A proposal to merge electronic check images with automated clearing house records, which first came to the fore at an industry trade show earlier this month, could become a reality?at least in a limited way–relatively soon. Backers of the plan, which include executives with at least two of the nation's …

The number of unique Web sites hosting phishing attacks, a figure that has been increasing sharply in recent months, took another huge upturn in April, according to the latest statistics from the Anti-Phishing Working Group. The population of such sites jumped 15% last month, to 11,121, the APWG's April report, …

Seeking to broaden its reach as it rolls out to merchants nationally, Vayusa Inc. has begun to recruit independent sales organizations to sell its MobileLime cell-phone-based loyalty and rewards system. MobileLime, which earlier this year signed its first merchant outside the Northeast, this week announced Vision Payments Solutions LLC, a …

There are no specific issuing agreements yet, but private-label credit card issuing giant HSBC Retail Services has teamed up with Debitman Card Inc. in a deal that could result in HSBC retailer clients offering PIN-debit cards to their customers usable on Debitman's network. If the arrangement pans out, it would …

A law firm co-leading the merchant class-action interchange lawsuit against Visa USA, MasterCard Inc. and a number of their large members yesterday filed a supplemental complaint in federal court asserting that MasterCard's imminent initial public offering of stock is an attempt to shield itself from antitrust liability for past interchange …

Hoping to take advantage of the related trends in mobile commerce toward so-called off-portal business and direct-to-bill payments, international m-payments processor Valista Ltd. has introduced a new version of its transaction-processing engine, which is aimed primarily at mobile-network operators and Internet Service Providers. The latest release of the engine, called …

Because of the efficiency, savings, and convenience they bring to a system traditionally choked with paper, debit cards linked to flexible-spending accounts (FSAs) are turning into a hot growth market in electronic payments. Issuers will put 6 million of the cards in circulation in 2006, up 50% over last year …

A small Wichita, Kan.-based software company is getting set to take a big step in bringing image exchange to small financial institutions around the country. Starting with the north central region of the U.S., LendingTools.com Inc., a provider of Web-based systems for image processing and origination of automated clearing house …

In another indication of the erosion of paper checks in consumer transactions, the volume of bill payments made by check as a fraction of all bill payments has fallen to 37.5% from 61.1% four years ago, according to a report released this week by online bill-payment processor CheckFree Corp. with …

Critics blasted away at Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s plan to open a Utah industrial loan corporation for most of three days in late April, and now the world's biggest retailer is firing back. Wal-Mart filed a 14-page letter earlier this month with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. addressing the major concerns …