Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Visa, NeuStar Team on Mobile Payments

Visa, NeuStar Team on Mobile Payments and Financial Services - PC World

Visa and NeuStar have joined forces and formed an alliance that it hopes will help accelerate the adoption of mobile financial services globally, they said on Tuesday.

Those services may include mobile remote payments for services such as bill payment and top-up for wireless airtime minutes, mobile transaction alerts and mobile money transfers, according to a statement.

Credit-card giant Visa comes to the table with its global payment network. NeuStar, a Virginia-based provider of services to telecom carriers, will serve as a neutral intermediary between mobile operators and other involved companies, and simplify the transfer of data between them.

Visa also announced what it calls the first mobile payment service in Latin America. Pago Móvil con Visa allows Peruvian holders of cards issued by Banco de Crédito, Interbank, BBVA Continental or Scotiabank to pay for products and services over the wireless network.

Both announcements were made at the Mobile Money Summit, which takes place in Barcelona this week and is organized by the GSM Association.

Currently, Visa and MasterCard are pushing a variety of mobile payments and financial services. Tests are now being turned into commercial services.

Last week MasterCard's MoneySend service went live in the U.S. It allows users to send and receive funds using text messages, the mobile browser, mobile apps, or over the Internet from a PC, a spokeswoman at MasterCard said via e-mail.




Future Bright for Online Retail, but No Need for Shades

According to eMarketer.com, the future of online retail looks "not too bad." 

But my last post, a survey conducted by PayPal in the UK says that online sales growth is set to "double" within two years. That would certainly sound bright enough to wear shades.

So...that's the good news.   The bad news is that the PayPal UK study also predicts that sales in physical stores will plummet by up to £8.3bn by the end of 2011. (See: Amazon Thanksgiving Day Parade?)

Editor's Note: "Surprise, Surprise".  (search this blog for the term Paradigm Shift to learn why that's not surprising) 

The PayPal UK Study goes on to say that online sales are expected to rise from just under £9bn to £21.3bn, resulting in modest growth for overall sales.

Here's the eMarketer story. BTW, if you don't subscribe to the eMarketer Newsletter you should. Go to their site to sign up for it.  

The Future of Online Retail Doesn’t Look…Too Bad

JUNE 24, 2009 - eMarketer.com



Cautious optimism. Everyone knows the economy—online and off—is bad. What no one knows for sure is when the situation will improve. But things will get better.eMarketer forecasts that US retail e-commerce sales (excluding travel) will total nearly $132 billion in 2009, down 0.4% from 2008.


But, assuming the recession ends this year, as many economists predict, the forecast indicates that online sales will begin to rebound in 2010 and hit full stride in 2011.  Declining sales growth rates do not tell the whole story.

“Everyone focuses on the downturn in the overall economy, but the recession has only accentuated the gradual decline in online sales growth over the past few years—the decline would likely have occurred even in normal economic times,” says Jeffrey Grau, eMarketer senior analyst and author of the new report, Retail E-Commerce Forecast: Cautious Optimism. “It’s just simple math: The bigger online sales become, the harder it is to maintain high levels of growth.”




Greater spending by incumbent online buyers is the key to continued e-commerce growth. Some 152 million individuals ages 14 and above will shop online in 2009.“That means almost nine out of 10 Internet users will browse, research or compare products online this year,” says Mr. Grau. “This rate will grow slightly by 2013, since most Internet users predisposed to online shopping will already be doing it.”

Yet measuring e-commerce’s potential solely in terms of online sales ignores the impact of cross-channel shopping.

“The recession has made online product research an imperative,” says Mr. Grau.



According to PriceGrabber.com, the tough economy is driving consumers online to compare prices, look for retailers that do not charge sales tax or shipping fees, seek discounts and avoid impulse buying.

“Cross-channel shopping tends to fall under the radar because it is harder to measure than e-commerce sales,” says Mr. Grau.

Forrester Research estimated that store sales influenced by online research are higher than retail e-commerce sales. For 2009, Forrester projected cross-channel sales of $758.8 billion—about three times higher than online sales of $235.4 billion.

“Retailers still have plenty of work ahead to weave their channels into a single, unified presence,” says Mr. Grau. “If enough succeed, it could contribute to building greater consumer confidence in e-commerce.”

Look into the future, check out the new eMarketer report, Retail E-Commerce Forecast: Cautious Optimism.







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24% of UK Believes Brick and Mortar Dead, Online Shopping the Future

Here's a story from the Telegraph regarding the PayPal UK Study I talked about a post or two back.  One of the more interesting aspects of this story from the Telegraph is that nearly 1 in 4 people (24%) in the UK believe that online shopping will become the "norm" and that brick and mortar retail is a dead horse.  Interesting...out of curiosity I wonder what percentage of people felt that way last year at this time?

Online sales set to double within two years - Telegraph

Online sales are expected to more than double to £21.3bn by the end of 2011, making up for the expected decline in trade in high street stores.
By James Hall, Retail Editor | Published: 7:09AM BST 24 Jun 2009

A major new survey by PayPal, the online payment system, predicts that sales in physical stores will plummet by up to £8.3bn by the end of 2011. However, online sales are expected to rise from just under £9bn to £21.3bn, resulting in modest growth for overall sales.

Carl Scheible, managing director of PayPal UK, argued that the report shows that the value of online retail "can no longer be dismissed as a sideshow". Mr Scheible said that the growth of internet shopping will prop up a declining general retail sector.

"Online's phenomenal growth is not only forecast to deliver sales of as much as £21.3bn by 2011, but a £12.3bn increase will also ensure that the entire UK retail sector is growing again by the end of 2011," he said.

"The recession has been tough for many UK retailers as they deal with the slowdown and its knock-on impact on consumer spending. Of course, many of the major high-street brands have actually enjoyed the online boom, despite facing challenges in their own stores. The improvements in online shopping will continue to drive consumers until they are spending £1 in every £14 online," said Mr Scheible.

The report, which was carried out by Experian, forecasts that from 2008 to 2011 high street sales will fall by up to 1.4pc.

Nearly 9m adults shop online at least once a week, the report shows.

Mr Scheible said: "In our experience the retail winners from this recession will be those that work hard to meet expectations. If customers have come to expect fantastic service on the high street, retailers must make sure they aren't disappointed if they head online. Customers want good value, simplicity and security when they decide where to spend their money online."

According to the report, which was based on interviews with 1,000 adults, 24% of UK adults now believe that online shopping will become the norm and that the high street will eventually die out. Over half of consumers polled believe that high-street retailers could significantly improve their websites and sales processes to "enhance the customer experience".






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TJX to Pay Almost $10m More to Settle Data Theft Case

TJX to pay millions to settle data theft
T.J. Maxx, Marshall's parent reaches $9.75 million settlement

From Tribune staff - June 24, 2009

Discount retailer TJX Cos. reached a settlement with dozens of states, including Illinois, related to a massive data theft that occurred at the parent company of T.J. Maxx and Marshall's more than two years ago.

The Framingham, Mass.-based off-
price retailer agreed to pay the states $9.75 million, of which Illinois will receive more than $440,000, for programs to enforce consumer protection laws, protect consumer data and provide consumer education.

An estimated $2.5 million of the overall settlement is earmarked to create a data security trust fund to be used by states' attorneys general to enforce and develop policy in the field of data security and personal information protection.

TJX admitted no wrongdoing as part of the settlement. The company believes it did not violate any consumer protection or data security laws.

Continue Reading at the Chicago Tribune





Metavante and FNBO Renew Prepaid Relationship

PRESS RELEASE: http://metavante.mediaroom.com/

Metavante and First National Bank of Omaha Renew Prepaid Relationship
June 24, 2009

MILWAUKEE--(EON: Enhanced Online News)--Metavante (NYSE:MV), a leading provider of banking and payments technology, today announced that the smartOne Prepaid Solutions division of First National Bank of Omaha renewed its prepaid card processing agreement with Metavante Corporation.

“Metavante and First National Bank of Omaha align well with each other because both entities share broad payments industry expertise and vision”

Extending a relationship that began in 2005, First National Bank of Omaha will continue offering its smartOne Prepaid Solutions products and services with account processing and real-time account validation services from Metavante. First National Bank of Omaha’s smartOne Prepaid Solutions portfolio includes payroll, reward/incentive and corporate disbursement (travel expenses and relocation funds) prepaid cards.

“Metavante delivers the processing stability and scale we need to facilitate the growth of our smartOne Prepaid Solutions offerings, as well as the flexibility to quickly offer new functionality,” said Scott McCormack, vice president, First National Bank of Omaha. “Shared core values between our two companies are at the heart of our relationship, and those shared values allow us to quickly enhance our offerings to meet the needs of the prepaid marketplace.”

“Metavante and First National Bank of Omaha align well with each other because both entities share broad payments industry expertise and vision,” said Frank D’Angelo, president, Metavante Payment Solutions Group. “As a ‘full suite’ provider of payments solutions, Metavante focuses on the entire payments landscape, including emerging account access channels. Enabling financial institutions to grow their prepaid card relationships and help corporate clients benefit from the value-added cost and workflow efficiencies of electronic payments is one of our core competencies and part of Metavante’s dedicated client support.”

Metavante Payment Solutions drive the marketplace transition from paper to electronic payments with an integrated suite of payments solutions featuring enterprise-wide fraud prevention/monitoring and risk management. Metavante offers an ATM/PIN-debit network in NYCE, mobile financial services, online bill pay, government payments, credit and debit payment cards, merchant-issued and network-branded prepaid cards, as well as automated clearing house (ACH) and check image processing. Metavante also offers consumer healthcare payment solutions for patients, providers, plan administrators and financial institutions. Metavante offers clients the efficient and integrated resources necessary to offer their customers a broad range of payment options and touch points.

About smartOne Prepaid Solutions

smartOne Prepaid Solutions from First National Bank of Omaha offer secure, creative and innovative prepaid programs to businesses and organizations throughout the United States. Built on a half century of card issuing expertise, smartOne uses a flexible and nimble methodology to provide custom prepaid card design, branding, and program management while offering superior customer service and value. For more information, visit www.smartonesolutions.com.

About First National Bank of Omaha

First National Bank of Omaha is a subsidiary of First National of Nebraska, Inc. First National of Nebraska has grown into the largest privately owned banking company in the United States. First National Bank of Omaha and its affiliates have $21 billion in managed assets and more than 8,000 employee associates located in 35 states. Primary banking offices are located in Nebraska, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, South Dakota and Texas.

About Metavante

Metavante Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:MV) is the parent company of Metavante Corporation. Metavante Corporation delivers banking and payments technologies to approximately 8,000 financial services firms and businesses worldwide. Metavante products and services drive account processing for deposit, loan and trust systems, image-based and conventional check processing, electronic funds transfer, consumer healthcare payments, electronic presentment and payment, outsourcing, and payment network solutions including the NYCE Network, a leading ATM/PIN debit network. Metavante (www.metavante.com) is headquartered in Milwaukee.

Metavante and NYCE are registered trademarks of Metavante Corporation, which is the principal subsidiary of Metavante Technologies, Inc.






CashEdge Launches POPmoney


CashEdge Inc. (www.cashedge.com), the leader in Intelligent Money Movement™ products for financial institutions, serving 600 financial institutions including seven of the nation's top ten banks, announced today the launch of POPmoney™ (www.popmoney.com), the first person-to-person payments (P2P) service for banks, enabling banks to provide simple and secure P2P payments from their online or mobile banking applications.

POPmoney allows bank customers to "Pay Other People" (POP) anywhere, at any time, directly from within a bank's online or mobile application. With POPmoney, bank customers can send an electronic payment by simply using the email address or mobile phone number of the recipient. POPmoney includes an SMS text messaging application, as well as downloadable mobile applications, enabling banks to extend their P2P functionality to mobile phones.

Editor's Note:  HomeATM launched their money transfer application at FinovateStartup09 back on April 29th.  See live demo in left sidebar)


"POPmoney is a breakthrough service and represents the first real opportunity for banks to compete in the lucrative person-to-person payments space. This untapped market offers financial institutions major opportunities for new revenue and increased customer engagement," said Sanjeev Dheer, CEO and President, CashEdge Inc. "With our deep expertise in money movement, our bank-centric model and our strong risk management capabilities, this is a natural next step for CashEdge to take with its bank partners."

Spurred by the growing use of online banking, including online account opening, bill pay and online funds transfers, consumers are demanding additional online money movement services.

A 2009 CashEdge survey of nearly 1,000 consumers identified several important findings related to P2P payments including:

* 81 percent of respondents would use a P2P service if offered by their financial institution
* 77 percent of respondents would prefer to use a P2P service offered by their own financial institution over an independent online P2P service (such as PayPal or a similar service)
* 73 percent of respondents felt that a P2P service offered through their bank would be more secure than an independent P2P service
* 69 percent of respondents felt that a P2P service offered through their bank would be more convenient than an independent P2P service

POPmoney leverages the proven reliability, security and robustness of CashEdge's money movement platform, which in 2008 processed nearly $50 billion in online funds transfers for bank customers. For current CashEdge clients, POPmoney is an easily integrated extension of TransferNow™.
About CashEdge

CashEdge is the leader in Intelligent Money Movement™ services that enable financial institutions to engage customers in new ways. CashEdge's Intelligent Money Movement services provide a single point of access, through an online banking or mobile application, for multiple easy-to-use consumer and small business transfer routes. CashEdge's industry-leading products include OpenNow®/FundNow® for new account opening; TransferNow® for Consumers, which includes Me-to-Me Transfers and Third Party Transfers; POPmoney™ for person-to-person payments; and TransferNow for Small Businesses, which includes Invoicing and Payments, Me-to-Me Transfers, Employee Payments and Vendor Payments. These products are supported by industry-leading risk management capabilities that leverage comprehensive, proprietary technology, helping institutions mitigate risk and decrease fraud exposure.

CashEdge currently serves hundreds of leading financial institutions, including seven out of the top ten largest banks in the country. The Company has offices in New York, Silicon Valley and India. For more information, visit www.cashedge.com.






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Digital River Debuts Limited Edition E-Commerce Solution

Digital River Debuts Limited Edition E-Commerce Solution
Introduces e-stores designed exclusively to optimize sales of limited-edition, refurbished or clearance products

* Press Release
* Source: Digital River, Inc.
* On Wednesday June 24, 2009, 7:00 am EDT

MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Digital River, Inc. (NASDAQ:DRIV - News), a leading provider of global e-commerce solutions, introduced a new Limited Edition e-commerce solution that is designed to optimize the online sales of limited quantity, limited edition, refurbished and clearance merchandise. The solution, best suited for hard goods, features specially designed e-storefronts, marketing capabilities that tap social networks and built-in controls for managing inventory.

“In today’s increasingly competitive market, companies are seeking new and more effective ways to diversify their revenue streams and generate as much revenue as possible at every stage of a product’s lifecycle,” said Joel Ronning, Digital River’s CEO. “With our new Limited Edition e-commerce solution, we are giving online merchants access to a complementary revenue source that is designed specifically for marketing and selling end-of-life products. Because Limited Edition is built on our world-class global e-commerce platform, we offer merchants all of the benefits of our full-service, proven e-commerce solution.”

Digital River’s Limited Edition solution is designed for companies that want to extend the market for their merchandise, create urgency around online sales of their limited quantity products, and help strengthen end-consumer relationships. Limited Edition allows merchants to:

  • Easily manage and maintain e-storefronts designed exclusively to promote limited-edition or end-of-life products. The e-storefronts can link from existing e-commerce sites or function independently;
  • Create buzz and excitement around online product sales by using major social networking tools and viral marketing to engage users in reading and posting reviews.
  • Use sophisticated, built-in controls to display available limited edition inventory levels to not only generate urgency among brand-loyal and price-sensitive consumers, but also ensure proper sourcing of limited supply products.

Commenting further on the benefits of the Limited Edition solution, Ronning added, “By using Limited Edition, our clients have optimized product sales at the end of the product selling lifecycle more cost-effectively than they’ve been able to in the past.”

About Digital River, Inc.

Digital River, Inc., a leading provider of global e-commerce solutions, builds and manages online businesses for software and game publishers, consumer electronics manufacturers, distributors, online retailers and affiliates. Its multi-channel e-commerce solution, which supports both direct and indirect sales, is designed to help companies of all sizes maximize online revenues as well as reduce the costs and risks of running an e-commerce operation. The company’s comprehensive platform offers site development and hosting, order management, fraud management, export controls, tax management, physical and digital product fulfillment, multi-lingual customer service, advanced reporting and strategic marketing services.

Founded in 1994, Digital River is headquartered in Minneapolis with offices across the U.S., Asia, Europe and South America. For more details about Digital River, visit the corporate Web site at
www.digitalriver.com




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Facebook Security Flaw Exposed

Published:23-June-2009 | By Steve Evans

Sensitive user info revealed

Social networking site Facebook has been struck by another security flaw that could have exposed personal user information such as date of birth and home town.

The flaw was exposed by the creators of the blog FBHive.com, who discovered a hack that would show everything listed in a Facebook member's "Basic Information" panel, whether the user had hidden this information or not.

Security vendor Sophos claimed this data could include date of birth, home town, gender, family members, relationship status and political and religious views, and could be used to commit ID fraud.

Continue Reading at CBR Online

For more on the Facebook Flaw, read a story from TechCrunch, you'll find he link located below in the Related Articles Section:



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Gemalto Launches Online Banking Authentication Device

June 24, 2009

Gemalto Launches Unique Optical Reader for German Online Banking

With 30 million users, Germany has the largest number of online banking customers in Europe

AMSTERDAM--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Gemalto (Euronext NL0000400653 GTO), the world leader in digital security, today announced commercial launch of Ezio Optical TAN, a unique optical authentication reader for online banking specially designed for the German market. The size of a credit card, the Gemalto reader fits in a wallet along with the banking card, to offer unmatched convenience and portability. Ezio Optical TAN is compliant with the latest German HHD* standard and leverages the security of the widely deployed SECCOS** banking cards. With 30 million users, Germany has the largest number of online banking customers in Europe.

With Ezio Optical TAN, online customers can enjoy anytime, anywhere e-banking with utmost simplicity. Users just present the device in front of their computer screen and optical sensors capture the data they would normally enter from the reader keypad to carry out and sign online transactions. No software needs to be installed to use the device.

“Reinforcing e-banking services security has always been a priority for German banks and they were among the first in Europe to implement strong authentication solutions,” commented Jacques Seneca, executive vice president of the Security Business Unit for Gemalto. “Gemalto’s strong historical presence in Germany, particularly in the banking sector, has provided us with an in-depth understanding of local banks’ specific needs. This resulted in the development of an authentication solution that is perfectly tailored for this very advanced market.”

The Gemalto product is part of an extended family of authentication and digital signature solutions that includes notably readers, tokens, software and services. Gemalto has already successfully delivered Ezio authentication solutions to leading banks in Asia, Europe and the Americas.

HHD*: HandHeld Device
SECCOS**: Secure Chip Card Operating System

About Gemalto

Gemalto (Euronext NL 0000400653 GTO) is the world leader in digital security with 2008 annual revenues of €1.68 billion, and 10,000 employees operating out of 75 offices, research and service centers in 40 countries.

Gemalto is at the heart of our evolving digital society. The freedom to communicate, travel, shop, bank, entertain, and work—anytime, anywhere—has become an integral part of what people want and expect, in ways that are convenient, enjoyable and secure.

Gemalto delivers on the growing demands of billions of people worldwide for mobile connectivity, identity and data protection, credit card safety, health and transportation services, e-government and national security. We do this by supplying to governments, wireless operators, banks and enterprises a wide range of secure personal devices, such as subscriber identification modules (SIM) in mobile phones, smart banking cards, smart card access badges, electronic passports, and USB tokens for online identity protection. To complete the solution we also provide software, systems and services to help our customers achieve their goals.

As the use of Gemalto’s software and secure devices increases with the number of people interacting in the digital and wireless world, the company is poised to thrive over the coming years.

For more information please visit www.gemalto.com.




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