subject: Payment Card Competitor Tracker: February 2010 - Market Research Reports On Aarkstore Enterprise [print this page] Introduction Introduction
The Payment Card Competitor Tracker provides expert analysis and opinion on the strategic moves of leading competitors in the payment card market. Produced on a monthly basis, the Tracker is a global product and covers 60 players, including American Express, Barclaycard, Capital One, Citigroup, Discover, GE Money, First Data, HSBC, JCB, MasterCard, Standard Chartered and Visa.
Reasons to Purchase
*Gain invaluable information on your key competitors in one concise document, and track long-term trends using the interactive news database.
*Sharpen your strategy by implementing the best market, product, competitor and strategic developments of leading global players.
*Learn the Datamonitor Cards & Payments Team's view on the most important competitor developments in the month.
Table of Contents :
"Overview 1
Summary 1
Methodology 1
Table of Contents 2
Introduction 3
The Payment Card Competitor Tracker provides both one month and 12 month views of developments 3
Each month, tracks the most relevant announcements from 64 competitors 3
Cards and Payments Team provides analysis of the key developments at both the one month and 12 month level 4
A fully searchable database of developments from January 2007 onwards is also delivered alongside the report 4
Key Developments in February 5
In February, the key story was Visa and DeviceFidelity introducing an NFC-capable microSD memory card for use in mobile phones 5
Visa and DeviceFidelity introduced an NFC-capable microSD memory card for use in mobile phones 5
Facebook and PayPal are to offer PayPal services in Facebook's advertising and developer systems 6
There were 50 developments in February, slightly below the 12-month average 6
There were 50 developments in the February competitor tracker, compared to the 12-month average of 56 6
Products, services and innovation stories were on par with the 12-month trend, while M&A activity was below 7
North America and Asia Pacific continue to account for the majority of competitor developments 8
Issuers accounted for the majority of the drop in activity in February 9
Commercial products and services, prepaid cards and mobile technology were the key area of focus in February 10
Interest in prepaid cards has picked up this month 11
Mobile technology and payment trials are continuing into 2010 12
Partnerships accounted for the bulk of activity in M&A, partnerships and organic growth 12
Products, Services and Innovation 14
American Express 14
Australia, Canada, US: American Express launches aXcentis, a business travel program for small and medium-sized enterprises 14
US: Consumer Action and American Express revise their multilingual series on information provided on credit cards 14
US: American Express business travel to provide corporate travel and expense management services in association with Concur 15
ANZ Bank 15
Asia Pacific: ANZ to introduce Visa Debit cards 15
Australia: The University of Sydney and ANZ launch Visa prepaid ID card for students 16
Australia: ANZ launches business Visa Debit card 16
Bank of America 16
US: Bank of America Merrill Lynch and IdenTrust introduce an electronic bank account management system for the bank's corporate clients 16
Barclaycard 17
UK: npower, in association with Barclaycard, introduces reward offers 17
UK: Barclaycard trials mobile payment service that allows retailers to accept card payment through smart phones 17
UK: Barclays enhances mobile banking service by providing third-party payment services 17
Citigroup 18
Korea: Citi Korea announces Redeem & Earn Points program 18
Mexico: Citi launches Blink, Mexico's first virtual bank 18
Discover 19
US: Discover Financial Services launches CardBuilder, an interactive tool that lets customers create their own card 19
US: Discover introduces new service to help customers to understand credit card terms and features 19
First Data 20
Egypt: First Data and the Ministry of State for Administrative Development of the Republic of Egypt extend the government's family card project 20
Saudi Arabia: Riyad Bank and First Data launch Hassad rewards program 20
La Caixa 20
Spain: La Caixa and Telefnica launch pilot project to test transactions with NFC mobile phones and Visa's payment system 20
MasterCard 21
US: Plastic Cash International and MasterCard Worldwide announce partnership to provide MYSPLASH prepaid gift cards 21
US: Fifth Third Bank and MasterCard to provide corporate purchasing solution 21
PayPal 22
Global: Facebook and PayPal to offer PayPal services in Facebook's advertising and developer systems 22
Royal Bank of Canada 22
Canada: Royal Bank of Canada launches a new prepaid card for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games 22
Standard Chartered 22
Thailand: Standard Chartered offers cardholders 5% cash back 22
TSYS 22
US: TSYS launches Hybrid card 22
Visa 23
Asia Pacific: Visa introduces offers and deals from the Visa 2010 Premium Access program 23
Australia: Visa and Travelex launch remittance service from Australia 23
Canada: Visa gears itself for Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games 24
Hong Kong: Tradelink and Visa launch a website for SMEs 24
Hong Kong: Visa launches Visa Infinite Access platform for its cardholders 24
Asia Pacific: Visa announces privileges and benefits for customers spending in China and Japan during the Chinese New Year with Visa cards 25
Singapore: Visa offers discounted fees as part of its 2010 Visa Premium Access program 26
Global: Visa and DeviceFidelity plan to convert mobile phones into Visa mobile payment devices 26
UK: GPC Visa provides cost savings of 860m to public sector organizations 27
US: American Payroll Association and Visa launch APA Visa Paycard Portal 27
US: Visa launches the Visa Signature Luxury Hotel Collection program 28
Wells Fargo 28
US: Wells Fargo extends text banking services to its customers 28
M&A, Partnerships and Organic Growth 29
Bank of America 29
US: Bottomline acquires Bank of America's Travel Commission Payments Service 29
Barclaycard 29
UK: Barclays Bank acquires Citibank International Bank's Italian credit card business 29
UK: Barclaycard names retail partners in its Barclaycard Freedom program 29
BNP Paribas 30
France and Belgium: BNP Paribas and Gemalto sign partnership contract 30
China UnionPay 30
Sudan, Egypt: China UnionPay announces the inauguration of its card acceptance business in Egypt 30
Discover 30
US: PULSE extends its association with Woodforest Financial Group for PIN point-of-sale debit and ATM services 30
Elavon 31
Mexico: Elavon extends alliance with Santander in Mexico 31
MasterCard 31
Latin America and the Caribbean: MasterCard reports in 2009 31
US: MasterCard partners with the American Payroll Association to educate participants about prepaid payroll cards 31
Maybank 32
Malaysia: Maybank expects debit sale transactions to increase by 67% 32
TSYS 32
Europe: TSYS signs an agreement to provide B+S Card Service with back-office merchant acceptance services 32
Italy: TSYS to provide card and payments services to Cedacri's clients 32
US: TSYS signs a long-term agreement with US Bank 33
UniCredito Group 33
Europe: UniCredit becomes one of the four banks responsible for all SEPA payment transactions on behalf of the European Commission 33
Visa 33
Hong Kong: Visa releases information on expenditure by international visitors at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games 33
France: Visa and Carte Bleue merge to create Visa France 34
Appendix 35
Methodology 35
Further reading 35
Ask the analyst 36
consulting 36
Disclaimer 36
List of Tables
Table 1: The 64 companies and subsidiaries covered by Payment Card Competitor Tracker 3
Table 2: Current relevant publications 35
Table 3: Future relevant publications 36
List of Figures
Figure 1: In February, there were 50 developments in total, slightly below the 12-month average of 56 7
Figure 2: In February, stories relating to products, services and innovation were on par with the average, whereas M&A, partnership and organic growth experienced a fall in activity 8
Figure 3: North America and Asia Pacific accounted for most stories in February, in line with the 12-month trend 9
Figure 4: With 24 stories, schemes accounted for the majority of competitor activity in February , ahead of issuers, which recorded 18 stories in total 10
Figure 5: Commercial products and services was the key area for developments in products, services and innovation in February 11
