Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals

Not only is the sheer volume of phishing attacks rising, but the sophistication by which fraudsters are fooling unwitting Internet users is increasing, as well, according to a recent report from the Anti-Phishing Working Group. The organization of law-enforcement agencies, security-software companies, and payment networks says it observed several new …

Although it's a minuscule portion of the total value of retailer-issued gift cards sold in the U.S., the nascent aftermarket for these cards is set for a boom, according to recent research by TowerGroup Inc., Needham, Mass. About 4,500 cards are currently available for auction on a number of recently …

Although their rate of deployment has slowed somewhat, independent sales organizations continue to install ATMs at a rapid rate and now control nearly half of the 394,500 machines in service in the U.S., according to a new study from Tremont Capital Group Inc. Moreover, the Boston-based investment advisory firm's report …

When Visa U.S.A. last month set out a new, stricter transaction-routing policy aimed at making sure all Visa payments flow through VisaNet, its backbone network, the rule's underlying purpose?to curb so-called on-us networking of transactions initiated with Visa cards?made headlines. But another, and less noted, part of the new policy …

Recent jumps in transaction activity and new business from both banks and billers have boosted optimism among online bill-payment processors and brightened their outlook for 2005 and beyond. Princeton eCom Corp., a 21-year-old processor in Princeton, N.J., ended 2004 having closed some 40 deals, including 34 with billers and six …

Mobile virtual network operators are finding success in re-selling carriers' prepaid wireless service in part through their efforts to penetrate the youth and elderly markets, which are far less saturated than other age groups, according to a leading researcher. Adding to the MVNOs' ability to pick up new subscribers in …

VECTORsgi said today that recent sales of its software have positioned its systems to control potentially 40% of the volume of check-image exchange. The announcement indicates that, although full-scale transmission among banks of digital check images may still be years away, banks are jockeying to be ready for image exchange, …

Visa USA's decision to enter the contactless payment market represents a major change in strategy at the card association, which up to now had experimented with radio-frequency-based payment overseas but had not seen the U.S. as ripe for the technology. Now, with its announcement last week that it had created …

Having doubled its merchant base via portfolio acquisitions last year, Dallas-based processor TransFirst has created a product division aimed, it says, at introducing new services to help retain merchants and give independent sales agents more ways to relieve pressure on pricing. The first new products, which will go live in …

NCR Corp. is acquiring Tidel Technologies Inc.'s ATM business for $10.2 million in a deal expected to close in the fourth quarter. Following a terse announcement released this morning, spokesmen for both companies referred to an 8-K filing Tidel is expected to make later today with the Securities and Exchange …

The nation's largest electronic funds transfer network is rejiggering its interchange pricing in an effort to penetrate new merchant categories and convert more low-value transactions?in some cases, below $10?to PIN debit. As part of a sweeping set of pricing changes to go into effect May 1, Star Networks Inc. is …

This will be a year of substantial deployment for contactless payments based on radio-wave technology as card networks roll out programs and merchants find the systems perform as promised, a new research study says. “Merchants are finding it works,” says Erik Michielsen, director for RFID and ubiquitous networks at ABI …

Reino Parking Systems Inc. said today it had deployed parking meters in locations around the U.S. that will accept credit card payments from either cards or mobile phones, with transactions processed through SunTrust Merchant Services LLC and Peppercoin Inc. The meters are equipped with card swipes, but users with cards …

MasterCard International's PayPass contactless payment technology will be deployed at 900 points of sale for concessions inside two stadiums starting with the 2005 National Football League preseason, the card company announced today. Interest among sports stadiums in PayPass, which replaces conventional card swipes with radio signals that carry card-account data …

Some ATM experts are expecting the number of wireless terminals to increase in coming years, and not just for mobile applications like flea markets and fairs. Fixed-location deployments, such as retail stores, may increasingly adopt untethered ATMs because of their TCP/IP connections through readily available public cellular networks and their …

Nashville, Tenn.-based iPayment Inc., a publicly held independent sales organization processing for 125,000 small merchants, reported strong results for the fourth quarter of last year and for all of 2004, driven mainly by increased economies of scale from merchant-portfolio acquisitions. Revenue jumped to $101.4 million for the quarter and $364.2 …

Boston-based Vayusa Inc., which markets its m-commerce service under the name MobileLime, has had discussions with a national retailer and restaurant chain about offering its m-commerce network nationally. If successful, the deals could pave the way for MobileLime to reach the 172 million or so mobile users in the U.S. …

The ATM Exchange, a supplier of ATM parts and service, will begin selling next month a retrofit product for older ATMs that upgrades them to run on Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating system. The product, called 3DES Plus XP, also renders ATMs compliant with so-called triple-DES encryption requirements laid down by …

The advent of ATMs running Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating system is making it easier for banks, retailers, and other machine deployers to add revenue-generating features to the machines, including advertising. PNC Corp., a Pittsburgh-based bank, has found success in introducing advertising and couponing capability as it swaps out older ATMs …

Add-on pricing as well as an increase in manual items kept the fees banks and independent sales organizations pay to processors from dropping in 2004, according to a new acquirer-pricing study released today. Although most observers thought processor fees might decline somewhat last year as a result of the emergence …