2013年3月20日星期三

US debit networks back Discover application for common chip spec

Discover beat out competition from MasterCard and Visa to win the mandate following an evaluation from a working group convened under the auspices of the Secure Remote Payment Council (SRPC).

Diane Offereins, president of payment services at Discover, says: "Discover has deployed D-PAS for the past four years and already has millions of cards in market among international issuers. We are confident it is the right path forward for US debit networks."

The SRPC - a cross-industry trade association formed in 2010 - says the decision is the culmination of months of evaluation of different proposals. It has called on Visa, MasterCard and outlying debit networks to get behind the initiative and take steps to commercialise it.

The group says it will also evaluate the use of one-time card number technology developed by First Data/Star as a further protection layer against skimming and data breach frauds.

Randy Vanderhoof, executive director of the Smart Card Alliance, welcomed the move as a significant breakthrough in the debit routing issue: "The limits that put the Visa and MasterCard option at a disadvantage for the regional debit networks, namely support for contactless, limits over cardholder verification choices, and switching concerns have been addressed by using DPAS. Discover is offering up its significant investment and intellectual property to the regional debit networks in exchange for having a chance at having its Pulse debit card being one of two application choices on a chip card. That puts them in a stronger position with issuers choosing to use them as their second debit option under Durbin."

US regulations passed last year on debit card interchange fees and routing require that issuers support at least two unaffiliated brands on debit cards in order to provide merchant routing choice - a requirement that will need to be accommodated within chip technology in the future.

"Deployment of a single interoperable chip and PIN solution for PIN debit should put in place one of the biggest remaining puzzle pieces to spur the US payment industry toward adoption of chip technology."

Forgive John Calipari if he wants to put this whole mess behind him and talk about next season. To say this season, which started with his Kentucky basketball team ranked No. 3 in the nation, did not go according to plan would be quite an understatement.

Calipari lost 12 this season, his fourth with Kentucky. He lost 14 games combined in his first three seasons coaching the Wildcats. He lost 14 combined in his final four seasons at Memphis.

Calipari had been to the Sweet 16 or beyond in each of the previous seven seasons – the Elite Eight six times, the Final Four three. He won a national title last year.

Tuesday night, Kentucky ended its season with a stunning loss at Robert Morris in a first-round National Invitation Tournament game played in a 3,000-seat gym with roll-away wooden bleachers. It marked the first time a Calipari team hadn't either made the NCAA Tournament or won three-plus games in the NIT since his Massachusetts squad did so in 1990 – his second season as a head coach.

"Nobody thought the season would be like this," UK freshman forward Alex Poythress said. "This is very surprising. Last year's team was just so good, they made it look so easy. In reality, it's not."

Calipari called it humbling. He said he learned some valuable lessons. But then he basically said: Look out, world.

"They'll say, 'Well, maybe you can't do it with young guys.' And I come back to: We did it last year, won a national title with young players. But that'll be out there. So we'll have something to prove," Calipari said. "If there's any doubters, have at it. You can doubt all you want. This program's in great shape."

Calipari is bringing in the nation's No. 1 recruiting class. Yawn. That's his fifth in a row. But this one is different. With an unprecedented six McDonald's All-Americans in the group, including Julius Randle, the nation's No. 2 prospect who picked the Wildcats on Wednesday, many recruiting gurus are calling it the best class ever assembled.

Add to that the big news out of Kentucky's somber postgame locker room Tuesday night. Freshmen Archie Goodwin, Willie Cauley-Stein and Poythress all said they're unprepared for the NBA and don't plan on being one-and-dones like so many Calipari players before them. Goodwin and Poythress sounded certain about coming back – "I don't think I'm ready," Poythress said – while Cauley-Stein hedged a bit.

There was no word from star Nerlens Noel, who missed the final nine games because of a torn anterior cruciate ligament. He is still considered a top-five NBA pick and is expected to leave. But if the others come back, along Kyle Wiltjer and Ryan Harrow as juniors, Kentucky could have a super team on its hands.

"It's no reason why I think any of our guys should really leave," Goodwin said. "We should come back next year … and just try to do better than what we did this year. Because the expectations we had for ourselves this year, we didn't meet them at all. We didn't come close."

Goodwin said Kentucky will have a hungry group of returning players to drive the newcomers – as it did last season when Doron Lamb, Terrence Jones and Darius Miller formed a veteran core that helped guide the Wildcats to the program's eighth NCAA title.

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