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FEATURED ARTICLES
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Check Volume Continues to Fall |
Check volume continues to fall, but checks aren't going away any time soon, thanks to the continued challenges in making and receiving electronic business-to-business (B2B) payments.
New research from TowerGroup finds that B2B payments remain the last bastion of checks - making up nearly 60 percent of US check dollar value. These persistent challenges in making and receiving B2B electronic payments are a main reason why average US check values are increasing faster than any other payment type, even as the numbers of checks themselves decline.
TowerGroup expects check volumes to decline to 17.9 billion transactions by the end of 2009 as consumers, businesses, and government entities increasingly make and accept electronic payments. However, TowerGroup believes that checks will remain an important and increasingly high-value part of the US payments landscape until all potential payees are willing and able to receive electronic payments - and until checks become too expensive for banks to process on a regular basis, as shrinking volumes drive up per-unit processing costs. TowerGroup's new research is based on its own the findings as well as those from the 2007 Federal Reserve Payments Study.
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House Passes Merchant Reporting; Senate Likely to Follow |
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The American Housing Rescue and Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008 (H.R.3221), containing merchant card information reporting requirements opposed by ETA and other payment organizations, passed the U.S. House by a vote of 272-152 yesterday.
The bill will require merchant acquiring entities and third party settlement organizations to report the name, address, TIN, and gross amount of reportable payment transactions of each payee once a year. Third party settlement organizations are required to report only if the value of transactions exceeds $20,000 and the total number of transactions is more than 200 per year.
If, as expected, the bill clears the Senate and is signed by President Bush, it will take effect December 31, 2010. The Secretary of the Treasury will develop regulations to implement this provision.
Senate passage could come as early as today, and despite previous veto threats, President Bush indicated yesterday that he will sign the bill into law.
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Merchants Like Banks But Want Funding Backup |
The results of a recent survey of small business owners reveals a desire for banks to offer other options when a loan application is denied. The Spring/Summer 2008 edition of the Capital Access Network (CAN) Small Business Barometer uncovered that 87 percent of rejected small business loan applicants were not offered any alternative by their bank after they were denied a traditional lending product. However, 69 percent said they would consider an alternative offered by their bank, highlighting an opportunity for banks to satisfy customer need by providing other funding options and ideas.
An overwhelming 87 percent of small businesses surveyed indicated that it is important to have access to a readily available and predictable source of capital, a reflection of today’s credit conditions. These results indicate that banks may have a compelling marketing opportunity to provide additional value, secure customer loyalty and responsibly meet demands for working capital even as credit conditions tighten. The survey was conducted online; respondents consisted of 276 small business operators who accept credit cards as a form of payment in their business.
Read the full survey here.
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VISA Rescinds Debit Card Rule in the Face of Antitrust Inquiry |
Visa Inc. has rescinded a rule that required merchants to treat Visa-branded debit cards differently when used as a PIN-debit card (and processed via non-Visa networks) from the same cards when used as signature debit cards and processed on the Visa network. The change came apparently in responsoe to an antitrust probe.
The U.S. Justice Department said it had been investigating whether the rule adversely affected competition in the debit card industry by restricting certain PIN debit transactions, particularly small-value and Internet transactions, and by potentially interfering with the introduction of new types of PIN debit services.
The Department’s Antitrust Division will close its investigation now that Visa has rescinded its operating regulation and adopted new regulations that should eliminate any potential for competitive harm. The Department had opened its investigation to examine whether Visa’s operating regulation had the potential to reduce competition between Visa and the PIN debit networks. The Department had not completed its investigation when Visa proposed eliminating the rules under investigation. The Department coordinated its investigation with the attorneys general of the District of Columbia, New York and Ohio, who conducted parallel investigations.
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Mastercard Settles Amex Suit |
MasterCard Inc.has agreed to pay as much as $1.8 billion to settle a complaint that it blocked banks from issuing American Express cards.
The agreement will cost MasterCard about $1 billion over three years after taxes, the Purchase, New York-based company said today in a statement. American Express said the payments will act as a cushion against borrower defaults, which are likely to be more than expected.
American Express sued larger competitors MasterCard and Visa Inc. in November 2004 after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled they violated antitrust laws by preventing member banks from offering rival cards.
Last year, Visa settled its case with AmEx for $2.25 billion, and both Visa and Mastercard still face a 2004 suit by Discover, which reportedly seeks a combined $6 billion from the card companies.
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ETA Glossary Online |
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