Mr. Norman Litell
Former Vice President Strategic Planning, VISA U.S.A. INC.
Member of the Financial Services Council
Council Member Biography
Norman Litell was a Vice President of Strategic Planning at Visa USA (leaving December 2003) where he provided strategic planning, risk management and product/project management support for business and government payment system activities. In this role at Visa, Mr. Litell was responsible for all operations, systems/technology, risk and regulatory aspects of Visa's participation in U.S.-based payment systems, including development of new payment products and services. He also managed product and service risk management, coordinated Y2K contingency planning for the US, served on EFTA and NACHA Boards and Councils, and was a Regent of the Payments Institute. Mr. Litell came to Visa with more than 20 years domestic and international financial industry experience at Citibank, Merrill Lynch and Bank of America. He also served as a management consultant specializing in market research and information technology issues in a variety of industries. Mr. Litell received his MBA from Harvard Business School, focusing on International Business. (This is me - Update Profile)
Employment History
- 2000 - 2003
- Vice President Strategic Planning, VISA U.S.A. INC.
- 1997 - 1999
- Director, Product/Service Risk Managment, VISA U.S.A. INC.
GLG NewsSM Analyses by Norman Litell
GLG News is now G+ Insights
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Contactless Cards – a Correction
September 13, 2006
Half a billion RFID tags shipped in 2005 | www.vnunet.com
Contactless cards are likely to be rolled out in rapidly increasing numbers by issuers throughout the US. However, it is important to understand how these cards are used as well as the driving forces behind this issuance.
Contrary to the statements of some analysts, contactless cards definitely do NOT “identify if the cardholder is the owner of the card before the transaction is approved.” Instead, a contactless card or similar device (keyfob, etc.) simply provides a rapid means of transmitting the information in the card to a payment terminal. The security infrastructure of contactless cards makes them difficult and costly to counterfeit compared counterfeiting mag-stripe cards, and also makes it difficult to “snoop” on the transaction and intercept card data as it is transmitted to the terminal. However, contactless technology in no way authenticates the user of the card.
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Populist Rhetoric and Public Ignorance – Keys to the Interchange Controversy
August 11, 2006
An increase of ‘intercharges’ | www.qctimes.net
This article is a good example of tabloid journalism – blanket assertions and provocative quotes that are more directed at increasing circulation than informing any enlightening discussion of real issues. If there is one key lesson to be learned from this article, it is that MasterCard. Visa and the banks have done a very poor job of explaining and defending the basis of interchange, thereby encouraging the kind of ignorant criticism this article exemplifies.
While various aspects of the interchange system may be debated, its basic purpose and structure are generally accepted as logical and legitimate by most economists. However, if MasterCard, Visa and the banks continue to hold their cards close to their vests, attempting to defend their legal right to set interchange instead of explaining how and why it benefits all parties to the card-based payment system, they risk intervention from a Congress which is driven as much by political pressure as by rational analysis.
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Discover Pact with FDC Increases Acceptance Base and Value of the Discover Franchise
July 17, 2006
Discover’s First Data Deal May Be Just Its First Pact with Big Acquirers | www.digitaltransactions.net
Discover’s new pact with FDC opens up a large new market segment that the fourth-ranking card issuer could not afford to penetrate on its own. The result is a two-fold benefit for Discover:
- Expanding the acceptance base provides increased opportunities for existing cardholders to use their Discover card.
- An expanded acceptance base also make the Discover card a more attractive alternative for potential new cardholders.
These two factors, together with Discover’s previous acquisition of the PULSE network, are making Discover an increasingly credible player and viable competitor in the payment card arena.
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The Demise of First Data Net -- a Good End to a Bad Idea
July 14, 2006
End of First Data Net Saga Sets up FDC To Get Payments from Visa | digitaltransactions.net
The U.S. payment system environment, is one of strong competition, between clearinghouses, associations, processors and financial institutions, with each of these parties increasingly dependent on partially competitive business partners to help deliver new products and services to the market. Against this background, Visa has long had a complex, tense and sometimes antagonistic relationship with the processors that support its Members – especially with FDC.
Settlement of this particular dispute – which has its roots in grandfathered arrangements that date back to the founding of Visa – marks a new and positive phase in the relationship between Visa, its Members and their processors, and signals a new level of maturity in the management of both Visa and FDC. Going forward, this settlement should create a better environment for wide-ranging innovation in payment systems, benefiting both users and providers of these services.
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May 18, 2006
Sage CEO: Intuit Is Our Top Rival--Not Microsoft, Oracle, SAP | www.crn.com
Large, broad-based software firms are often not a significant threat to smaller, industry-specialized software companies such as Sage Software.
GLG Study Groups with Norman Litell(?)
| Study Group Name | No. Members |
|---|---|
| Credit Card Experts | 910 |
| Point-Of-Sale (POS) Terminal Experts | 549 |
GLG Live Meetings with Norman Litell(?)
Norman Litell has not participated in any GLG Live Meetings.
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