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Visa U.S.A. reportedly has postponed for three months its plan to ban from its network transactions from troubled merchant processor CardSystems Solutions Inc. in order to facilitate the sale of CardSystems' assets to CyberSource Corp. In the wake of a massive security breach at Atlanta-based CardSystems in May that compromised …
Read More »New Research Unveils Big Challenges for Mobile Content Market
Separate reports released this week show that the market for mobile content?everything from games to ring tones to video clips and beyond?may have farther to go than previously supposed by those who see the market as a nascent source of micropayments. Also, other research reveals content marketers may have to …
Read More »‘Aggressive’ About Image Exchange, National City Watches Volume Climb
A $36-million in image-exchange technology is beginning to bear fruit for National City Corp. The Cleveland-based bank began trading digital check images in April on a network operated by SVPCO and has seen volume climb from a few hundred daily files to the current rate ranging from 10,000 to 70,000, …
Read More »Another Interchange Suit Seeks Sweeping Reform of Fee-Setting Mechanism
The legal battle over the bank card associations' interchange pricing arrangements, already red-hot, got even hotter today when four retail trade associations slapped Visa U.S.A., MasterCard International, and several major banks with a class-action antitrust suit. The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New …
Read More »CardSystems Deal Could Catapult CyberSource High into Acquiring Ranks
CyberSource Corp.'s deal to acquire the assets of CardSystems Inc. would hand the Mountain View, Calif.-based transaction-gateway provider a major sales channel for both card-present and Web-based payment processing, catapulting the company squarely into the ranks of processors for small and mid-sized multi-channel merchants, according to observers. The move also …
Read More »Rising Demand for Strong Authentication Helps Propel KBA Vendor Verid
The rising interest among banks and Internet merchants in more robust methods to verify that online customers are who they say they are is helping drive business for a form of such verification known as knowledge-based authentication. Verid Inc., a 6-year-old supplier of KBA processing services, says its transaction volume, …
Read More »With Rita Looming, Pulse Moves Switch to Data Center in Dallas
With Hurricane Rita bearing down on the Gulf coast of Texas, Pulse EFT Association Inc. announced today it has moved processing operations from its Houston data center to a redundant center in Dallas. Cindy Ballard, executive vice president for the electronic funds transfer network, called the move “purely precautionary” in …
Read More »Report: Patent Case Threatens to Cripple U.S. Prepaid Wireless Market
The outcome in a patent-infringement case in May is hindering the development of the prepaid wireless business in the U.S. at a time when the market is already behind overseas markets in usage, a report released by a major research firm says. According to the report from the Yankee Group, …
Read More »Hannaford Finds PIN Debit Is Now As Expensive As Checks
Despite the vaunted efficiencies of electronic transactions, at least one regional supermarket chain has found its cost to accept PIN debit transactions is running close to its acceptance costs for paper checks. As a result, says Bryan Croteau, senior business analyst for Hannaford Bros. Co., Portland, Me.,”I don't want to …
Read More »Metris Will Issue Credit Cards on Discover’s Network by Year’s End
Metris Cos. Inc. announced today it will begin issuing cards on Discover Financial Services LLC.'s acceptance network by the end of the year. Metris, the nation's 11th-largest issuer of bank cards, said it will issue a new credit card under the Discover banner through its Direct Merchants Credit Card Bank …
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