Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
In a move calculated to expand its business in e-commerce and mobile transactions, Visa Inc. on Wednesday said it will buy CyberSource Corp., an online gateway and merchant acquirer, for $2 billion in cash. The deal, which is expected to close by Sept. 30, brings together the world's largest payment …
Read More »Canada Will Enforce Its Payments Code with Regs, If Necessary
After five months of discussion, the Canadian government is out with the final draft of its Code of Conduct for the payments industry. The merchant-friendly code is supposedly voluntary, but proposed legislation could force it upon payments companies that don't adopt it on their own by May 17. “Payment card …
Read More »Mercury Payment Sells Stake As M&A Reps Prowl the ETA Show
The growing interest of private-equity firms in merchant processors showed itself again Wednesday when the big independent sales organization Mercury Payment Systems Inc. disclosed that Silver Lake would take a 60% interest in the company. Meanwhile, private-equity executives were out in force at the Electronic Transactions Association annual meeting in …
Read More »A Bundled Approach to PCI Compliance for Small Merchants
As smaller merchants struggle with data-security requirements set by the bank card networks, some security firms are working on ways to simplify compliance. An example is Panoptic Security Inc., a Salt Lake City, Utah-based company that distributes its software through independent sales organizations and acquiring banks. It has started talking …
Read More »ViVOtech Says Its Contactless PIN Pad Will Pave the Way for Mobile
ViVOtech Inc., perhaps best known as a maker of readers that enable contactless card transactions, this week plunged further into the point-of-sale business with the introduction of a PIN pad capable of processing contactless payments. The device, known as the ViVOpay 8100, brings the Santa Clara, Calif.-based company into closer …
Read More »States Join the Interchange Debate While IRS Reporting Rules Loom
They've ebbed and flowed over the years, but attempts by states to regulate interchange and payment card acceptance rules are definitely flowing, according to merchant-acquiring executives. “It seems like every month we get a new bill introduced in a state legislature,” said panelist Nicholas W. Baxter, senior vice president at …
Read More »MasterCard Gets a New Boss, Signs E-Commerce Pact
MasterCard Inc. announced a notable pact with a technology company Friday that the No. 2 payment card network says would drive e-commerce transaction volume. That news, however, was overshadowed Monday morning when MasterCard announced that Ajay Banga, the company's president and chief operating officer, would replace long-time chief executive Robert …
Read More »New MasterCard ATM Rates Will Crimp Income for Banks And ISOs
Independent sales organizations and financial institutions that deploy ATMs have suspected for weeks that MasterCard Inc. planned to cut the interchange income allowed on withdrawal transactions on its Cirrus network, but now the total cost of the move is becoming clear. The hit to U.S. ISOs alone could amount to …
Read More »As 2-D Barcodes Gain Steam for M-Payments, a Novel Twist Emerges
The use of two-dimensional bar-code technology for mobile payments appears to be picking up momentum. On the heels of a major expansion of the technology, announced last week by Starbucks Coffee Co. and Target Corp., a startup company this week announced it is launching a so-called private beta for a …
Read More »Eye on E-Commerce: Acculynk Courts ISOs; eBillme’s Walk-in Survey
Acculynk Inc., a processor of PIN debit transactions that take place on merchant Web sites, announced this week it is adding the capability of processing credit and signature-debit transactions as well. The new service, called PaySecure Plus, will rely on processor Elavon, a unit of U.S. Bancorp, to handle credit …
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