Giesecke & Devrient Opens Smart Card Facility in
“G&D is the number one partner of choice for EMV solutions in
Canadians will see their credit and debit cards migrate to EMV technology within the next several years, representing one of the most significant changes ever for the Canadian banking sector. A total of approximately 60 million credit cards and 37 million debit cards will be replaced by chip card versions. “With the new facility in
"At Visa
EMV global platform, Visa understands the importance of having skilled partners such as G&D to ensure a smart and seamless transition for the Canadian marketplace. G&D has played a significant role in helping to shape card solutions in
The key physical focus of the new production facility is in the protection of client assets and data integrity. It has therefore been equipped with the latest in highly sophisticated security systems including biometric authentication.
The facility provides complete card solutions that cover the entire lifecycle of a smart card, from the development of card applications and card design through to printing the laminated cards, embedding the chips, card personalization, and shipping. The production facility is certified by VISA, MasterCard, and AMEX.
NOTE FROM THE EDITOR
I had the pleasure of attending the 4th Annual Micro and Small Payments Conference in
The FT would like to take this opportunity to thank all readers for a great year and wish all readers a healthy, peaceful and happy 2007.
Adam N. Atlas
Editor in Chief
NEWS
Forbes/Hutton Providing 40 Million Dollars Vault Cash to TNS Smart Network Inc.
Toronto, December 5 06 – Forbes/Hutton Vault Cash, Canada's largest independent Armored Car and Vault Cash Company has signed an exclusive agreement with TNS Smart Network Inc., Canada's largest privately owned ATM transaction processor, to provide a vault cash program exclusively marketed to TNS customers.
"We are proud to be able to service other Canadian entrepreneurs and assist them to achieve their growth goals" stated Arnold Milan, CEO of Forbes/Hutton Financial. "Providing vital vault cash management allows our mutual customers to free up management time and pursue their core objectives of ATM placement and service."
Forbes/Hutton Vault Cash, funded by Forbes/Hutton Financial, will offer $40 million in vault cash to qualified Independent Service Organizations and approved armored car carriers across
"One of TNS' goals has always been to offer innovative, reliable and cost effective services to help our customers be successful," stated Mischa Weisz, President and CEO of TNS Smart Network Inc. "It makes sense for Canada's largest, privately-owned processor to forge relationships with other independent Canadian service providers to help achieve that goal".
The introduction of this branded vault cash program is unique in the Canadian marketplace and reinforces TNS' and Forbes/Hutton's commitment to provide the tools today's ISOs require to manage their current deployment segment.
TouchTunes Selects Optimal Payments to Enhance Payment Options
digital touch-screen jukeboxes in commercial locations across the
"We are very pleased that we were selected by TouchTunes, the world leader in digital jukeboxes. TouchTunes fits perfectly into our strategy of focusing on payment processing for the digital music market." said Doug Lewin, President of Optimal Payments.
"Optimal Payments' expertise in specialized payment solutions was a key factor in our selection process. We require a reliable payment solution with integrated fraud prevention," said John Perrachon, President and Chief Executive Officer of TouchTunes. "The addition of credit and debit cards as payment options significantly enhances our offering," added Mr. Perrachon.
Under the terms of the agreement, Optimal Payments will provide TouchTunes with the ability to accept U.S. dollar payments from consumers' Visa and MasterCard credit and debit cards.
ECHOWORX DELIVERS EMAIL ENCRYPTION FOR IBM LOTUS NOTES
Toronto, December 11 06 – Echoworx Corporation, a leading provider of security software products for digital communications, today announced that Echoworx Secure Mail encryption will be available for IBM Lotus Notes on January 1, 2007.
With the growing need for email privacy in all sectors of business, Echoworx has moved forward to ensure support for Lotus Notes. Echoworx Secure Mail currently supports Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express.
“Echoworx recognizes the important segment of business users that rely on Lotus Notes for email” said Michael Ginsberg, President and CEO of Echoworx. “Business professionals are a primary target for email encryption because of the confidential nature of their daily communications. With the increase of incidences of data breaches and data theft as well as privacy legislation and liability, more enterprises are taking steps to increase the security of their email communication with advanced encryption.”
Secure Mail is a subscription based service that provides desktop to desk-top encryption. Echoworx Secure Mail is easy to use and operates with industry trusted standards such as PKI, S/MIME and X.509 certificates. Users simply need to press one button in order to digitally sign and encrypt their message. An encrypted email can only be opened by the intended recipient. The recipient does not need to be a subscriber of Secure Mail to receive an encrypted email.
KeyCorp Acquires Optimal Services Group as a Strategic Advance in
Montreal, November 3 06 – Keycorp Limited, a global supplier of secure electronic transaction solutions, announced that it has acquired Optimal Services Group (OSG) for a total of investment of $3 million representing the integration and restructuring costs associated with the acquisition of this asset.
Optimal Services Group is currently the largest service provider to the payments industry in
The primary intent in acquiring Optimal Services Group is to provide the infrastructure platform to launch managed payment services in the Canadian Market; services that Keycorp’s leading customers are now requesting it provide.
The acquisition is consistent with Keycorp’s strategy of migrating its market positioning from a product-based company to a services and solutions-based company. Keycorp has gained traction with its managed payment solutions model in
RBC Contracts ACI For Chip Migration
RBC will use ACI's Smart Chip Manager software for its chip card migration program, ACI says. Smart Chip Manager is a card management system specifically designed for EMV cards, enabling issuers to add applications such as loyalty and rewards to a chip card.
ACI says that RBC will be conducting internal chip card trials in late 2007 and that it will use Smart Chip Manager to develop a number of "innovative" card products. However, RBC declined to comment on its EMV rollout plans.
MasterCard Scolded at EU closed hearing
Brussel, November 23 06 – Credit Card Company MasterCard drew a rebuke at a closed European Commission antitrust hearing last week after claiming incorrectly that Britain had dropped an investigation into its fees, people who were present said.
MasterCard made the statement near the start of the two-day hearing on Commission allegations that it sets excessive charges on shops and others that accept its credit and debit cards, they said. EU countries, shops and representatives of the airline and petroleum industries sharply criticised MasterCard's fees.
The Commission conducted the hearing to let MasterCard reply to allegations that it restricts competition by setting minimum prices retailers must pay. The EU executive is considering abolishing the controversial and complex interbank fees charged by MasterCard, which can differ card by card.
A representative of Ikea, the Swedish furniture chain, said it could lower costs on many items, even amid high energy prices, but could not negotiate the fees imposed by MasterCard. Others that use the cards, from British Petroleum to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), a trade group of airlines, also complained.
Some said a MasterCard rule that they must accept all of the company's cards made it impossible to control costs. MasterCard imposes different fees on different cards, and merchants say it can be difficult to learn of the fees for a particular card.
Several countries in particular
The two sides focused on
MasterCard said it had been badly hurt by its Australian experience and the change of structure had cut its income. Those on the other side said the Australian sanctions had worked.
MasterCard called the Commission's complaint obsolete because it was made when the company was a non-profit organization. MasterCard recently went public. However, the Commission said the violations dated to before the change occurred and that the earlier actions could be producing long-term effects.
MasterCard, when contacted, had no immediate comment.
TAP & GO AT RABBA FINE FOODS WITH MASTERCARD PAYPASS
Toronto, November 27 06 – MasterCard Worldwide announced that Rabba Fine Foods, Your Neighbourhood Marketplace, will begin accepting MasterCard PayPass at its 30 stores across the Greater Toronto Area. Rabba customers will be able to purchase food and a host of other items by simply tapping their PayPass-enabled MasterCard card on a specially equipped payment terminal. Contactless payment technology, powered by MasterCard PayPass, provides consumers with a quick and convenient alternative to cash for their everyday small purchases, without the hassle of fumbling for cash or handing a card over to the cashier.
"MasterCard PayPass is quickly becoming a favorite among merchants because contactless payments are simpler and faster than cash, thereby speeding consumers through the payment process," said Nagesh Devata, VP, Acceptance Development and Product Solutions, MasterCard
TelPay Helps Manitoba Companies Deliver World Class Internet Banking and Bill Payment Solutions
Winnipeg, December 9 06 – Manitoba Caisses, a bilingual banking and financial services cooperative with locations in Winnipeg and rural Manitoba, has chosen TelPay Inc., Canada’s largest independent electronic payments processor to provide its more than 30 thousand members with the most advanced Internet Banking and bill payment services available today.
With the wide range of new electronic payment options Caisse members will enjoy the ability to quickly and easily transfer funds electronically to any bank account in
In addition to being able to quickly and easily pay anyone in Canada, Caisse members will also be able to view their cashed cheques online, as well as transfer funds directly into any bank account and notify the recipient automatically by e-mail, bypassing the need for recipients to sign-up to receive payments or take any action whatsoever.
“TelPay’s electronic payment services are specifically designed to meet the changing needs of Canada’s financial community and make it easy for any size financial institution to offer their members the absolute latest online bill payment services—without a large investment in technology,” says TelPay Incorporated, President and CEO, Brian Denysuik. “We offer financial institutions and their members a completely worry free experience that includes bilingual customer service, system maintenance and continually updated functionality, all included from one provider, for one price,” Denysuik adds.
Manitoba Caisses are the first financial institutions in the province to embrace this innovative new technology. They join a growing number of other financial institutions across the country who have chosen TelPay’s advanced bill payment services to meet the ever increasing demand for enhanced payment services.
Moneris Restores Service After ‘Anomaly’ Cuts off POS Traffic in
Toronto, November 27 06 -- While American consumers were flocking to the stores and whipping out their credit and debit cards for payment, their Canadian counterparts were forced to find cash, their checkbooks, or to come back later because the network of the nation’s largest merchant acquirer went down for two and a half hours.
Moneris Solutions Corp. reports that a software problem in its main processing switch that began about
Moneris stated in a news release that when it became aware of the problem it immediately started a diagnostic and restoration process and at the same time set in motion a process to move to its back-up system. The restoration process was successful and the backup system conversion was not implemented. During the outage, calls flooded into Moneris’s customer-service center, creating a backlog that caused some merchants to receive a busy signal.
In addition to touching Visa and MasterCard’s credit card sales, the glitch affected Interac PIN-based point-of-sale transactions and American Express Co. transactions in
Moneris is a joint venture of RBC Financial Group and BMO Financial Group. It processes more than 2.3 billion transactions annually. The spokesperson says that until this incident, Moneris’s system had operated virtually flawlessly for years. Network uptime exceeds 99.9%.
Bank of
Ottawa, November 25 06—The Bank of Canada today put into circulation a $5 note with upgraded security features in order to improve the security of Canadian bank notes. The note will be available across
The design, color, and illustrations of the upgraded note remain the same as those of the previously issued $5 notes from the Canadian Journey series.
The upgraded $5 note will include the now-familiar set of improved security features found on all other notes in the Canadian Journey series. These features include a metallic holographic stripe, a watermark portrait, a windowed color-shifting thread woven into the paper, and a see-through number. To increase its durability, the upgraded $5 note is printed on a slightly heavier paper and is coated with a protective varnish.
"The high level of security now found on the $5 bank note will make it harder than ever to counterfeit," said RCMP Inspector Barry Baxter, Officer in Charge, Counterfeit and Identity Fraud. "Nonetheless, it is important that Canadians check their bank notes. Not only to protect themselves, but to make it harder for criminals to pass counterfeit money."
FEATURES
TIO Plans to Start Hybrid ATMKiosk Deployments by Start of ’07
British Columbia, November 22 06 – The concept of an ATM that also serves as a kiosk for bill payment and other financial services may be getting closer to reality. TIO Networks Inc., a
Lewis refuses to say where the new machines will be installed, citing “sensitivity” about their locations. Nor will he be specific about how many of the devices, which are being developed by ATM maker Tranax Technologies Inc., are in the plans. “We expect to see some pretty strong deployments early next year,” he says. Cardtronics Inc. has had to delay the project as it works through negotiations and waits for current ATM installation contracts at target locations to expire, Lewis says. “Everybody’s making money with their ATMs, so there’s some jockeying going on,” he notes. The company has also switched manufacturers since March, when it was working with Tidel Technologies Inc.
TIO currently drives about 1,000 kiosks hooked up in convenience stores that allow consumers to pay bills by inserting cash into a bill acceptor. TIO’s links to the accounting systems at utilities, telecommunications companies, and other billers including Cingular Wireless and Qwest Communications—allow users to receive real-time electronic account updates. Merchants housing the machines include Circle K Stores Inc. and ExxonMobil Corp., which deployed 100 kiosks this fall in as many of its On the Run and Tigermarket stores in
Banks historically have shied away from dual-function ATM kiosks, fearing that customers wanting to withdraw from or deposit to accounts would grow frustrated while waiting for other people to complete bill payments or phone-card top-ups. At the same time, the two functions serve two often separate demographic groups. TIO’s kiosks are aimed largely at Hispanics, and draw mostly customers without bank accounts who do business in cash. By contrast, ATM users are generally accountholders at banks. But TIO, which earlier this year changed its name from Info Touch Technologies Corp., hopes the dual functionality could help it introduce its kiosks to users who might not have encountered them otherwise, allowing it to drive up usage faster. TIO charges a flat fee for bill payments, which it shares out to retailer and biller partners.
Currently, TIO is processing 850,000 transactions a month on its network. That volume is growing at a 10% rate quarter-toquarter, Lewis says. How much of a difference the new hybrid machines might make, he says, is impossible to forecast. “It would be just some wild, crazy guess,” he says.
Nexolink to Provide Further Offshoring Services for MCCG
Nexolink has been providing MCCG with programming services in different capacities with resources in
"Nexolink's service structure has delivered to us not only programming services but project management and insurance specific experience which we find very valuable as they offer us a local single-point of contact", adds Dorin Mascan.
"When providing our customers with offshoreng services we supply them with a local person in
Utilizing Nexolink's offshoring services enables MCCG to meet their customer's requirements efficiently. MCCG and Nexolink are looking for ways to strengthen their relationship.
"Nexolink's services have allowed us to easily increase our workforce when needed, at a very reasonable cost" says Dorin Mascan.
National Bank and its employees donate $1,204,804 to Centraide of Greater Montreal
Montreal, 20 December 06 – National Bank of Canada had the honour of presenting Centraide of Greater Montreal with a contribution of $1,204,804 at the unveiling of the results of the 2006 campaign. This amount represents funds collected from active and retired employees in the Greater Montreal area as well as a corporate donation from the Bank.
“For many years, we have been acknowledging the dedication of employees who find inventive ways to get donors to give generously. Their motivation is what makes it possible for the Bank to achieve ever-higher record contributions,” said Réal Raymond, National Bank’s President and Chief Executive Officer.
“We have been supporting Centraide of Greater Montreal for over 30 years. This donation confirms our commitment to the well-being of the communities we serve,” Mr. Raymond added.
Across
Out with the Old, in with the New: Datapac and EMV in 2007
It’s an open secret in the Canadian payments industry: the x.25 based telecom service known as Datapac, is on its way out. Its phase out has been marked by more of a whimper than a bang, with costs increasing, ‘stop sell’ orders, and the expectation that it will soon no longer be available at all. What is becoming clearer to industry players, though, is that EMV, the new global standard for integrated circuit (contact) smart cards, will be the death knell of Datapac. What does this mean for merchants and their providers? The time to plan for Datapac replacement is now – replacing new systems can take years for a large retailer, and it is becoming clear that time is running out.
The End of Datapac is Near
The end of Datapac has been coming for some time now. Merchants have learned from telecom providers such as
EMV Arrives on the Scene
As the discontinuation of Datapac looms, it is becoming increasingly clear that EMV will be here to stay very soon. EMV is a common global standard for integrated circuit (contact) ‘smart’ cards, developed by Europay International, MasterCard and Visa (now overseen by EMVCo.), and endorsed by Interac in
How committed are we in
EMV Will Spell the End of Datapac
While EMV carries with it the benefits of enhanced security and global interoperability, it cannot be accommodated by the legacy Datapac infrastructure Canadian merchants rely on to transport transactions today. A Datapac 3201 connection can handle up to 8 locations, running at 1200 bps, generally handling transaction packets under 256 bytes in length. Because EMV encrypts the entire packet rather than just a portion, it requires larger packet sizes of 750 bytes. The engineering cost to alter this aging infrastructure is simply not worth the investment. Beyond bandwidth, EMV presents additional challenges to the existing infrastructure. Terminals and other point-of-sale equipment must be EMV compliant, and processors are already shipping out new EMV terminals as part of the usual replacement cycle. As early as 2004, Desjardins had ordered 30,000 EMV compliant terminals, and Moneris, the first Canadian acquirer to achieve EMV certification from Visa, has been rolling out EMV terminals since the summer of 2005.
Migrating to IP Based Processing
The key to readiness for both the discontinuation of Datapac and the arrival of EMV is migrating from Datapac 3201 onto IP networks, which do not have packet size or bandwidth limitations, and offer cost savings along with faster transactions. The easiest, most cost effective route for merchants may well be the solutions offered by Precidia Technologies. Featuring both dial and serial ports, the devices migrate existing terminals, ATMs and other store equipment onto a broadband IP network. For merchants in a hurry for a Datapac replacement solution, they deploy easily, thanks to an internet-based configuration manager called NetVu, which preconfigures the device before shipping. With SSL encryption, EMV compatibility and bandwidth to spare, the merchant will be ready when EMV takes hold.
As for EMV, the 2010 deadline is closer than you may think. Anyone who has been involved in large scale equipment or system changes in the payments industry will tell of the many months required to research, test, pilot and implement. Merchants would be wise to take their cues from the banks and processors, already ordering and shipping EMV terminals, and the card issuers who are well on track issuing EMV compliant smart cards.
Deepak Wanner is president of Precidia Technologies, and an expert in IP conversion for legacy protocols such as X.25. A pioneer in the movement to adopt Internet Protocol (IP) based solutions in retail point-of-sale (POS), Deepak Wanner is the leading authority on integrating diverse POS systems onto one common IP network. Building on early successes in
Written by: Deepak Wanner
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