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Transaction Trends Online |
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In the December 2009 Issue of Transaction Trends: 
- Sales Incentives That Work
- PCI’s Evolutionary Process
- Brave New World for Payments
- Special Series: Startup Stories, Part 2
- And much more...
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ETA Glossary Online |
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The ETA Encyclopedia of Terminology for the Acquiring Industry is now online! Need a good definition for P2P? Need to know what a Merchant Descriptor is? Our online glossary has the information and its been vetted by industry experts, so you can depend ion it. Give it a try! |
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Featured Articles
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Retail Sales Drop in August |
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The Associated Press reported today that sales at the nation’s retailers fell for the second month in a row.
The report cited a Commerce Department announcement September 12 that retail sales dropped by 0.3 percent in August, while economists were looking for sales to rise by 0.3 percent, and that revised July sales were off .5 percent, more than had been reported originally.
Economists are noting that rising unemployment, rising fuel prices and falling home pricesare making shoppers more cautious.
The numbers look worse when automotive purchases -- up in August -- are excluded. Non-auto retailers saw sales decline 0.7 percent, the worst showing since December 2007. Commerce sais sales fell at electronics and appliance stores, clothing shops, building and garden stores, and department stores. Gasoline sales also were off despite falling prices.
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EU to Allow Debit Interchange For Now |
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With European banks reeling from the credit crisis and other economic woes along with their US counterparts, the European Commission said last week it will relax its position on the issue of interchange bank fees and allow them on a "justified and temporary basis" to smooth the launch the EU's Single Europe Payments cross-border direct debit scheme scheduled to take effect in November 2009.
Despite insisting a year ago that so-called "Multilateral Interchange Fees" are a violation of EU competition regulations, the Commission announced that it would now allow them, although only on a limited basis.
"It may prove necessary to have a multilateral interchange fee for cross-border SEPA direct debits in the very initial stage," EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes said in a Sept. 4 statement. "But we will have to be convinced that these fees will be strictly limited in time and objectively justified--that they are, for example, not aimed at providing additional profits to banks."
Acknowledging that the launch of the SEPA bank debit plan for November of 2009 was in danger, European Central Bank Executive Board Member Gertrude Tumpel-Gugerell said that "a European solution has to be found by the banks which is also agreeable to the competition authorities." Tumpel-Gugerell continued," In this respect the idea of maintaining at national level the same interchange fee for national legacy and SEPA schemes during a limited transitional phase should facilitate the rolling out of the SEPA direct debit scheme."
"This would also ensure the necessary level playing-field in the national context for the SEPA direct debit scheme and the national legacy direct debit schemes," Tumpel-Gugerell added. " ... It would not be acceptable that bankers are not able to deliver the SEPA direct debits by November 2009." |
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Social Security Debit Card Launched |
The U.S. Treasury has announced that Social Security beneficiaries can now sign up to receive their benefits on a special debit card, rather than by check or direct deposit. While anyone receiving Social Security allocations can sign up for the card, it is being touted as a solution for the unbanked. According to the federal agency, nearly four million Social Security recipients do not have bank accounts, placing them at greater risk of check delivery delays due to poor weather, national or local emergencies, and other check related problems such as lost or stolen checks.
Information on the Direct Express Debit MasterCard will be mailed to Social Security recipients this month. There is no cost to sign up for the card and no monthly fee. Cardholders can make purchases and get cash back at no cost wherever Debit MasterCard is accepted. The Direct Express card can also be used to pay bills over the phone and Internet and to get cash at ATMs.
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Amex Tops List of Issuers |
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From the Reuters Wire Service: American Express Co ranked highest in consumer satisfaction among U.S. credit card issuers for the second straight year, according to a J.D. Power and Associates poll released on Wednesday, which cited its benefit and reward programs.
American Express, the fourth-largest U.S. credit card issuer, was followed in the rankings by Discover Financial Services.
Both American Express and Discover improved their performance from last year's survey and were the only two companies whose scores topped the industry average in the poll.
JPMorgan Chase & Co, Citigroup Inc and Bank of America Corp appeared in the fourth, seventh and ninth positions in the rankings, respectively, according to J.D. Power, a unit of McGraw-Hill Cos.
The poll, conducted in April and May, received responses from 7,665 credit card users. |
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Element Unveils Hosted Payments |
Element Payment Services, Inc. has launched Hosted Payments; a payment solution that removes software vendors from the scope of Payment Application Data Security Standards (PA-DSS) (PABP), by shifting the responsibility of handling sensitive cardholder data to Element. With Hosted Payments, the software vendor’s application is responsible for collecting all of the non-sensitive data needed to perform a payment transaction, while Element collects, stores, processes and transmits all sensitive cardholder data. Software vendors not only avoid the hassle and cost of achieving PA-DSS (PABP) compliance, but because the Hosted Payments solution is integrated with Element’s PCI DSS compliant Express Processing Platform, software providers, merchants and consumers receive the highest level of protection from cardholder data compromises. Sean Kramer, CEO of Element says, “Our innovative Hosted Payments solution offers software vendors an alternative to PA-DSS (PABP) compliance that alleviates their cost burden, reduces their risk, and enables them to give their customers a completely secure, reliable payment application.”
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Read more...
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Harkin, Snowe, Cardin Ask GAO to Investigate Interchange Fees |
U.S. Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee Members Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine), and Benjamin L. Cardin (D-Maryland) today requested that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) investigate the structure of credit card interchange fees, which are used to reimburse credit card companies for processing transactions, according to a release from the committee.
The Senators said they asked GAO to take a balanced look at whether fees are properly disclosed, how the fees are set, and the level of competition in the marketplace.
“This multi-billion dollar fee is blamed for higher grocery prices and credited for subsidizing popular cash-back and rewards cards,” Senator Harkin said. “A GAO study will help us to gather unbiased information on these fees so that we can help the average consumers who are in the middle of this tug of war. I trust the GAO to honestly and comprehensively study this issue and advise us on a fair way forward.”
“While the credit card companies assert that they are helping consumers purchase goods and services, merchants, many of which are small businesses, say the interchange fees charged are too high, not set competitively, and eat into already slim profit margins,” said Senator Snowe, Ranking Member of the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee. “To get to the bottom of this dispute, we’re asking GAO to look at the facts and assess whether credit card interchange fees are set in a transparent manner in accordance with market principles. I look forward to reviewing GAO’s recommendations to determine whether legislation is necessary to address this issue.”
“Interchange fees constitute significant surcharges which are passed on to Maryland businesses and consumers,” said Senator Cardin. “We need a balanced review to determine if merchants have appropriate bargaining power to negotiate fair and reasonable rates with companies like Visa and MasterCard, who control the majority of the market. Greater transparency, negotiation, and competition can only be of help to the credit and debit payment system.”
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