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TCF National Bank’s federal lawsuit against the controls on debit card interchange contained in the Dodd-Frank financial reform law draws scant sympathy from retailers who have been battling against card interchange, including a merchant and entrepreneur who has been leading a crusade against the pricing mechanism for years. “It’s nonsense,” …
Read More »It’s Back to a Service-Oriented Future for Bank ATMs
Banks are abandoning their dreams of ATMs generating profits and instead returning to their original focus of using the machines for customer service, according to new findings from First Annapolis Consulting Inc. Linthicum, Md.-based First Annapolis spoke with executives from the nation’s 10 largest banks by assets about their ATM …
Read More »Crackdown on MetaBank Casts a Shadow on NetSpend’s IPO
Federal banking regulators this month cracked down on MetaBank, a major prepaid card issuer, an action that threw into question the pending initial public offering of prepaid card program manager NetSpend Corp. Austin, Texas-based NetSpend is scheduled to price its long-planned IPO on Thursday, according to reports on the financial …
Read More »TCF Challenges the Durbin Amendment’s Constitutionality
TCF National Bank, a top 10 debit card issuer, on Tuesday filed a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the so-called Durbin Amendment, which, as part of the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill Congress passed in July, will regulate debit card interchange beginning next year. TCF alleges the debit card provisions …
Read More »Response to Mobile Check-Capture App Catches PayPal by Surprise
Just as financial institutions were digesting the idea of letting consumers deposit checks by snapping images of them with their handsets, along comes PayPal Inc. with the first such application offered by a non-bank—and one that has so far proven to be quite popular. San Jose, Calif.-based PayPal announced late …
Read More »Out of Stealth, MobilePay USA Promises to Crack the POS
Payments-industry observers who have been frustrated by the slow progress of near-field communication (NFC) technology for point-of-sale mobile payments may find an alternative in a new mobile application called MobilePay USA. The service surfaced last week when it won an award at a conference sponsored by TechCrunch, a technology blog. …
Read More »PCI Compliance Should Be a ‘LifeStyle,’ Says Assessor Verizon
Merchants are most likely to remain compliant with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards and avoid data breaches if they adopt security as a lifestyle, according to a study released earlier this week by Verizon Business. Verizon Business provides audits and other PCI-related services. When we've seen people be …
Read More »Shazam Attacks Online PIN Debit with a Trio of Solutions
If one PIN-debit system for Internet payments is good, three are even better in the eyes of the Shazam electronic funds transfer network. The network on Wednesday announced it has become the first network client of a new online PIN-debit platform from e-commerce systems provider CardinalCommerce Corp. Shazam now has …
Read More »PCI Council Issues Guidance on EMV And Point-to-Point Encryption
With end-to-end encryption of payment card data rapidly spreading throughout the credit and debit card industry and calls for the U.S. to replace magnetic-stripe cards with so-called EMV chip-and-PIN cards, the card industry’s security overseer is attempting to ensure that security standards change with the times. The PCI Security Standards …
Read More »Citi Will Pilot a New Card with a Button for Rewards
Citigroup Inc. revealed on Tuesday it will start a pilot next month for a new type of credit card that will let cardholders apply rewards they’ve earned by pressing a button on the card. The pilot for the new card, which Citi has dubbed its 2G credit card, will start …
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