Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals

Though still growing in volume from month to month, substitute checks now account for only about one-third of total image-exchange traffic between banks, according to the latest industrywide data. By contrast, a year ago these costly paper printouts of check images amounted to 56% of all image-exchange volume. At the …

The booming popularity of prepaid cards has created opportunities for payments companies far beyond just issuing plastic cards. The reloading of already-issued prepaid cards, for instance, is emerging as a major business. And that means Monrovia, Calif.-based Green Dot Corp.'s 40,000-location reload network is attracting attention from such big companies …

It's the summer of change in the executive suites of some major payment-industry companies. Two days after No. 1 processor First Data Corp. named a new chief executive, struggling payment-terminal manufacturer Hypercom Corp. announced that William Keiper, its chief executive for not quite two years, would leave his post Aug …

PayPal Inc.'s much-anticipated mobile-commerce service made its official debut this week in a development PayPal executive Kevin Dulsky calls a “game-changing” event for the electronic-transactions business. The launch of PayPal Mobile Checkout, which claims at least 20 merchants signed up so far, follows weeks of speculation about the m-commerce version …

Michael D. Capellas, a tech executive from outside the payments industry, will head First Data Corp. as the No. 1 payment processor begins its new life as a privately held company. Capellas, who held top posts at MCI Inc. and Compaq Computer Corp., will take over as chief executive from …

The U.S Patent and Trademark Office has upheld substantially all of the claims contained in a key patent held by DataTreasury Corp. that covers processes related to check image exchange. The USPTO decision, reached in May but not made public until recently, follows a formal process in which Plano, Texas-based …

The momentum behind contactless payments is likely to stall unless the wave-and-pay method moves from cards to mobile phones, a new research report argues. But while that movement may boost the potential for mobile payments, it will also require a delicate balance of interests among card issuers, payment networks, merchants, …

The fortunes of individual merchant acquirers not withstanding, the acquiring industry as a whole for decades has proffered an unofficial guarantee of recession-proof growth. But a new study by First Annapolis Consulting Inc. shows that changes in the acquiring industry's growth rates are increasingly correlated to retail sales growth. And …

Image-exchange networks and the financial institutions that use them to process checks electronically may have to contend with a dwindling supply of checks sooner than they expected. For the time being, the networks are doing a robust business, with the volume of items expected to more than quadruple this year, …

Fraudsters have started using computer files that allow them to instantly create a phishing site on a compromised computer, a move that could make their activities harder to detect, a report from RSA Security Inc. says. The Bedford, Mass.-based security firm's Anti-Fraud Command Center has discovered what it calls a …

An online-ordering system for fast food, introduced in January by a Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based independent sales organization, has been adopted by more than 1,200 locations so far, including small proprietors looking to compete with large chains. The system, which allows consumers to order and pay for pizzas, sandwiches, and other …

Payment companies devote countless hours and millions of dollars to protecting sensitive customer and payment data from outside computer hackers, but the theft of 2.3 million customer records announced today by check and card processor Fidelity National Information Services Inc. (FIS) shows that employee theft remains a serious?and difficult?problem to …

Discover Financial Services LLC, whose shares began trading on Monday on the New York Stock Exchange, is finally on its own as a corporate entity for the first time in its 22-year- history. But while the spin-off from parent company Morgan Stanley is complete, Discover's mission of gaining market share …

Now that the two top executives have been appointed to run Visa Inc., the massive entity that will emerge from a sweeping restructuring of the worldwide Visa organization, payments observers see more capability in place to deal with issues to come. But the departure of Visa USA head John Philip …

Alternative payments have penetrated the market for airline tickets with Northwest Airlines Inc.'s decision to accept PayPal on its Web site. The move by the major air carrier, which executes about 1,400 daily departures around the world, makes it the first airline to accept PayPal and gives the San Jose, …

The strategic review that payment processor eFunds Corp. disclosed May 9 ended today with the announcement that another processor, Jacksonville, Fla.-based Fidelity National Information Services Inc. (FIS), will buy e-Funds for $1.8 billion in cash. The purchase price of $36.50 per share represents a 5.5% premium over eFunds' Tuesday closing …

After years of steadily reducing the number of offices processing checks, the Federal Reserve Banks announced on Tuesday they plan to have just four regional centers providing paper check processing services by March 2011. Since the Fed system began restructuring its check-processing operations in 2003, it has already cut the …

Electronic bill payment is a key function Visa USA is expecting holders of the new Wal-Mart MoneyCard prepaid plastic will use the product for. According to Visa, nearly 20% of purchase transactions on its existing reloadable prepaid products are bill payments. The MoneyCard, which is issued by GE Money Bank …

Like MasterCard Inc. last year and Discover Financial Services LLC later this week, Visa Inc. is preparing to become the third standalone, publicly traded payment network. But a registration statement Visa filed Friday raises plenty of questions about the risks the world's largest card network faces in a litigious and …

Internet payments company Saf-T-Pay Corp. is about to roll out a system that taps consumers' demand-deposit accounts and bears similarities to those being promoted by NACHA?The Electronic Payments Association and tech company MODASolutions Inc. But Miami Beach, Fla.-based Saf-T-Pay says it has an easy-to-use solution that already is gaining credibility …