In The News

March 13, 2013 MINNEAPOLIS:  Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) announced today that it has completed the sale of its entire consumer credit card portfolio to TD Bank Group (TSX and NYSE: TD) for $5.7 billion, the gross value of the outstanding receivables (―par‖) at the time of closing. As previously announced, the two companies have entered into a seven-year program agreement under which TD will also underwrite, fund and own future Target Credit Card and Target Visa receivables in the United States. Under the program agreement, TD will control risk management policies and oversee regulatory compliance and Target will continue to perform account servicing functions.

ATLANTA, GA – February 5, 2013 – Elavon, a leading global payments provider and wholly-owned subsidiary of U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB), has acquired Collective Point of Sale Solutions Ltd. (Collective POS) in Toronto, Canada. The deal expands Elavon's presence and distribution network in Canada and aligns with Elavon's global growth strategy in strategic markets.

"The opportunities for Elavon to leverage Collective POS' solutions and established customer base in Canada will deliver the best of both companies' offerings to the Canadian marketplace," said Tom Boyer, President of North America for Elavon. "Establishing a greater presence in the Canadian market is in line with Elavon's global growth plans."

LINTHICUM, MARYLAND:  First Annapolis Consulting’s third annual Mobile Banking and Payments Study reveals that 81 of the top 100 U.S. financial institutions currently offer some form of mobile banking, an 11% increase over the same figure one year ago.  In addition to offering access through smartphone applications and the mobile web, 60 of the FIs offer some form of alerts or account management functionality via SMS (text message), and 26 banks have also launched an application optimized for tablets.  This data highlights the omni-channel approach financial institutions are pursuing as mobile banking services become more widely accepted by customers.

LINTHICUM, MARYLAND: First Annapolis Consulting announces the release of its 2012 Person-to-Person (P2P) Payments Study.  Building on the 2011 study, this report provides insights on industry trends, service providers, and business models in the P2P market in the United States.  First Annapolis compared the features and functionality of 12 leading service providers, spanning mobile wallets, banking applications, and standalone solutions.  Data pertaining to channel availability, user input and verification requirements, transaction duration, funding and disbursement options, pricing, and advanced features was collected across the registration and transaction processes of the key players.  Additionally, the study provides analysis of the P2P market, including market s

May 7, 2012, SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- First BanCorp (the “Corporation”) (NYSE:FBP), the bank holding company for FirstBank Puerto Rico (“FirstBank” or “the Bank”), announced that FirstBank has signed a definitive agreement with FIA Card Services, N.A. to acquire the FirstBank-branded credit card portfolio of approximately $400 million. The portfolio consists of approximately 150,000 active credit card relationships.

I first met Marc Abbey, Managing Partner at First Annapolis Consulting, early in my career at Humboldt Merchant Services. When interviewing him recently for this article, I was reminded of just how cerebral he is and how his industry discussions and presentations dig deeper into data than many other presenters.

Research shows that even with small merchants, new portfolio additions are bringing in less revenue than the ones that left. Offsetting this alarming trend is something called lifetime value management.
 
Negative substitution in acquiring is a concept in which an acquirer’s new merchants are added at price points lower than the price points of the merchants that are attriting, causing the portfolio average pricing to fall, other things equal. This is an easy thing to say and quite another thing to measure and analyze, but is clearly of increasing importance in U.S. acquiring.
 

October 14, 2011, STAMFORD, Conn.& JACKSONVILLE, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Fashion retailer Stein Mart, Inc. (NASDAQ: SMRT) and GE Capital's Retail Finance business, a consumer lending unit of General Electric Company (NYSE: GE), have announced the multi-year renewal of the Stein Mart co-branded credit card program for Stein Mart's 260 stores located throughout the United States.

Dwolla Corp., an alternative payments provider, is developing technology to help banks cut fraud as they start allowing transactions from mobile devices — and also help them decide which mobile devices are worth investing in to begin with.