I don't think scare tactics and blatant ramping will help Keycorp.
Amex and other issuers will be issuing EMV-type contactless cards (QSVDC for Visa, M-Chip for MasterCard and .... briefly forgetting name of Amex app). All are encrypted technology and not based on MSD type technology which you have referred to below.
I'm glad that Keycorp are making a greater focus on some of the card side of things as they were pretty clearly out of their depth with dual market terminal products (almost impossible to be a mainstream terminal provider unless you are in many markets, as evidenced by the Thales e-Transactions/Hypercom, Ingenico/Sagem and VeriFone/Lipman mergers).
If I was going to invest any money at the moment I would probably lean towards one of a couple of camps.
1. VeriFone (PAY) - Have been smashed by accounting scandal but underlying business should be pretty good. Are making a strong push at Canadian market (presently dominated by Ingenico) and also making a stronger push in A/P (have just appointed new staff in A/P).
2. Some of the more speculative NFC companies. A bit of a dime a dozen and until they sort out the SWP debate I think we're in for a bit of a rocky road. That said, Nokia are planning a much larger release of NFC phones next year and there is a big space in that market.
Until I see Keycorp have a solid year I just don't trust management. That said, they are pretty cheap so a lot of that risk has been taken out.
KYC Price at posting:
0.0¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Not Held
