Wednesday , November 27, 2024

Digital Transactions News staff

Check-ACH Coalition Gives up on Ambitious Plan for Check Processing

A sweepingly ambitious, nearly year-long effort to speed up end-to-end electronic processing of checks has been shut down by its organizers, the victim of multiple operational complications that proved in the end too hard to overcome. The Check-ACH Coalition, a group of some 65 financial institutions, trade groups, and vendors, …

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Microsoft: Any Micropayments System Is Highly Theoretical

Microsoft Corp. is denying reports that have appeared since the weekend that the computing giant is working on an electronic payment system that could handle micropayments for online content and undercut the merchant pricing for such transactions when handled with bank cards. According to widespread press accounts, William H. Gates, …

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Security Issues Are Eroding Trust in Online Banking, Survey Shows

Security fears created by such trends as the rise of phishing frauds are eroding consumer confidence in online banking, a recent survey reveals. Consumers also say banks should offer some form of strong authentication going beyond standard user name and password, though they are somewhat split on the specific technology …

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Under Fire, TJX Defends Its Handling of Card Data Breach

Off-price retailer The TJX Cos. Inc. is defending its month-long delay in the disclosure of an intrusion into its network that handles customer payment card data, saying it may have prevented the data breach from becoming worse. TJX discovered the breach in mid-December, but didn't reveal it until Jan. 17. …

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The Disruptive Shift to Pay-As-You-Go Payments And Lifestyles

10 Tipping Points for the Payments Industry Part 4 Although the payments business has historically evolved at a glacial pace, the massive shift in consumer payments from physical to electronic forms is moving at light speed by comparison, making debit accounts the preferred means of funding transactions in every conceivable …

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Acquiring Operation Helps Boost Results at a Restructured First Data

Leading payment processor First Data Corp., restructured and without its huge Western Union wire-transfer business, late on Wednesday reported fourth-quarter income from continuing operations of $240 million, up 12% from $214.4 million for the year-earlier period. Greenwood Village, Colo.-based First Data's merchant and international divisions posted strong gains, while the …

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PayPal’s off-eBay Push Hits a Wall After Months of Steady Progress

Despite strong results in its off-eBay merchant-processing business, PayPal Inc.'s efforts to lessen its dependence on the online marketplace of its parent eBay Inc. hit a wall in the fourth quarter of 2006. The San Jose, Calif.-based online processor saw 36% of the $11 billion in transactions it handled in …

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Wells’s New Imaging ATMs May Signal More to Come for the Technology

Banks' efforts to rid ATM deposits of pesky?and costly?envelopes took a step forward on Tuesday with Wells Fargo & Co.'s announcement that it plans to add 825 new machines by year's end that will accept deposits without envelopes. Wells will deploy some 150 of the new ATMs, which allow customers …

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Latest Breach May Force a New Approach to Data Security

The latest and possibly biggest in a series of hacks into retailer and processor databases holding sensitive data about credit and debit card holders may indicate that it's time for a new approach to card security, according to at least one analyst. That calls into question the effectiveness of the …

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Bitpass Shuts Down in Move That May Show Limits of Digital Market

In a move that may signal the limited utility of the digital-content market for micropayments processors, San Mateo, Calif-based processor Bitpass Inc. has announced it is shutting down. Users of the service, which allows consumers to pay for content online with prepaid accounts, have until Friday of this week to …

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