The fortunes of individual merchant acquirers not withstanding, the acquiring industry as a whole for decades has proffered an unofficial guarantee of recession-proof growth. But a new study by First Annapolis Consulting Inc. shows that changes in the acquiring industry's growth rates are increasingly correlated to retail sales growth. And …
Read More »‘Day of Reckoning’ Beckons As Image Volume Peaks in ’08
Image-exchange networks and the financial institutions that use them to process checks electronically may have to contend with a dwindling supply of checks sooner than they expected. For the time being, the networks are doing a robust business, with the volume of items expected to more than quadruple this year, …
Read More »New Tool Lets Phishers Set up Bogus Sites in a Few Seconds
Fraudsters have started using computer files that allow them to instantly create a phishing site on a compromised computer, a move that could make their activities harder to detect, a report from RSA Security Inc. says. The Bedford, Mass.-based security firm's Anti-Fraud Command Center has discovered what it calls a …
Read More »An ISO Sees Tasty Potential in Online Ordering for Fast Food
An online-ordering system for fast food, introduced in January by a Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based independent sales organization, has been adopted by more than 1,200 locations so far, including small proprietors looking to compete with large chains. The system, which allows consumers to order and pay for pizzas, sandwiches, and other …
Read More »Theft of 2.3 Million Certegy Records Triggers Debate over Inside Jobs
Payment companies devote countless hours and millions of dollars to protecting sensitive customer and payment data from outside computer hackers, but the theft of 2.3 million customer records announced today by check and card processor Fidelity National Information Services Inc. (FIS) shows that employee theft remains a serious?and difficult?problem to …
Read More »Now Independent, Discover Looks to Grow Issuing, Acquiring, Debit
Discover Financial Services LLC, whose shares began trading on Monday on the New York Stock Exchange, is finally on its own as a corporate entity for the first time in its 22-year- history. But while the spin-off from parent company Morgan Stanley is complete, Discover's mission of gaining market share …
Read More »With Coghlan Out, Will Merchant Focus Survive at Visa?
Now that the two top executives have been appointed to run Visa Inc., the massive entity that will emerge from a sweeping restructuring of the worldwide Visa organization, payments observers see more capability in place to deal with issues to come. But the departure of Visa USA head John Philip …
Read More »Northwest Deal Lets PayPal Gain Altitude in Online Travel Sales
Alternative payments have penetrated the market for airline tickets with Northwest Airlines Inc.'s decision to accept PayPal on its Web site. The move by the major air carrier, which executes about 1,400 daily departures around the world, makes it the first airline to accept PayPal and gives the San Jose, …
Read More »With an Eye on EFT, Fidelity Picks up eFunds with a $1.8 Billion Bid
The strategic review that payment processor eFunds Corp. disclosed May 9 ended today with the announcement that another processor, Jacksonville, Fla.-based Fidelity National Information Services Inc. (FIS), will buy e-Funds for $1.8 billion in cash. The purchase price of $36.50 per share represents a 5.5% premium over eFunds' Tuesday closing …
Read More »The Fed Says Just Four Check Sites Will Handle Paper by 2011
After years of steadily reducing the number of offices processing checks, the Federal Reserve Banks announced on Tuesday they plan to have just four regional centers providing paper check processing services by March 2011. Since the Fed system began restructuring its check-processing operations in 2003, it has already cut the …
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