Electronic Payments Week articles from February 2005

Electronic Payments Week archives from February 2005

Remittance Business Changes, Will Remain the Same.(new service from BankAmerica Corp.)
February 1, 2005... Bank of America's announcement last week that it was eliminating fees for account holders sending money to Mexico is likely to shake things up for its competition, because they'll probably have to follow suit, says Gwenn Bezard, a partner in...

No Sense Minimizing Money Laundering Compliance.(changes in banking law)
February 1, 2005... The idea that the 9/11 terrorist attacks changed everything may have become a cliche on TV talk shows: But in the payments business, complying with the USA Patriot Act, the recently passed, so-called 9/11 Commission Act, and the many changes...

Financial Reports.(earnings in finnacial services )
February 1, 2005... The year-end and fourth-quarter financial results in the payments sector showed no clear pattern. With the exception of a few companies--MoneyGram International was one--results for the year or, where a company's fiscal year didn't match the...

Discover/Wal-Mart Outlook.(Discover Financial Services, Wal-Mart Stores Inc., contract)
February 1, 2005... Some stray remarks by Morgan Stanley & Co. president Phillip Purcell strongly suggest that while Discover Financial Network deserves some credit for having cut itself a deal with Wal-Mart, they may be under pressure to perform, or get out of...

RIGGS/PNC Deal May Be In Peril.(Riggs National Corp and PNC Financial Services Group Inc., merger deal)
February 1, 2005... The deal between Riggs National Corp and PNC Financial Services Group Inc. to merge, thereby erasing the embarrassing spectacle of the once-august bank agreeing to a cease-and-desist order issued by federal regulators over various money...

Who's Who.(appointments in different companies)(Anthony D. Chivinski, Thomas M. Hagerty, Dennis J. Zember Jr.)
February 1, 2005... * Anthony D. Chivinski, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Pennfield Corp., joined the board of directors of $2.7 billion Sterling Financial Corp., based in Lancaster, PA. (Contact: Sterling Financial Corp., 717-735-5651)...

WI-FOO: The Secrets of Wireless Hacking.(Book Review)
February 1, 2005... In the esoteric circles of computer security, the white hats are always fighting the last war, and the black hats are already fighting the next one. This is a book about that next war. More accurately, this book is about the war being...

Making The World Safer For Payments.(9/11 Commission Law)
February 8, 2005... Osama Bin Laden is costing the payments industry a pot of money. Regulations now being formulated by an interagency task force, mandated by an obscure subsection of the so-called 9/11 Commission Law, could require very large investments by...

Time For Banks To Take Back The Online Security Fight.
February 8, 2005... Just when people got comfortable with online commerce, phishers and other online black hats proved to the public that their money and identities aren't secure, after all. The predictable result: People losing trust in all sorts of online...

Banco de Chile Latest Cease And Desist Order.
February 8, 2005... The name of Augusto Pinochet raised its miserable head in yet another cease and desist order from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency last week, this time at the New York branch of the Banco de Chile. In retrospect, observers can...

Who's Who.(Kawika Daguio, Steve Wiggs, Dick Ward, Bill Mardis, Dan DeBraal)(appointments and resignations)(Brief Article)
February 8, 2005... * Kawika Daguio was named director of Northeastern University's new Information Assurance program. The program, opening in the Fall, will be offering a Master's degree in Information Assurance as well as executive seminars, and will also be...

New To Market.(briefs)
February 8, 2005... * AARP and JP Morgan Chase & Co. launched a combined Visa credit card/AARP membership card that provides automatic discounts at the point of sale with Avis Inc. for AARP members. AARP Rewards Platinum Visa card members also earn reward points...

The Checklist.(briefs)
February 8, 2005... Advanta Corp. [ADVNB] This credit card company, specializing in the small business sector, just received IRS approval of a tax dispute settlement between it and and FleetBoston Financial--now part of Bank of America Corp.--as part of a...

Landmark Case: Bank of America Sued Over Cyber Loss.
February 15, 2005... The Bank Of America (BofA) has been served with a lawsuit that goes to the heart -- and endangers--the business case for electronic commerce. Unless it's settled out of court, it could change the relationship between banks and their online...

Amex Gets Back To Basics Following Biz Unit Spinoff.(American Express Corp.)
February 15, 2005... When American Express Corp. announced Feb. 1 that it was spinning off its financial advisory business, it wasn't just shucking an under-performing unit as a means of boosting its image with Wall Street. In doing so, it recognizes that the...

It's Just Business.(American Express Co., MasterCard International Inc., Citicorp, contract)
February 15, 2005... Barely had the ink been dry on the American Express/Citi deal when Citi turned around and cut a deal with MasterCard International to issue a so-called "Chairman" platinum card. This card is close enough to a classic platinum Amex card--right...

A Window Into Identity Theft.(analysis)
February 15, 2005... According to an interesting analysis of identity thieves issued last week by ID Analytics, most financial fraud arising from ID theft is conducted by socalled "synthetic identities" assembled from bits and pieces of real, if stolen, identities....

The Riggs/PNC Deal: All Friends Again.(PNC Financial Services Group Inc., Riggs National Corp.)
February 15, 2005... After a week of unusually public recriminations in which PNC Financial Services Group and Riggs National Corp. called the whole thing off, and lawsuits and press releases were waved in the air, the acquisition of Riggs Bank by PNC seems to be...

More Money Laundering.(Arab Bank PLC, case)(Brief Article)
February 15, 2005... Just in case you missed it, The Arab Bank PLC closed its New York office last week amid allegations it was being investigated by the Feds for association with Hamas and the families of Palestinian suicide bombers. According to the bank, its New...

EAB Votes In New Members.(Electronic Authentication Board)(Brief Article)
February 15, 2005... The Electronic Authentication Board, a public/private organization working to create an interoperable authentication standard for on line operations, elected 16 members from the computer industry, government and some industry technology...

The Latest On The Chase/IBM Split.(J.P. Morgan Chase and Co., contract)(Brief Article)
February 15, 2005... Paul Strassmann, former CIO of NASA, published a succinct and devastating analysis of why J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and IBM parted ways last fall, only two years into a $5 billion, seven-year outsourcing contract. When they announced the...

Correction.
February 15, 2005... In our Feb. 1 issue, Mr. Gwenn Bezard, a partner in Aite Group LLC, was unintentionally referred to as a woman. EPW apologizes for the mischaracterization. In the same issue, MoneyGram International Inc.'s net revenue was referred to as...

Who's Who.(Scott Thompson, Leila S. Carr, James L. LaBoon)(appointments)(Brief Article)
February 15, 2005... * Scott Thompson joined PayPal as senior vice president and CTO. Thompson had been executive vice president of Inovant, a Visa International IT subsidiary. Thomson reports to PayPal President Jeff Jordan and eBay COO Maynard Webb. (PayPal,...

New To Market.(briefs)
February 15, 2005... * ACI Worldwide is implementing a payments-and-card management service at SIMTEL, a Rwandan government organization created to modernize the country's national payments network. In its first phase, the network will support Visa debit-card...

The Checklist.(deals and earnings in different companies)
February 15, 2005... Affiliated Computer Services Inc. [ACS] IT outsourcing company ACS says it won a contract from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts' Department of Transitional Assistance to provide electronic benefit transfer (EBT) services. The seven-year...

Making the World Safer For Electronic Payments.(Commission Law)
February 22, 2005... Osama Bin Laden is costing the payments industry a pot of money. Regulations now being formulated by an interagency task force, mandated by an obscure subsection of the so-called 9/11 Commission Law, could require very large investments by...

Authentication: Time for Banks to Take the Initiative.(data security)
February 22, 2005... Just as the public has gotten comfortable with online commerce, phishers and other online black hats have shown them that their money and identities aren't secure, after all. The predictable result: People lose trust in all sorts of online...

MasterCard Raising Its Interchange Rates.(Brief Article)
February 22, 2005... MasterCard International says it's is raising interchange rates in its U.S. region for its consumer credit, World MasterCard, debit, corporate, Maestro and ATM rate programs, as of April 1. Signature debit rates are unaffected through 2006. ...

Simpay Going Live.(Brief Article)
February 22, 2005... Simpay, the pan-European mobile payment scheme founded in 2003 by Orange, Telefonica Moviles, T-Mobile and Vodafone, will launch in Spain by mid-year and in the UK and Belgium in the fourth quarter. The launch means 70 million cell phone users...

New Security Wrinkle.(Brief Article)
February 22, 2005... E*Trade, and Citibank's British unit, are adding an on-screen keyboard to their online security procedures, hoping to frustrate identity thieves from stealing personal information with so-called "keylogging" viruses. Such viruses are slipped...

Security Pacific Rises Again.(Network Bank, USA changes its name to Security Pacific Bank)(Brief Article)
February 22, 2005... Los Angeles-based Network Bank, USA has changed its name to Security Pacific Bank, reviving one of the grand old names of American banking. The old Security Pacific, founded in 1871, was the fifth-largest bank in the U.S. until it was swallowed...

Banco de Chile's Latest Cease and Desist Order.
February 22, 2005... The name of Augusto Pinochet raised its miserable head in yet another cease and desist order from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency last week, this time at the New York branch of the Banco de Chile. In retrospect, observers can...

Who's Who.(Kawika Daguio named as director of Northeastern University)(Michael Touhey appointed by Fiserv Inc.)(Brief Article)
February 22, 2005... * Kawika Daguio was named director of Northeastern University's new Information Assurance program. The program, opening in the fall, will be offering a master's degree in Information Assurance and executive seminars, and also will be...

New To Market.
February 22, 2005... * Arbor Networks, an internal network security provider, says that Comerica licensed its Peakflow X network security system to fight worms and other cyber threats. Among the platform's features is network-wide visualization of internal traffic....

New NACHA Chairman Speaks His Mind.(NACHA - The Electronic Payments Association)
February 22, 2005... Steve Ellis may be executive vice president of Wells Fargo & Co.'s wholesale banking group. He may be responsible for a system that processed $4 trillion in wire transfers last year. But when it comes to his new job as chairman of the National...

Checking Business: A Tale of Two Companies.
February 22, 2005... Check imaging has forced change in the payments business, but some companies have been getting ready for it for years, and are reaping the benefits. For some of those, even the businesses they've spun off as part of that adjustment have turned...

The Checklist.
February 22, 2005... Capital One Financial Corp. [COF] This credit card company says it remarketed about $704.5 million of the aggregate principal amount of its 6.25 percent Senior Notes due in 2007, thus resetting the annual rate to 4.738 percent, paid...