Education
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Developing a Payments Innovation Strategy
Posted by Monika on 22 Jul 2011 | Tagged as: Education, General
Here is an informative article on developing a payments innovation strategy.
Laying The Foundation For Innovation In Payments
Written by Andrew Morris, CEO, Morris Advisors and Anand Goel, CEO, Optimized Payments Consulting, Inc
And so you’re a retailer looking for new ways to reduce operational costs, improve the shopping experience, enhance customer loyalty, and ultimately increase sales. At the heart of all of these objectives is a payment transaction – and the retail world is buzzing as never before with the promise of new technologies that will revolutionize the way consumers make payments.
Isis, Google, PayPal, Square and many other companies have introduced new payment technologies in just the past few years. For retailers, the complexity and pace of change can be daunting. After all, retailers are already faced with a dizzying array of payment options to manage and each with its own unique value proposition, risk profile, and cost/benefits to carefully consider. And now we add a tidal wave of innovation to the mix.  Continue reading…
Value of Discover & American Express Acquiring/Processing
Posted by anandkgoel on 07 Jul 2011 | Tagged as: Analysis, Education, General, Published Articles
About four years ago, Discover and American Express started updating their business model by letting acquirers add its cards to the payment options they offer to merchants. Traditionally, acquirers or payment processors could only offer Visa and MasterCard processing, and merchants had separate agreements with Discover and AmEx.  Therefore, merchants became accustomed to getting three sets of merchant statements, with three difference customer service phone numbers, and three different funding time frames. Continue Reading»
The Evolution of Convenience Fees
Posted by anandkgoel on 01 Jul 2011 | Tagged as: Analysis, Education, General, Published Articles
In slightly more than a decade convenience fees on credit and debit cards have evolved from application in a specific market to wide adoption across many industries. This article looks at the growth in usage of convenience fees, application within specific verticals, and card network regulations. Continue Reading»
Durbin Amendment Final Rules
Posted by anandkgoel on 29 Jun 2011 | Tagged as: Analysis, Education, General
Today the Federal Reserve Board issued final rules of the Durbin Amendment, part of the Dodd-Frank Act signed into law in July 2010 by President Obama. Â The Durbin Amendment gave authority to the Federal Reserve to regulate debit (signature, PIN, and PINless) interchange fees and transaction routing.
The Fed presented draft rules on December 16, 2010, where they had two alternative approaches  to capping debit interchange fees and two alternative approaches to transaction routing. After considering over 11,000 comments from consumers, lawmakers, academics, and industry personnel over the last six months, the Fed presented the following rules. Here are the salient points and dates. Click here to read the full text of the final rules or a shorter memo of the final rules. Continue Reading»
Finding the “Best” Acquirer
Posted by anandkgoel on 11 Jan 2011 | Tagged as: Analysis, Education, General
A common and frequent question we get asked is, “who is the best credit card processor?” I usually smile because it is like asking a frequently flyer which airline is the best. There are travelers who have horror stories about each and every airline, at least amongst domestic carriers. Similarly, we have not found a single best credit card processor, or merchant acquirer, that addresses every need in the marketplace. Tier one firms typically offer similar levels of service, competitive pricing, and technology. Few distinctions amongst acquirers can be based on their product/service functionality (online chargeback management, electronic signature capture, configurable reporting, etc.) and certification to various gateways and point-of-sale systems. So determining the best processor really depends on a merchant’s needs. Continue Reading»
Understanding Fed’s Proposed Rules on Debit Interchange Fees & Routing
Posted by anandkgoel on 07 Jan 2011 | Tagged as: Analysis, Education, General, Published Articles
Merchants finally received a long awaited holiday present last month in the form of proposed rules regulating debit interchange fees. The Federal Reserve proposed new rules on December 16th, 2010, to govern debit interchange fees and network routing. These proposed rules are subject to a 60-day comment period, and the Fed is scheduled to issue a final version by April 21, 2011, with the rules going into effect June 21, 2011. As background, the Federal Reserve was empowered to implement the Durbin Amendment, a provision of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act of 2010 signed into law in July 2010 that regulates debit interchange fees and network routing.
The salient points of the Fed proposed rules that pertain to most merchants along with our analysis are as follows: Continue Reading»
A Case For Regulating Debit Card Fees
Posted by anandkgoel on 17 May 2010 | Tagged as: Analysis, Education, General
An amendment sponsored by Senator Dick Durbin to tackle “swipe fees” passed last Thursday in a 64-33 vote. This amendment focuses on how much Interchange fees issuing banks can charge merchants for accepting debit cards. Although this amendment still has to go through several hurdles Continue Reading»
Interchange fees cost you more than you realize
Posted by anandkgoel on 05 Apr 2010 | Tagged as: Education, General
This is an interesting article from WalletPop, a consumer finance website. Click here to read. It talks about the broader economic impacts of interchange fees. While we don’t think that reducing interchange will increase jobs as the article asserts, we do agree that Visa and MasterCard have unchecked pricing power. This pricing power manifests every year in the form of higher dues and interchange fees. Continue Reading»
The Basics of PCI
Posted by srini on 26 Mar 2010 | Tagged as: Education, General
There is significant amount of buzz and concern about PCI compliance with merchants. Merchants are particularly concerned when they hear of data breaches from household names like TJX Companies, OfficeMax, Boston Market, Barnes & Noble, Sports Authority or large sophisticated processors like Heartland Payment Systems. Perhaps more acutely, merchants are paying nuisance fees guised with names like PCI compliance or PCI non-compliance. And now many processors are offering PCI insurance in the event of a data breach. Like extended warranties, PCI insurance doesn’t make sense for most companies. There are specific situations where PCI insurance is valuable but you should really understand your organization’s card data storage vulnerabilities and map those vulnerabilities with what PCI insurance covers.
‘No Signature Required’ Programs Expand
Posted by srini on 25 Mar 2010 | Tagged as: Education, General
In an effort to increase the number of “Small Ticket” and “Quick Service” merchants and increase overall card usage, card networks are expanding the “No Signature Required” (NSR) programs while offering chargeback protection for these transactions. According to a Visa survey, “69 percent of participants surveyed cited either convenience or speed as the primary reason for using their credit or debit card.” Increased convenience by not having to sign for a transaction leads greater card usage and faster checkout for the consumer. This convenience is also enjoyed by merchants and card networks through increased transactional revenue. Continue Reading»
