A little-known maker of switching software with very well-known clients is counting on a major upgrade in memory horsepower it is helping to pioneer to drive down transaction-processing costs while dramatically boosting the amount of data networks can handle. San Rafael, Calif.-based Kabira Technologies Inc. may not have the immediate …

The electronic delivery of bills to consumers grew 11% in the second quarter at CheckFree Corp., continuing a trend of double-digit growth in e-bill delivery for the Atlanta, Ga.-based bill-payment processor. The company distributed 41 million e-bills in the quarter, up from 36.8 million in the first quarter and 58% …

A major research firm's estimate this week that fraud losses on debit cards in the U.S. hit an estimated $2.75 billion for the 12 months ending in May might have struck a nerve, especially in the absence of hard data on the problem, but it also has experts raising questions …

The disclosure by Wal-Mart Stores Inc. in late July that it plans to charter an industrial bank in Utah to acquire its own payment transactions is creating more questions than answers about current relationships between the world's largest retailer and the payments entities with whom it currently works. Bentonville, Ark.-based …

At a time when new ATM deployment has been slow, one independent deployer of the machines has found a big payoff from a novel approach to cobranding ATMs with banks. Since announcing its cobranding deal about 18 months ago, Houston-based Cardtronics Inc. has been able to get more than 800 …

Customer incentives represent a growing new niche for gift cards, according to the results of a new survey. Of some 68 decision-makers canvassed, 52% said they are likely to offer gift cards as a customer incentive in the next 12 months. Of all industries represented in the survey, restaurants represent …

Signature-based debit continued to grow at double-digit rates in the second quarter, as indicated by statistics released today by MasterCard International. Total MasterCard signature, or off-line, debit volume hit $48 billion in the U.S., up 32.3% over the same period last year. The point-of-sale component of this activity was $29.1 …

As the number of headlines about database breaches grows, so too does the number of lawsuits filed in response, as well as the amount of legislation aimed at better protecting consumer data. Several suits have already been filed in the wake of recent thefts of card data at Columbus, Ohio-based …

Fiserv Inc. is buying electronic bill-payment processor BillMatrix Corp. in a $350-million deal expected to close by Sept. 30. Dallas-based BillMatrix processes payments on cards and through the automated clearing house for more than 120 clients, among them utilities, insurers, lenders, and phone carriers. It is a pioneer in the …

The increase in thefts of personal and financial information from databases, highlighted by the recent security breach at payment processor CardSystems Solutions Inc., is causing other processing entities to enhance security efforts beyond just fortifying computers and telecommunications links. For instance, Vital Processing Services LLC, a big merchant processor based …