing industry.

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NRF Authorized to Go to Court to Block Swipe Interchange Fee Lawsuit Settlement

WASHINGTON, 11 September 2012 – The National Retail Federation today announced that its Board of Directors has authorized the Federation to go to court to block the proposed $7.25 billion settlement of a federal antitrust lawsuit over skyrocketing Visa and MasterCard credit card swipe fees that cost consumers hundreds of dollars a year.

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MasterCard Extends U.S. EMV Migration Roadmap to ATM Channel

PURCHASE, N.Y., 10 September 2012 – MasterCard today announced the expansion of its U.S. electronic payments roadmap to include the ATM channel. Beginning in October 2016, a liability shift hierarchy will be introduced for ATM transactions in the U.S., as part of an effort to globally align the use of EMV technology to prevent and manage fraud in the payments ecosystem.

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The Paypers Interview with Neira Jones, Barclaycard: “The internet does not wait for your CEO to respond”

3 September 2012 – The Paypers exclusive interview with Neira Jones, Head of Payment Security at Barclaycard. Barclaycard Payment Acceptance is one of Europe’s largest acquirers and processors of card transactions, with over 45 years’ experience and more than 105,000 retailer and business relationships.

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EMVCo and NFC Forum Announce Collaboration to Optimize NFC Testing Processes

5 September 2012 – EMVCo and the NFC Forum have agreed to work together to optimize the development and testing processes of Near Field Communication (NFC)-enabled mobile devices for vendors, through exploring alignment of the two organizations’ specifications, and cross-recognition of test results.