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SAN FRANCISCO - The next storm in an ongoing blizzard of California state paper comes Tuesday, when the California Statewide Communities Development Authority will price a deficit-driven deal in the $#.# billion range. The California...

SAN FRANCISCO - Poseidon Resources is seeking a $### million private-activity bond cap allocation from the California Debt Limit Allocation Committee this month in a bid to build the West Coast's first large-scale desalination plant....

COULD IT BE TIME TO SHORT LAS VEGAS? Grant Thornton's restructuring professionals have completed a study in which they declare gaming companies will increasingly go bankrupt as they fight slowing revenues and margins. The slowdown in...

PETER VOLCKER FORMER CHAIRMAN, FEDERAL RESERVE "People say I'm in favor of very narrow banking. I don't know exactly what narrow banking is, [or] what's the limit. I would permit banks to do underwriting, for instance, and advisory...

Decades before it was fashionable, Jim Cain (pictured above), and his older brother Dan, natives of Holyoke, Mass., started up an investment boutique, Cain Brothers. When they hung out their shingle the firm's specialty area as bankers...

Next Week's Big Deal: Consumer Sentiment In a week with little in the way of economic data, those looking for clues about the economy's well-being will be looking closely at the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment report due...

When CIT Group Inc. filed for bankruptcy it turned to a different type of debtor-in-possession loan structure - one that harkens back to more traditional financings of court-supervised companies - and the century-old company's ability...

Jobless Claims Off ##,### To ###,### in Oct. ## Week Initial jobless claims decreased by ##,### to ###,### in the week ending Oct. ##, the lowest number of claims since January, the Labor Department reported yesterday. Continuing claims...

The municipal market was again unchanged yesterday, as the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York came to market with over $### million of debt. Morgan Stanley priced $###.# million of revenue bonds for DASNY on behalf of New...

CIT Group looked to remodel itself with the purchase of a middle-market investment banking boutique two years ago, but now that the finance company has filed for bankruptcy the fate of the business unit is uncertain, leading some insiders...

Cowen Group's launch of a new investment banking business last week marked the first time in over a decade that it debuted a new vertical, and the hiring of four senior bankers to start up a financial institutions group is a bet that...

Now that various corners of Wall Street's credit market have reopened, market participants are asking when investors will start minting new collateralized loan obligations, and some predict that a new crop of deals will be brought to...

The biggest game of musical chairs ever to take place may not be in kindergarten classrooms, but within the world of private equity. Those left standing may be owners of companies that cannot readily refinance their debt who find they...

Life settlement securitizations have picked up some renewed interest in recent weeks, and market players believe the sector is poised for a revival. A life settlement is the sale of a life insurance policy to a third party. It's been...

With capital to spend, private-equity investors are slowly following the public market back into the waiting arms of struggling banks. Last week two Oregon strugglers, Cascade Bancorp in Bend and West Coast Bancorp in Lake Oswego, announced...

Two years ago, Bob McMahon wondered why antiquated systems at Bernard L. Madoff Investment Servicesweren't replaced with more modern and efficient off-the-shelf systems. The Madoff systems were expensive to maintain and made it difficult...

The Bond Buyer's weekly yield indexes rose this week amid a heavy onslaught of new issuance, mainly out of California, and a mostly unchanged secondary market. "I think there has been decent activity in the secondary, but without a...

At least one demographic is yet to trumpet the end of the recession: local governments. Despite signals everywhere that the economy may be emerging from the doldrums, Phil Villaluz, municipal strategist at Advisors Asset Management,...

DALLAS - The Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act program is likely here to stay, though it is unclear how much funding it will receive in the future, federal officials said here yesterday. "We need [TIFIA] more...

CHICAGO - The fiscal strain of deteriorating pension funding levels on local and state governments could contribute to downgrades in the next several years, especially among those governments that entered the recession with poor funding...

Western Union Co. has launched an online system that enables consumers to send Visa-branded gift cards packaged with personalized greeting cards through the mail. Consumers can personalize the Western Union Gift and Greeting Card with...

Citing a reduction in cash collections, Asset Acceptance Capital Corp. yesterday reported a net loss of $#.# million for the third quarter ended Sept. ##; the debt buyer generated net income of $# million during the same period a year...

Independent sales organizations that choose to offer their merchant clients data security from third-party vendors should evaluate closely which vendors best match their needs, observers note. ISOs create a "deadly combo" if they force...

Processing illegal online-gambling transactions between #### and #### will cost Optimal Group Inc. $##.# million, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York announced Friday. Optimal Group, a Montreal-based firm that operates...

Portfolio Recovery Associates Inc., a debt purchaser that buys and collects delinquent credit card portfolios, last week reported net income of $##.# million for the third quarter ended Sept. ##, a ##.#% decrease from $##.# million...

Couriers who retrieve cards and card personal identification numbers from victims' homes in prearranged pickups represent the latest fraud scheme affecting pensioners and the Asian community in the United Kingdom, according to payments...

The U.S. House of Representatives yesterday voted ### to ## to approve a bill that would expedite enforcement of key provisions of the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act passed last May to Dec. # from Feb....

Fiserv Inc. is planning to develop a person-to-person funds-transfer service that its bank clients could offer through their Web sites to consumers. The Brookfield, Wis.-based banking-technology company said Wednesday the upcoming service...

Hypercom Corp. says it will develop point-of-sale products using a "joint development manufacturing" model that provides greater partner input. Philippe Tartavull, Hypercom CEO and president, says the model would enable the Scottsdale,...

The seasonally adjusted Credit Manager's Index for October increased to ## from ##.# in September, according to a report released Monday by the National Association of Credit Management. The index, a gauge of economic factors affecting...

Merchants that accept payments through PayPal Inc. can begin conducting mobile credit card transactions through an agreement between PayPal and Billing Revolution, according to the Seattle-based provider of mobile-payments technology....

Obopay Inc. is expanding its person-to-person funds-transfer service into gaming, reports American Banker, a CardLine sister publication. The Redwood City, Calif.-based company said last week consumers who want to make purchases within...

MasterCard Worldwide's overall sales volume for credit, debit and charge cards fell slightly in regions outside the United States during the third quarter ended Sept. ##, MasterCard announced on Tuesday. While its sales volume declined...

* Payments-industry veteran John M. Perry has joined Transaction Network Services' payments division as general manager of the Americas. Before joining TNS, Perry was executive vice president of global sales and marketing at Ruesch...

Overall sales volume for credit and debit cards supported by Visa Inc. declined slightly in regions outside the United States during the quarter ended June ##, Visa announced on Tuesday. Visa reports its operational-performance data...

First Data Corp.'s recent decision to enable its Star electronic funds transfer network to double as a reload network for Star-branded prepaid debit cards indicates how different segments of the payments industry view the maturing prepaid...

Debit transactions have become a more important part of banks' payment mix, and that is not likely to change even after the economy recovers, reports American Banker, a CardLine sister publication. Brookfield, Wis.-based transaction...

Fiserv Inc. also is taking steps to beef up its online bill-payment capabilities. On Wednesday it announced a suite of "feature packs" for its hosted CheckFree RXP service, enabling banks to offer their customers bill-pay widgets, tools...

Troubled merchant-service provider Cynergy Data LLC has a new owner following a recent approval by a U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. The Comvest Group, a West Palm Beach, Fla.-based private investment firm, paid...

Wyoming Credit Union inks processing deal with TNB Cheyenne, Wyo.-based Western Vista Federal Credit Union has signed a seven-year deal with TNB Card Services Inc. to process transactions for its $# million card portfolio, reports Credit...

Though the grounds for adoption may be there, payments-industry players are unsure when U.S. card issuers might embrace chip-and-PIN technology. Chip-and-PIN follows the EMV antifraud standard requiring a chip in the card and cardholders...

First Data Corp. and VeriFone Holdings Inc. this afternoon announced a strategic partnership that will make First Data a preferred distributor and reseller of VeriFone secure countertop payment products in the U.S. through it its Tasq...

Most U.S. consumers intend to cut back on their holiday spending this year as the economy continues to influence their shopping choices, suggest the results of a Consumer Reports holiday-shopping poll released Thursday. However, fewer...

U.S. credit card performance in October was mixed as consumers continue to endure high unemployment rates and a lack of credit availability, according to Fitch Ratings' Prime Credit Card Index results released last week. Charge-offs...

Cardtronics Inc., a Houston-based independent sales organization, has reached an agreement to deploy ATMs in a Puerto Rico-based supermarket chain, both companies announced today. Cardtronics signed a five-year agreement with Supermercados...

Alliance Data Systems Corp. has acquired Charming Shoppes Inc.'s credit card receivables in an agreement completed today, according to Bensalem, Pa.-based Charming Shoppes. The companies also entered into a ##-year operating agreement...

Encore Capital Group Inc., a San Diego-based bad-debt buyer, Thursday reported net income of $# million for the third quarter ended Sept. ##, a ###% increase from $# million in the same period a year ago. The company paid $##.# million...

Commuters in Liverpool can use their own contactless debit or credit cards to pay for fares on some ### buses operated by Stagecoach Group PLC under a test that began this week. The test, scheduled to run for one year, marks the first...

Citing sluggish consumer and business spending, sales volume on MasterCard-branded credit and charge cards issued in the United States declined ##.#% during the third quarter ended Sept. ##, to $### billion from $### billion during...

The large data breach Heartland Payment Systems Inc. reported in January continues to adversely affect the payment processor, which reported a $##.# million third-quarter loss; the company reported $##.# million in net income for the...

Small and regional banks' reluctance to buy advanced-function ATMs helped cause Diebold Inc. today to report a $#.# million net loss for the third-quarter ended Sept. ##; the ATM manufacturer reported net income of $##.# million for...

Starting Nov. #, Fiserv Inc. says it will support Internet PIN-debit transactions on its Accel/Exchange network, reports American Banker, a CardLine sister publication. The Brookfield, Wis.-based financial-technology company says it...

USAA Federal Savings Bank has signed up for MasterCard Worldwide's Integrated Processing Solutions debit platform, reports American Banker, a CardLine sister publication. MasterCard designed the platform to help issuers launch new products...

More than half of consumers plan to use cash to pay for this year's holiday purchases, the findings of two surveys released this week suggest. In a telephone survey of #,### adults Opinion Research Corp. conducted Oct. # to ## on behalf...

MasterCard Worldwide has started to focus on convincing larger merchants, including fast-food chains and pharmacies, to accept contactless cards in the United Kingdom, Catherine Murchie, the card network's head of PayPass product management...

Payment processor Heartland Payment Systems Inc. says payment-terminal maker VeriFone Holdings Inc.'s offer to continue to support Heartland's merchants after Dec. ## as "a disingenuous attack." The two companies are at odds because...

It was probably only a matter of time, but September seemed was the month that saw Ken Lewis announce plans to retire. He was joined by John Mack, who drew up his exit from the CEO role at Morgan Stanley, and Wells Fargo's chairman,...

The investment style will be cautious. While there is clearly a lot of capital sitting on the sidelines, I expect most private equity firms to take baby steps when re-entering the market. While a down market is always the best time...

The reduction of access to capital has caused private equity firms to rethink their value-creation strategies. As significant efficiencies can be achieved through operational improvement, more firms are focusing on business process...

The economic downturn that has roiled global economies has brought similar upheaval to the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector, in which outside vendors take over back-office functions such as document management, billing and...

Nobody enjoys a recession. As a reporter, we don't like covering a bankruptcy any more than we enjoy covering a new deal or a new fund. If there is a silver lining, however, it's that the personalities that make up the industry start...

ACG Board #f Directors Chairman* Dennis J. White Senior Counsel, McDermott Will & Emery LLP ACG Boston Term expires #### Vice Chairman* Michael A. Carr Vice President, American Capital Ltd. ACG Los Angeles Term expires #### President...

There is something singularly energizing about fall. Crisp mornings, staggering autumnal landscapes - perhaps they both contribute to the palpable difference in activity as we transition from the tranquil summer doldrums. And so it...

Return of the recap? Dividend recaps are usually depicted as one of the excesses sponsors enjoyed during the credit bubble. Investors hungry for a realization could bring in more debt for a portfolio company, take a dividend for themselves...

"If the EMI auction started two weeks later, it wouldn't have occurred... We wouldn't have bought it. We'd have ## percent of our funds still to invest and we'd look like geniuses." - Former Terra Firma head Guy Hands, speaking to the...

Recovering the satellites Astrotech Corporation, the space exploration company led by T. Boone Pickens' son, Thomas Pickens III, has had a hard time getting investors to buy into the prospects of outer space. The publicly held Houston-based...

Thomas Pickens III is looking for a buyer for the private space outfit * Vivendi's NBC Universal Inc. Stake ........... * Nortel Networks' Packet Core Assets * SunCal Companies * Datascension's STO Operating Co. subsidiary * Barzel...

Bain's political machine From dealmaker to politician, and vice versa, is a jump that has been made many times before. The latest to give it a go is Bain Capital's Stephen Pagliuca, who is making a run for the late Ted Kennedy's US...

Dealmakers always prefer a clean break at the close of a transaction. These days, however, M&A pros are developing a love/hate relationship with earnouts and seller financing, two strategies that increasingly are being called on to...

In the absence of deal volume, the steady drum of activity coming out of the healthcare space has managed to keep the M&A engine from completely seizing. Driven by the idea that healthcare is countercyclical, and perhaps motivated to...

In ####, the Department of Justice sent inquiries to many of the most recognizable names in private equity. The letters merely asked for more information about club deals. For weeks and months later, observers and pundits speculated...

They sit at doorsteps, often neglected, or dangling from empty pay phone stalls. Yellow pages were probably an afterthought to Google, whose disruptive technology not only provides the phone number and address of the local pizza shop,...

Private equity pros are usually judged on the deals they do, but sometimes it's the transactions that slip through the cracks that can be the most telling. New Mountain Capital founder Steven Klinsky spent almost ## years at Forstmann...

The market for intellectual property, despite the global downturn, continues to develop. In fact, some view it as counter-cyclical, given that corporate attention tends to shift to IP as executives seek out new revenue streams in a...

In any given region there will be a handful of private equity firms and investment banks whose names are synonymous with the local market. Oftentimes, those names will even reflect a feature indigenous to the landscape, be it a river...

Valuations always seem easy in a strong market. It's not until the seasons change that deal pros realize how difficult a task pricing an asset can be. Add in a recession, backward-moving financials, a diminished pool of comparable sales,...

When Canada's Parliament approved amendments to the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) on Sept. ##, it brought the country's corporate bankruptcy process one step closer to Chapter ## proceedings in the US. More importantly,...

When the Sarbanes-Oxley Act was enacted by Congress in July ####, following the outcry surrounding the accounting scandals of Enron, WorldCom, Tyco International and others, the corporate landscape in the US shifted dramatically. The...

In ####, a couple of Canadian engineering students, subsisting largely on soda and pizza, formed a technology company, writing code for hours on end and living on a shoestring budget. This went on until the advent of the Internet afforded...

Jeremy Busch was recently recruited by Huron Capital Partners to oversee the firm's new outpost in Canada. Huron, based in Detroit, has invested in Canada before, but Busch's hiring represents perhaps a more dedicated effort to the...

Spun off from Synovus Financial Corp. on the last day of ####, Total System Services Inc. entered #### with much more control over its costs and a newfound ability to make its own decisions about acquisitions. "Little did we know we...

Lender Processing Services has positioned itself as a mortgage technology and service provider for all weather, yet in its first year as an independent company it's proven to be particularly adept at storm drainage. "The story for LPS...

It is safe to say that Metavante Technologies Inc., a stalwart of the FinTech ### since the list's inception in ####, will not be making a return appearance in ####. The Milwaukee vendor, No. ## on the list for the past two years, sold...

The Top ## Enterprise companies in FinTech breaks out those companies that derive less than one-third of their revenue from the financial services industry and ranks them according to the total revenue they derive from the industry....

While TD Bank's "once-a-decade" systems failure earlier this fall might have a serious impact on its reputation for convenience and reliability, it also offered an unusual customer-service opportunity: managing a crisis almost exclusively...

It's not always crime that brings negative attention to a bank's networks; sometimes it's an honest mistake. But either way, First Direct's erroneously sending customers text messages with other people's transaction details earlier...

Time has been one of the enemies of teller capture adoption, most notably the perception that lines at branches will get longer if tellers are responsible for scanning checks. But for Kade Pederson, teller capture is right on time....

Over the past fifteen years, the nature of the World Wide Web has transformed from static, individual Web pages and basic email ("Web #.#") to the current Web ("Web #.#") where a host of new capabilities such as social networking, wikis...

Steve Shaw's line, "While Fiserv does have integrated PFM solutions, I will not be showing pie charts in this demo today," was greeted by hearty laughs by the audience of the Finovate conference in New York in September. Shaw, director...

Mobile banking use should double this year alone, and in order to graduate from basic balance queries and alerts to robust payments, vendors are flooding the market with products that suggest an intermediate step of usability and attractive...

G MAN CAN'T BANK ONLINE After almost getting caught by phishermen, FBI head Robert Mueller's wife has apparently banned him from banking online. In a recent speech to the Commonwealth Club of California, Mueller copped to almost being...

Hoping to encourage more consumers to receive bills electronically, Fiserv has introduced a service that lets billers send invoices by e-mail and use text-message alerts to send billing notices to mobile phones. The firm's Biller Direct...

Heartland Payment System's CEO Bob Carr has become the payment industry's most vocal security evangelist, on the speakers' circuit predicting that #### will be the year that the payments chain becomes significantly more secure. "I believe...

* Former Freddie Mac and United Guarantee exec Griff Straw has been named president of Solidifi, an appraisal management firm. * SmartHippo, a vertical search engine and comparison shopping site for financial products, has named former...

"You get a lot of eye candy, but they're all leveraging somebody's centralized offering," -Brian Link, CEO of SimpliFi, a PFM site that offers investment advice over "whiz-bang" features, about the rest of the PFM offerings on the Web....

As it preps for an early #### debut, de novo GreenChoice Bank is running a little light on office space. But the bank's founders aren't worried; using environmentally-focused IT to reduce office space is of the plan. "We're running...

Paperless billing advocate PayitGreen, whose members include Wells Fargo, U.S. Bank and J.P. Morgan, is embarking on a new membership program, and has added more interactivity to its Website. The Website will now include free information...

Scanners are much cheaper than they used to be, but not cheap enough for many small businesses, who are still reluctant to adopt remote deposit capture. "In a sour economy, people are looking at costs," says Bob Meara, an analyst at...

At a recent customer event hosted by fraud and AML platform vendor Actimize, Bank Technology News sat down with Gartner vp and fraud expert Avivah Litan; Lester Joseph, principal deputy chief of the Department of Justice's Asset Forfeiture...

Remittance schemes can span a range of technology capabilities and access barriers, but the opportunity exists for banks to simplify both execution and fraud prevention by using the Web channel. "[Online bank remittance] is like having...