John Barrett, a 16-year veteran of MCI Corp., has joined First Data Corp. to run the processor's merchant-sales operations through independent sales organizations and sales agents. In his position as senior vice president for FDC's third-party sales channel, Barrett will have responsibility for all merchant-sales efforts through third parties at …
Read More »POS Experts Raise Questions About IFX
Proposals to extend a transaction-messaging protocol based on extensible markup language (XML) to the retail point of sale are meeting some skepticism among current and former POS terminal executives. The protocol, known as interactive financial exchange (IFX), relies on the flexibility of XML, an Internet language, to simplify messaging across …
Read More »Atmel and OTI Announce First Major Order for PayPass Gear
On Track Innovations Ltd. and Atmel Corp. announced today they have received the first order for microprocessors in “commercial quantity” for MasterCard International's PayPass contactless payment program. OTI said it also expects orders for card readers to support rollouts of PayPass cards by issuers later this year. The two companies …
Read More »ReD Looks to Add on Payment Types to Build Online Business
PayPal isn't likely to be the last new payment channel Retail Decisions USA Inc. adds to its transaction products for online merchants. The Hazlet, New Jersey-based unit of Retail Decisions PLC in the U.K. announced earlier this month it was adding PayPal acceptance to its transaction-processing software, LiveProcessor, and its …
Read More »CTS Installs New Software to Convert to Windows Processing
Central Technology Services, the Jefferson, City, Mo.-based transaction-processing arm of Central Bancompany, says it will move its ATM-driving capability from its mainframe to a server-based system from Mosaic Software, Deerfield Beach, Fla. The software, which runs Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating system, will handle ATM driving, transaction switching including intercept processing, …
Read More »TowerGroup: Banks Have Hiked Spending to Roll out Super ATMs
Banks are getting set to unveil revamped fleets of ATMs equipped with the latest technology and able to perform a wide range of advanced transaction functions, such as truncation of check deposits. That's according to a new report from Needham, Mass.-based consultancy TowerGroup, which says large banks in the U.S. …
Read More »With AmEx Deal, 7-Eleven Becomes an ATM Networking Power
7-Eleven Inc., the nation's largest convenience-store chain, has acquired the ATM network deployed in its stores from American Express Co. for $44 million. The network connects some 5,483 machines in stores owned, franchised, and licensed by Dallas-based 7-Eleven. The acquisition positions the chain as a major player in electronic funds …
Read More »Report: Australian Merchants Don’t Pass on Interchange Savings
Retailers who object to current levels of interchange fees on electronic transactions often argue the levy forces them to charge consumers more for goods in their stores, driving up prices and penalizing customers. But a recent report out of Australia undercuts that argument. It finds that prices did not decline …
Read More »RFID Scores a Coup with McDonald’s’ Adoption of PayPass
Card transactions based on radio-frequency technology got a major boost today with the rollout of MasterCard International's PayPass system to some 715 McDonald's Corp. restaurants in New York, Dallas, and Orlando, Fla. The stores will go live with PayPass later this year, MasterCard says, and an undisclosed number of further …
Read More »Pay By Touch: Another Store Signs Up, Along with Discover
Pick 'n Save Metro Market, a supermarket in downtown Milwaukee, today began accepting transactions secured by Pay By Touch, a San Francisco-based company that authenticates payments through digital representations of customers' fingerprints. This development comes shortly after the announcement of a co-marketing agreement between Pay By Touch and Discover Financial …
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