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 …

The final quarterly filing from iPayment Inc. as a public company contains a report of a double-digit gain in profit at the Nashville, Tenn.-based merchant acquirer as well as a terse reference to what amounts to continuing fallout from the huge data breach last year at Atlanta-based merchant processor CardSystems …

ECOM Financial Corp., which has developed a disposable, anonymous prepaid card that works on the MasterCard network, has taken a step toward commercialization by reaching an issuing agreement with First Bank of Delaware, Wilmington, Del. In an announcement released Monday, the Stuart, Fla.-based company, which has had the card in …

Small banks are adopting electronic-payments technologies at a rate that rivals, and in some cases exceeds, that of their larger competitors, according to a survey released this week. Two-thirds of the nation's community banks are processing checks under the rules of the Check Clearing Act for the 21st Century (Check …

In sharp contrast to Wal-Mart Stores Inc., leading home-improvement retailer Home Depot Inc. professes no intentions of getting into the payments business even though, like Wal-Mart, it plans to operate a Utah-chartered industrial loan corporation, or ILC, that would give it an entrée into financial services. Less than a month …

NACHA, which took the opportunity presented by its annual payments trade show this week in San Diego to promote the upcoming pilot of its new Internet payment application, appears to be on track toward its Aug. 30 target date for recruiting most participants for the project. But key issues like …

The deal may be expensive, but Online Resources Corp. expects its definitive agreement to buy bill-payment provider Princeton eCom Corp. to position the combined firm for future growth as electronic bill payments gain favor with consumers and companies. Chantilly, Va.-based Online Resources announced the $180 million cash deal this week …

The chairman of the board of NACHA, the rules-setting organization for the automated clearing house network, looks for widespread adoption of a new point-of-sale payment application the association approved this week and says the network will try again this year to introduce a controversial fee aimed at controlling risk. Chairman …

A faster-than-expected ramp-up in transaction volume is forcing the country's largest image-exchange network to refigure its growth projections. The Image Payments Network, operated by SVPCO, a unit of New York-based The Clearing House Payments Co. LLC., handled 35.2 million check images in April, up 20.6% from March, according to statistics …

NACHA announced today it has approved a new form of electronic check conversion that will allow retailers to turn bundles of checks into automated clearing house debits in a central location, or back office. Known as back-office conversion, the new application will take effect March 16, 2007, the Herndon, Va.-based …