French chipmaker Inside Contactless this week announced it has shipped more than 50 million MicroPass chips for contactless payments since introducing the product in November 2005. And, though the company used the occasion to promote its optimism about contactless payments in North America particularly, a number of observers remain skeptical …

The rules for protecting cardholder data will be updated in October, the PCI Security Standards Council announced on Wednesday. The PCI Council, the organization the payment card networks set up in 2006 to oversee the so-called Payment Card Industry data-security standard, or PCI DSS, is billing the coming changes more …

Major-brand credit card acceptance is a given, but the alternative payment forms are gaining traction among mid-sized e-commerce retailers, according to a recent survey by First Annapolis Consulting Inc. Some 41% of the merchants surveyed reported accepting at least one alternative payment form, and nearly half of those accept at …

Payment card interchange will be in Congress's spotlight again on Thursday when the House Judiciary Committee holds a hearing about the controversial Credit Card Fair Fee Act of 2008, a bill that would put price controls on card-acceptance costs. Meanwhile, Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., the assistant majority leader, is working …

Janet O. Estep, who will succeed Elliott C. McEntee at the end of the year as president and chief executive of NACHA, will be the first person to head the Herndon, Va.-based payments organization who has a background in cards and merchant acquiring. Estep, whose appointment was announced on Tuesday, …

Capital One Financial Corp. ended a pair of merchant pilots involving its decoupled debit card product because the tests were scheduled to end, a spokesperson for the financial-services company tells Digital Transactions News. “They were initiated as pilot programs and they've run their course. That's it,” says the spokesperson in …

Non-bank ATM network operator Cardtronics Inc. has been trying to pump up transaction volume on its advanced-function Vcom machines ever since it bought them last July from 7-Eleven Inc. as part of the 5,500-machine ATM fleet the convenience-store giant unloaded for $137.3 million. Next week, part of that strategy takes …

Some recent statistics indicate banks are making significant headway in their ability to receive and clear electronic check images. PaymentsNation, a major clearing house for checks and check images, reported this week that the number of routing and transit numbers (R/Ts) receiving check images reached 5,275 at the end of …

Some high-profile payment-industry technology providers are reporting increases in their operating measures but are still struggling to make a profit in 2008 as they expand or try to compete in a tough market. –Boosted by demand in North America for countertop terminals and more networking and other services revenues, point-of-sale …

NACHA's online-payments pilot went live March 31 with one bank and one merchant and expects to have three to five more financial institutions, three to five more merchants, and between three and five billers participating by the end of the year, an official with the Herndon, Va.-based organization says. “The …