A European Commission ruling that MasterCard Worldwide's interchange-fee structure is illegal in that region will affect relatively few transactions in Europe but could encourage regulators?including those in the U.S.?to act on interchange, among other bleak implications for bank and network executives. “On balance, the EC decision is negative,” says Eric …

A day-after-Christmas processing glitch at First Data Corp.'s ValueLink unit, a processor of prepaid card transactions, delayed gift card authorizations at some stores belonging to Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and other, unnamed merchants. While statements released by both Wal-Mart and First Data indicate the problem was fixed Wednesday, the snafu couldn't …

The bankruptcy petition Solidus Networks Inc., which does business as Pay By Touch, filed this month shows that a number of the biometric technology provider's largest unsecured creditors also have equity interests in the company, and, in the case of three individuals, weren't paid when Pay By Touch bought their …

While holiday-season shopping activity overall for 2007 may have seen only a lukewarm increase compared to last year, purchases online surged ahead, reaching their peak a week before Christmas. On Dec. 18, online sales for 10 of the 30 largest e-commerce merchants hit $169 million on more than 3 million …

Intuit Inc.'s agreement to buy Electronic Check Clearing House Inc. (ECHO) for $131 million in cash, announced on Wednesday, came about largely because of ECHO's move to shed its gambling-related electronic-wallet business earlier this year, an Intuit executive tells Digital Transactions News. It was that business, in which ECHO processed …

TJX Cos. Inc. late on Tuesday said it has settled with three banking associations and three individual banks that sued the off-price retailer in the wake of a data breach that potentially compromised nearly 100 million credit and debit card numbers. That leaves just one Alabama community bank still in …

A small engineering company in Montreal has struck a deal with Universal Air Travel Plan Inc., a Washington, D.C.-based switch for some 220 airlines and travel agencies around the world, to enable air carriers to accept PIN debit and credit cards on their Web sites with card-swipe authentication. In addition, …

Some 3.6 million U.S. adults were victims of phishing attacks in the 12 months ending in August, losing an average of $886 apiece for an estimated total of $3.2 billion, according to a survey of more than 4,500 online users sponsored by Gartner Inc. Gartner, a technology research firm based …

Seeking to create a more fluid market for merchant portfolios, two entrepreneurs have created a Web site to showcase assets and broker deals. Boston-based Merchantportfolios.com, which went live about a month ago, is attracting what Lane Gordon, one of the partners, refers to as a “double-digit” number of users browsing …

Taking a cue from Discover Financial Services, travel-and-entertainment card leader American Express Co. on Monday said that it had enlisted processor First Data Corp. to book new small and mid-size merchants. But unlike Discover's recent pacts with First Data and other big merchant processors that involved sales of Discover-owned merchant …