Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals

Hypercom Corp., a supplier of point-of-sale transaction devices, has entered the electronic-transaction networking business with the formation of a new subsidiary, HBNet Inc. The new unit has been set up to compete with the dominant player in transaction networking, Reston, Va.-based Transaction Network Services Inc., which completed an initial public …

TransFirst, a Dallas-based processor, today announced it is forming a new division to focus on alliances with independent sales organizations. The new unit, called TransFirst Independent Sales Services, is headed by Nancy Newton, who holds the title of president of the division. Newton is a former Compass Bank and Paymentech …

Frustration with electronic-transaction pricing may be reaching a boiling point in the supermarket industry, says one expert who keeps an eye on payments issues at the National Grocers Association, an Arlington, Va.-based trade group that includes independent supermarkets and wholesalers among its 12,000-plus members. Interchange and other costs for credit …

Electronic funds transfer network Star Systems Inc., which last month announced a new product that makes use of its EFT network to verify and settle checks written at the point of sale in the same way Star processes debit cards, says it expects Star Chek Direct to begin processing transactions …

Target Corp.'s decision several weeks ago to discontinue its chip-based electronic loyalty program has confirmed for Visa USA that U.S. consumers are not likely to embrace new transaction technologies any time soon, whether tied to loyalty programs or not. Indeed, for the foreseeable future, the bank card network is shifting …

Debit cards linked to personal identification numbers are slowly but surely penetrating more and more merchant locations, and as a result PIN debit transactions will begin to overtake transactions on signature-based debit cards within five years, says an analyst at Speer & Associates Inc., Atlanta, who has studied the issue. …

With at least four separate efforts under way to build national image-exchange networks, some banking officials are starting to ask whether the substantial investment banks and processors are making in these new networks to carry check images between financial institutions is really necessary. The systems required to achieve transfer of …

Sales of prepaid gift cards soared 47% last year as the 8-year-old product picked up momentum that will lead to a doubling of usage by 2007, the research firm TowerGroup Inc. reports in research released today. The largest beneficiary of the trend will be banks, the firm says. While bank-issued …

While the race is on to hammer together electronic networks to carry what is expected by many to be a huge volume of check images between banks, the only network that has gone live so far reports it is achieving fast growth. Endpoint Exchange, a network owned and operated by …

Although the decision by fast-food king McDonald's Corp. to shut down its test of ExxonMobil Corp.'s Speedpass contactless payment product seems to be a setback for the technology, not all observers agree. Indeed, some are convinced transactions based on radio-frequency identification (RFID) still have a bright future at high-throughput locations–maybe …

A transaction processor that targets high-volume online merchants is winning adherents among merchants and consumers alike for its product, which allows consumers to buy on credit without entering sensitive account data. I4Commerce Inc.'s “Bill Me Later” service, which became commercially available two years ago as an alternative to credit cards …

Bi-Lo LLC, a supermarket chain based in Mauldin, S.C., has announced a biometric-based authentication system has cut its payroll-check fraud losses by 60% since it was installed last fall. The grocer says almost 40,000 customers are now signed up for the system, called Paycheck Secure, and that it has done …

U.S. Wireless Data Inc., a 13-year-old payment gateway specializing in wireless and vending-machine transactions, has announced it has filed for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. The New York-based company also announced it is selling “substantially all” of its assets. It has reached an agreement with …

In anticipation of the swelling of check-image volume that Check 21 is expected to unleash, Viewpointe, a national image-exchange network and archive for electronic checks serving 10 banks, has engaged Accenture, a technology-services and consulting firm, to help prepare the company's platform to handle large image-exchange volumes. Viewpointe's archive stores …

The automated clearing house system handled more than 10 billion electronic transactions in 2003, and the conversion of checks into ACH debits helped fuel the growth, according to statistics released today by the National Automated Clearing House Association at its annual conference in Seattle. Total ACH transactions reached 10.017 billion …

Bank card acquirers are increasingly tacking on fees to handle American Express Co. transactions at terminals they deploy for merchants, a tactic that may work in their favor as AmEx signs on more banks as issuers of the T&E company's products. That's among the major findings of the most recent …

While various startups attack the problem of enabling payments for small-value games, songs, and other content on the Web, a working model may already have established itself in the world of mobile commerce. Seattle-based Qpass Inc., a 7-year-old company that makes software that connects content sellers to mobile operators' billing …

With its acquisition of CellCards of Illinois LLC, Bellevue, Wash.-based Coinstar Inc. is making a play that takes advantage of two key trends in the electronic transactions market: rising sales of prepaid value products and the increasing importance of the so-called unbanked consumer market. With a network of some 11,000 …

The largest processor in the U.S. cross-carrier short-message service (SMS) market is getting set to enter the market for premium content services, also known as MMS (multimedia services), just as wireless carriers are beginning to introduce new billing capabilities to handle the high-margin product. Chantilly, Va.-based InphoMatch Inc. has formed …

Visa USA has announced a sweepstakes promotion for this summer aimed at increasing transactions on its signature-based debit card. The Visa check card, on which Visa introduced permanently lower interchange rates effective Jan. 31, offers Visa debit card issuers less revenue than was the case before last year's settlement of …