Bolstered by the acquisition of convenience-store giant 7-Eleven Inc.'s sizable ATM business, leading non-bank ATM network operator Cardtronics Inc. on Thursday reported fourth-quarter financials that show an improvement in most operating measures. Company executives insist their efforts to improve the performance of 7-Eleven's high-function Vcom kiosks as well as other …

Recent research by Aite Group LLC estimated the Visa and MasterCard bank card networks paid nearly $5 billion to merchants and card issuers between 2005 and 2007 to spur acceptance or issuance of their respective brands (Digital Transactions News, Feb. 20). Visa Inc.'s latest registration statement, filed Monday in advance …

In a move that could further the penetration of Internet-based PIN debit, a San Antonio-based processor of prepaid card transactions has adopted a device that will allow users of its electronic-wallet service to load their accounts online with credit cards and PIN debit cards. Smart Card Marketing Systems Inc., which …

Counter-intuitive though it may be, independent sales organizations and merchant acquirers in general are seeing their spreads increase while simultaneously facing margin compression. The reason, according to a new report from Aite Group LLC assessing trends in the acquiring industry: acquirers are generating new revenues from their merchants outside of …

Although the door is still open for Euronet Worldwide Inc. to renew its bid for rival remittance processor MoneyGram International Inc., Euronet's chief executive says it's by no means certain his company will press ahead, despite a determined effort it made to acquire the larger processor just two months ago. …

Facing financial markets that have been roiled by troubled subprime mortgages and a weakening economy, Visa Inc. on Monday said it is seeking to raise $15 billion to $17 billion in its upcoming initial public offering of common stock?an amount that even on the low end would be a record …

With potential buyers so far proving to be no more than tire kickers, bankrupt biometrics payment company Solidus Networks Inc., which does business as Pay By Touch, is looking to sell itself in separate auctions of what it calls its core and non-core assets. The core assets center on Pay …

Apartments and other rental real estate such as vacation properties, one of the great remaining virgin markets for electronic payments, could get a boost in April when a new MasterCard Inc. interchange incentive takes effect that will lower card-acceptance costs for property managers. MasterCard's program is intended to direct more …

Contactless payment took another step forward in the mass-transit market with the announcement on Thursday by two key New York City-area transportation agencies that they will run a pilot of MasterCard Worldwide's PayPass system next year. The Port Authority will install contactless readers at 40 turnstiles in all 13 of …

Locked in increasingly fierce competition with each other and with other card networks, Visa Inc. and MasterCard Worldwide are paying out higher and higher sums to issuers and merchants in the form of rebates and incentives, a trend that not only hurts the bank card networks' yield on each dollar …