BILL.L Regulatory News (BILL)

12 Mar 2007 13:05

BSG Clearing Solutions (BSG), the telecom industry's leadingclearing and settlement provider, today announced the availability ofBill2Phone(TM), a real-time payment solution that offers onlinemerchants, content aggregators and e-wallet providers the ability toprocess electronic payments to consumers' local telephone bill.Bill2Phone(TM) includes risk management, advanced transactional andsettlements reporting, recurring payments and a virtual terminal.Since its availability on January 15, 2007, BSG has closed five newBill2Phone(TM) customer contracts. £ With over 1,400 LEC billing partnerships, BSG's Bill2Phone(TM)gives merchants expanded consumer reach with access to over 140million local telephone bills. Online merchants will also be able toexpand their customer reach demographics by providing Bill2Phone(TM)to new consumers that don't have, can't have, or don't use creditcards. This new demographic allows merchants to optimize their revenuethrough consumer expansion. £ "BSG has taken a leadership position by working very closely withthe LEC community and online merchants to ensure Bill2Phone(TM)provides the industry's most secure, convenient telephone billingpayment option," commented Greg Carter, President of BSG ClearingSolutions North America, LLC. "With credit card-like, web serviceinterfaces and competitive prices, merchants can now easily add thisunique payment solution to their shopping carts, thereby opening upnew customer demographics, realizing purchasing uplift, and providinga world class buying experience." £ According to the Yankee Group, 40% of the population using theInternet does not have credit cards, and in a study conducted byInternet Retailer, 78% of consumers said "they would be more inclinedto purchase online if given a safer, more convenient payment methodthan a credit card." Not only can the Bill2Phone(TM) increase customersatisfaction by offering a safer alternative, but it can also reducecheckout abandonment for the merchants by offering a non-credit cardpayment solution. £ As part of BSG's Advanced Payment Gateway (APG(TM)),Bill2Phone(TM) shares the same high-availability architecture and PCIcompliance features of BSG's credit card processing and acquiringsolutions. The feature set is designed to make it easier for merchantsto accept multiple payment options and use a single payments processorfor Terminal Services, Real-Time and Batch Processing, Reporting,Recurring Billing, Risk Management and more. Bill2Phone(TM) featuresinclude: £ -- E-Statements: Emailed statements of all purchases made in a given day helps the consumer accurately keep track of spending on the telephone bill £ -- E-Mail Purchase Confirmations: Available to merchants who would like their customers to receive a confirmation of goods just purchased £ -- Virtual Terminal: Allows merchants to enter or modify a single transaction on behalf of the user £ -- Recurring Payments: Allows merchants to set up a recurring charge for a consumer with appropriate notifications £ -- URU(TM) Authentication Services: Verifies that a consumer is who they say they are and are authorized to purchase £ -- WebTrack(TM) Reporting: Includes reports for full transaction life cycle management and settlement positions to properly manage the merchant's business £ -- Real-Time and Batch Interfaces: Common unified interfaces between all payment types in near real-time or batch to simplify usage and match merchant requirements. APIs are available for recurring billing or single transactions £ -- Risk Management Solutions: Optional fraud management controls, analysis and models to maximize profits and reduce risk £ Bill2Phone(TM) also includes BSG's URU(TM), from its RiskManagement solutions. BSG's fraud solutions can provide the following:Balance Management Authorizations, Real-time Authentications using anyof the following databases: (LEC databases, credit bureaus), LECspecific authorization types like BillBlock, the largest phonenumber-based negatives database, fraud monitoring with advancedheuristics and merchant specific transaction analytic modeling. £ About BSG Clearing Solutions £ BSG Clearing Solutions is a leading global provider of clearingand settlement, payment services, and financial risk managementsolutions for communications service providers. The company processesover 20 billion transactions annually for 750 of the world's largestcommunications companies throughout North America, Europe and Asia.With a ubiquitous, scalable platform and an extensive portfolio ofclearinghouse services for fixed-line, wireless, Wi-Fi, and broadbandnetworks, BSG monetizes network transactions by facilitating thefinancial exchange of its customers' services. BSG meets the needs oftoday's complex network interconnections and anticipates therequirements of converging technologies, allowing for rapid andreliable deployment. BSG Clearing Solutions is an operating subsidiaryof Billing Services Group Limited, which is publicly traded on theLondon Stock Exchange (AIM) under the ticker symbol BILL. For moreinformation, visit www.bsgclearing.com. Copyright Business Wire 2007