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With its long-expected initial public offering of stock fast approaching, MasterCard Inc. reported strong results for the first quarter and indicated it expects its stock to sell for between $40 and $43 per share. It also named six new directors who will join its board of directors after it becomes …
Read More »Eye on RFID: Utah Transit, Arby’s Plan for Contactless Payment
The Utah Transit Authority in November will begin accepting contactless payment tokens in a pilot project that will represent the first use of contactless technology to process bus fares in the U.S. The Salt Lake City-based transit agency in September will begin equipping 41 buses that ferry passengers to local …
Read More »MX Telecom Looks for Rapid Growth in SMS-Based Mobile Payments
The recent launch of mobile-payment services based on short-message service (SMS) transmissions is casting a spotlight on specialist gateways that provide links from payment processors to wireless carriers. One, MX Telecom Inc., counts among its clients both PayPal Mobile, which PayPal Inc. launched earlier this month (Digital Transactions News, April …
Read More »Phishing Hits Record Levels As Malware, Redirectors Proliferate
Phishing hit an all-time high in March, with the number of reports of the online fraud reaching 18,480, according to the Anti-Phishing Working Group, which follows the trend. That's 603 more than the previous peak in January and more than 1,300 more than in February, the group reports. By way …
Read More »A BankAmericard Redux Poses Risks But Could Reap Rewards for BofA
The possibility that Bank of America Corp. could start its own payment card network and brand poses some big risks and would bring big expenses for the Charlotte, N.C.-based banking giant, though it could enable BofA to differentiate itself in a mature card industry, analysts say. Reports that BofA chairman, …
Read More »PCI’s POS Costs Slow Retailer Adoption, Terminal Exec Says
Reluctance by merchants and independent sales organizations to assume the added costs of compliant terminals is contributing to the apparently slow rate at which retailers are adopting the Payment Card Industry data-security standard, an executive with a major terminal maker says. According to recent data from Visa USA, one of …
Read More »AmEx Discount Revenues Grow, but Rate Continues To Slip
Boosted by higher charge volume on its cards, American Express Co. on Monday reported in its first-quarter financials that discount revenue grew 13% to $2.97 billion, up 13% from $2.64 billion in 2005's first quarter. The travel-and-entertainment giant however, warned of “some erosion” in the average discount rate in the …
Read More »First National Merchant Solutions Shifts Toward ISOs for Growth
Long quiet on the reseller front, First National Merchant Solutions is signing up independent sales organizations as part of a strategic shift mapped out by its new president, Diana M. Mehochko. The merchant-acquiring unit of First National Bank of Omaha signed up half a dozen ISOs last year and is …
Read More »PayPal Racks up Double-Digit Growth, But Still Relies Heavily on eBay
PayPal Inc, which earlier this month announced its foray into mobile payments based on short-message service transmissions (Digital Transactions News, April 6), continues to build transaction volume at double-digit rates in its core e-commerce business, though it remains dependent on parent eBay Inc. for the bulk of its traffic. In …
Read More »First Data’s Profit Dips, Though Merchant-Unit Results Climb 24%
Leading payment card processor First Data Corp., in the midst of a reorganization and spin-off of its Western Union money-transfer business, late Thursday reported first-quarter earnings of $373.3 million, down slightly from $374.5 million in 2005's first quarter. Revenues grew 10% to $2.70 billion from the year-earlier period's $2.47 billion. …
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