An Internet payments processor founded early this year is looking to tap into underserved niche markets like schools, service companies, and other small businesses with what it bills as an inexpensive and easy-to-use application. My Payment Network Inc., Corte Madera, Calif., just began operation in August but hopes to be …

PayPal Inc. will acquire the online payments gateway business of Verisign Inc. for $370 million under an agreement reached today by VeriSign and eBay Inc., Paypal's parent company. The deal, which is expected to close before year's end, also includes a multi-year agreement under which eBay will invest in VeriSign …

This week's announced integration of giant merchant acquirers Chase Merchant Services LLC and Paymentech L.P. by their respective owners (Digital Transactions News, Oct. 5) creates a single entity of unprecedented scale?more than $500 billion in annual bank card charge volume through 13 billion transactions in the U.S. and Canada?but one …

In a statement released today, Retail Decisions PLC confirmed it is seeking to buy an unnamed company “whose key activities are complementary to those of ReD.” In confirming what it called a “market rumor” about a pending transaction, the U.K.-based transaction processor and Internet payments gateway, which operates a U.S. …

Internet retailing giant Amazon.com Inc. will likely begin accepting payments cleared through the automated clearing house from at least a portion of its customer base, possibly by the end of this month, says a source familiar with the matter. This source, who asked to remain anonymous, says the move would …

JPMorgan Chase & Co. and First Data Corp. have come to terms on the long-awaited merger of acquiring-service providers Chase Merchant Services LLC and Paymentech L.P. in a deal that will create a behemoth processor handling 13.1 billion electronic transactions annually. According to a news release distributed this afternoon by …

The ranks of major retailers suing the bank card networks over interchange swelled by one today when Publix Super Markets Inc. announced it had filed a federal antitrust lawsuit against Visa USA and MasterCard International. The Lakeland, Fla.-based grocery chain's suit alleges the practice of setting interchange by the two …

Metavante Corp., which through acquisitions has been steadily building a major franchise in processing electronic transactions for multiple constituencies across card, check, and automated clearing-house channels, today announced it is buying Link2Gov Corp., a 10-year-old processor of payments for governmental agencies, utilities, and health-care entities on the Internet and at …

Contrary to the misgivings of some retailers regarding the automated clearing house's point-of-purchase electronic check application, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. says its experience with POP has been largely positive. At the same time, however, a new fee proposed by NACHA, the rules-setting organization for the ACH, and intended to discourage unauthorized …

Nearly a year after the Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act (Check 21) took effect, sparking a steady build-up in check-image exchange volume, more exchanges are being settled on paper documents than some observers expected. The reason is that many paying banks are unprepared to settle on images and …