Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals

Specialty payment processor BankServ, one of the pioneers of remote deposit capture, is preparing a move into the mobile-payments market thanks to its recent acquisition of the assets of Commerciant LP. Houston-based Commerciant offers merchants wireless payments software and a unique wireless terminal that scans checks and takes credit card …

In a move to simplify solutions in the rapidly changing mobile-banking market, mFoundry Inc. has added enhanced capabilities to its m-banking product. It now offers text banking (SMS) and alerts, as well as support within the mobile web browser (WAP). The two new modes join mFoundry's mobile applications-based downloadable solution …

Hammered by rising payment-infrastructure costs and a deteriorating economy, billers are starting to push customers harder to receive bills electronically rather than by paper. The rising tide of home foreclosures, indeed, serves as a wakeup call to billers that aren't looking at electronic bill presentment, since it's getting harder to …

Despite the economic downturn and softening volumes, MasterCard Inc. put in a “solid” first quarter, Robert Selander, MasterCard president and chief executive, said early Friday. “Our volumes have been impacted by significant headwinds, such as slower cross-border travel, lower gas prices, and an appreciating dollar,” Selander said at an analysts' …

A payments-focused group of heavyweight merchants is emerging from obscurity to push for new standards to protect credit and debit card data. But just how these standards would complement or possibly conflict with the existing Payment Card Industry data-security standard (PCI) remains unknown. The organization, called the Merchant Advisory Group, …

Its ultimate significance may prove to be months away, but a new handset introduced last week by Nokia has some mobile-payments observers expressing hope that talk of mobile transactions at the point of sale may now be more realistic. “It is definitely something that will move the conversation along,” says …

It's been implicit for a while, but eBay Inc. on Wednesday made it clear that it has big hopes for its PayPal payments subsidiary as the company evolves from its core Internet auction business. “PayPal's opportunity and its niche is to power all of e-commerce,” eBay president and chief executive …

Airlines lost more than $1.4 billion to online fraudsters in 2008, representing about 1.3% of their Web-generated revenues. Those are two key findings from a first-of-its-kind survey about air carriers' Internet-related fraud. Mountain View, Calif.-based CyberSource Corp. commissioned the survey with Airline Information LLC, which produces conferences and publications about …

Hypercom Corp. reports it is starting to see interest building in a service that allows merchants to inject new encryption keys in their point-of-sale terminals through network connections, eliminating the need to visit stores or send the devices out to have the job done. “It's been a pretty substantial effort” …

The Payment Card Industry data-security standard (PCI) is a favorite punching bag of merchants, but executives from Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc. defended the set of security rules before an audience of independent sales organizations as the best tool available for keeping cardholder information safe from computer hackers. They also …

The White House is scheduled to dress down credit card issuers this week. That and current and possible bills in Congress increase the chances of new regulations on merchant acquirers, according to a lobbyist for the Electronic Transactions Association trade group of independent sales organizations and other merchant processors. Congress …

Ask most acquirers and independent sales organizations what keeps them up at night, and at or near the top of the list is the job of getting their smaller merchants to comply with the Payment Card Industry data-security standard (PCI). The security requirement, whose detailed mandates even larger merchants find …

In an unprecedented effort to thwart data breaches, the three leading vendors of payment card terminals on Wednesday put aside their normally fierce rivalries to announce creation of a non-profit industry group to implement common security standards and improve knowledge about security issues. “The self interest aligns with the public …

First Atlantic Commerce this week issued a strongly worded statement distancing itself from an investigation launched by the U.S. Department of Justice of offshore transactions. First Data Corp. last week said it was reviewing documents Justice filed in federal court seeking information on First Data merchants that sell or provide …

U.S. automakers and lots of banks are finding their business models under severe stress, but not so money-transfer businesses despite a likely decline in transfer volume this year, according to new research from Aite Group LLC. The industry, especially big players such as The Western Union Co. and MoneyGram International …

First Data Corp. is reviewing documents filed in federal court earlier this week by the U.S. Department of Justice seeking information on First Data merchants that sell or provide offshore services, including financial processing, a spokesperson said in a statement Thursday. The Justice Department on Wednesday asked the U.S. District …

The recent massive data breaches at RBS WorldPay Inc. and Heartland Payment Systems Inc. ?two merchant acquirers deemed in compliance with the Payment Card Industry data-security standard by qualified assessors?left many in the industry questioning the effectiveness of the PCI standard. But a newly released report from Verizon Business concludes …

Contactless payments took another incremental step recently when USA Technologies Inc. struck an agreement with Visa Inc. under which Visa will subsidize the deployment of up to 4,000 of USA Technologies' card-accepting devices for vending machines. The agreement, potentially worth $800,000, is significant because it is the first between Visa …

Inexorable forces are reducing the ranks of payments processors and electronic bill-payment providers, as the planned buy-out of Metavante Corp. by Fidelity National Information Services Inc. (FIS) shows. Remaining ones such Online Resources Corp. are vulnerable to Wall Street pressure, as a proxy fight in progress shows. But some companies …

Bling Nation Ltd. on Wednesday said it has completed a 10-day test of its alternative-payment platform, known as the Community Payment Service. The Palo Alto, Calif.-based company also said it plans to continue testing its system preparatory to a rollout. Bling Nation's platform creates closed-loop transaction networks linking local merchants …