With its acquisition of prepaid card transaction processor and program manager InComm Inc., First Data Corp. is picking up one of only a few major distributors of prepaid card products, a move that hands the Denver-based processing giant a substantial stake for the first time in the crucial retail distribution …

A veteran of previous efforts to turn driver's licenses into payment cards is working with the operator of an online consumer-loyalty network on a plan intended to introduce automated clearing house transactions tied to shoppers' driver's licenses at brick-and-mortar stores by 2009. Linda Bryant, who has formed a processor called …

Their networks continue to handle ever-increasing transaction volumes, but the chief executives of both MasterCard Inc. and Visa Inc. warn of “challenging” times for the U.S. payments market, particularly credit. Still, both bank card networks in the past 24 hours reported strong profit growth for their quarters ended March 31. …

In its first move toward a software application for mobile commerce, PayPal Inc. has launched its mobile-payments service on a new product from Sprint Nextel Corp. The Sprint product, called MyMoneyManager, is a downloadable mobile wallet allowing customers to perform banking functions from their handsets. So far, regional banking companies …

After a long period of downsizing and financial turbulence, non-bank ATM network operator TRM Corp. says it's getting its act in order and is ready to grow again. Portland, Ore.-based TRM just bought the New Jersey-based Access To Money network in a $15 million deal that brings another 4,200 ATMs …

PayPal Inc.'s drive to process a greater share of its transactions outside of the auction marketplace run by its parent company, eBay Inc., showed more signs of succeeding last week with the release of statistics indicating the online processor is now deriving almost half of its payment volume from online …

It's the new, old payment system. That's essentially how an electronic-payments startup called eLayaway LLC is billing itself as it prepares for bigger things following two years of testing and a low-key rollout to merchants and consumers. Tallahassee, Fla.-based eLayaway's slogan is “credit is overrated.” Its system allows consumers, once …

The troubled buyout of Alliance Data Systems Inc. by private-equity firm The Blackstone Group officially died this past weekend, a death that came as no surprise to the payments industry. But still alive is Alliance's effort to sell its merchant-acquiring business built around the former BSI Business Services Inc. front-end …

Implementation of the controversial Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIGEA) would be prohibited under new legislation introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives earlier this month. The UIGEA bans gaming sites from accepting money transfers of any kind for bets deemed to be unlawful gambling. It also directs …

The Payment Card Industry data-security standard, or PCI, is in line for its second upgrade since the PCI Security Standards Council took over development of the standards for protecting cardholder data from the major card networks in 2006. PCI Council general manager Robert Russo announced the coming upgrade Wednesday at …