Payment Card Competitor Tracker: July 2011

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 over 100 players, including American Express, Barclaycard, Capital One, Citigroup, Discover, GE Money, First Data, HSBC, JCB, MasterCard, Standard Chartered and Visa.

Features and benefits

• 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.

Highlights

There are 46 competitor developments analyzed in the July edition of the Payment Card Competitor Tracker. This remains somewhat below the 12-month average of 51, and is a significant fall from the 64 developments recorded in June. This represents the biggest drop in activity since February 2011.

Alternative payments continued to be the biggest area of of competitor activity in July. Key developments included the launch of a social media enabled reward program from American Express, the launch of P2P NFC services from PayPal, and the fall out from mixed messages regard Visa and ANZ's microSD NFC trials.

Once again the mobile channel was the most active in July, with 13 stories recorded in total, significantly more than the 12-month average of eight.

Table Of Contents

OVERVIEW
Catalyst
Summary
Methodology

INTRODUCTION
The Payment Card Competitor Tracker provides both one-month and 12-month views of developments
Improvements to the 2011 Payment Card Competitor Tracker series
Each month, Datamonitor tracks the most relevant announcements from over 100 competitors
Datamonitor’s Cards and Payments team provides analysis of the key developments at one-month and 12-month intervals
A fully searchable database of developments from January 2007 onwards is also delivered alongside the report

KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN JULY
Developments in the contactless, mobile, online, and prepaid sectors in July
Online: American Express develops payments presence in social media space
Mobile: PayPal enters near field communication person-to-person space
Contactless: ANZ and Visa offer mixed reports on Mobile MicroSD card trials
There were 46 developments in July, below the 12-month average
The level of competitor activity slowed down in July in line with wider seasonal trends
Products, services, and innovation-related developments were below the 12-month average in July
North America had the highest level of activity in July
Issuers accounted for the majority of competitor activity in July
The mobile channel continued to see a high number of developments in July, significantly ahead of the 12-month average
Partnerships accounted for the majority of developments in the M&A, partnerships, and organic growth category

PRODUCTS, SERVICES, AND INNOVATION
American Express
Global: American Express launches "Link, Like, Love" on Facebook
Global: American Express unveils "Go Social" offer tool for small businesses
Malaysia: Maybank introduces Malaysia’s first airline co-brand business card with American Express and Malaysian Airlines
US: American Express and Sprint partner to offer mobile payments to Sprint customers via Serve
ANZ
Australia: ANZ adds new functionalities to its ANZ goMoney mobile app
Australia: ANZ and Visa report positive findings from mobile phone payment trial
Bank of Moscow
Russia: Bank of Moscow, MTS, and the Federal Gorod System expand the Easy Payment service
Barclaycard
UK: Barclaycard Freedom offer shoppers 10% on all purchases from July 7–10
UK: chain to roll out Barclaycard contactless payment terminals at 74 pubs nationwide
UK: Barclaycard launches two-year 0% interest balance transfer
BNP Paribas
France: BNP Paribas and Orange partner to launch mobile banking offer in France
First Data
US: First Data to offer VeriFone's PAYware smartphone POS service
FIS
UK: FIS to support launch of prepaid card program for the Association of British Credit Unions
HDFC Bank
India: HDFC Bank launches INFINIA, India’s first ultra-premium credit card for high net worth individuals
JP Morgan Chase
US: Chase and United Airlines launch United MileagePlus Explorer Card offering travel benefits
US: Chase launches new rewards program for the Ink Classic and Ink Cash cards
MasterCard
Canada: McDonald’s rolls out PayPass acceptance
Maybank
Malaysia: Maybank introduces Malaysia’s first airline co-brand business card with American Express and Malaysian Airlines
National Bank of Abu Dhabi
UAE: National Bank of Abu Dhabi launches full mobile phone app
NETS
Singapore: NETS launches iNETS QuickPay Payment collection solution for SMEs
PayPal
US: PayPal launches near field communication person-to-person payments
Global: PayPal updates PayPal Payflow Link for improved Payment Card Industry compliance
US Bank
US: US Bank launches dual-purpose contactless wristband
US: US Bank and Monitise launch mobile banking service for prepaid card customers
Visa
Australia: ANZ and Visa report positive findings from mobile phone payment trial
Western Union
Global: Western Union to enable cash settlement for purchases on AliExpress.com through its network
Global: Western Union to acquire Travelex Global Business Payments

M&A, PARTNERSHIPS, AND ORGANIC GROWTH
Bank of Moscow
Russia: Bank of Moscow, VTB24, and TransCreditBank merge their ATM networks
First Data
Germany: First Data extends its contract with Oldenburgische Landesbank
FIS
US: NYCE teams with UK’s LINK network
US: FIS chosen by Amalgamated Bank of Chicago for credit card processing, loyalty, and fraud prevention
Isis
US: Isis forms relationships with Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and American Express
MoneyGram
Canada: MoneyGram renews its agreement with Canada Post
South America: MoneyGram adds new agents in Colombia, Peru, and Paraguay
Monitise
Indonesia: Monitise Asia Pacific to open for business in Indonesia
PayPal
US: eBay to acquire Zong

APPENDIX
Methodology
Further reading
Ask the analyst
Disclaimer

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure: In the July edition of the Payment Card Competitor Tracker , 46 competitor developments are analyzed
Figure: The number of products, services, and innovation developments declined slightly in July and remained lower than the 12-month average
Figure: North America had the highest level of activity, accounting for 22 developments in July
Figure: Of 46 developments, issuers accounted for 19
Figure: The mobile space remains the most prolific area of activity
Figure: Partnerships recorded the highest number of developments in the M&A, partnerships, and organic growth category