Reporting rapid growth for its payment service and rising interest in a new marketing and finance platform it rolled out last month, I4 Commerce Inc. says it will begin next year expanding into new payment channels, with debit and stored-value ranking as distinct possibilities. The company will end the year …
Read More »New Online Processor GreenZap Looks to Credit Card Funding for Growth
GreenZap Inc., a San Diego, Calif.-based processor of e-mail payments that started up this summer as the latest competitor to PayPal Inc., has added acceptance of Visa and MasterCard cards to fund accounts, a move the company says will help it to more than double transaction volume. “The integration of …
Read More »ECOM Readies an Anonymous Prepaid Card for Web and Point of Sale
After five years of development, Boca Raton, Fla.-based startup ECOM Financial Corp. is planning to introduce an anonymous, disposable prepaid card that will clear transactions through the MasterCard network and be usable for purchases on the Internet as well as at the point of sale. The company, which says it …
Read More »HSBC Joins the Ranks of Issuers of Contactless Debit Cards
HSBC Bank USA N.A. has become the third U.S. bank to add contactless payment technology to its debit cards. The bank said today it has begun issuing MasterCard-branded debit cards equipped with MasterCard's PayPass system, and plans to issue 1 million of the cards by the end of the year. …
Read More »New Viewpointe CEO Buglioli Hints at Services Beyond Image Sharing
The new chief executive of Viewpointe Archive Services LLC is a payments-industry veteran who says he sees big potential in check-image exchange and hints there may be services the massive image archive can render beyond electronic check processing. “I joined Viewpointe because of the great opportunities,” says former banker and …
Read More »Report: Prepaid Cards’ Growth Will Pressure Money-Transfer Nets
With banks issuing or planning to issue more and more prepaid debit cards to handle remittances overseas, more banks are expected to enter the market, putting pressure on the established money-transfer businesses like Western Union Holdings Inc., a new research report concludes. According to the report, entitled “Money Transfer Cards …
Read More »Can PayPal Make Big E-Commerce Gains with Micropayments Initiative?
PayPal Inc.'s decision to enter the broad micropayments market could help the Internet payments processor boost transaction volumes and attract new accountholders, but by how much is currently a guessing game, experts say. “I'm not educated enough yet to say whether it's going to be material,” says Gwenn Bezard, research …
Read More »Good News: Phishing Incidents Decline. Bad News: Malware Use Is up
Recent reports concerning the dual online threats of phishing and malware indicate mixed news: the phishing threat is down as measured by number of incidents, but fraudsters' use of malicious code to steal passwords and re-direct unsuspecting Web users is increasing steadily. Postini Inc., a Redwood City, Calif.-based producer of …
Read More »Cardtronics’ ATM Network Doubles While Surcharge Margin Sags
Second-quarter financial results from Houston-based Cardtronics Inc. show the country's largest non-bank ATM operator has more than doubled the number of ATMs it runs, to 26,241, in the year from June 30, 2004, primarily owing to its $106-million acquisition in June last year of E*Trade Financial Services' portfolio of 15,000 …
Read More »MasterCard to Appeal U.K. Interchange Ruling, While Visa Could Be Next
MasterCard International said today it will appeal a decision from the U.K.'s Office of Fair Trading that concluded the bank card network's method of setting interchange was anti-competitive. Meanwhile, a trade group representing British merchants said it was disappointed in the OFT ruling and may also appeal. The U.K. regulator …
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