The conversion of paper checks into electronic transactions at lockboxes maintained by utilities, insurers, credit card companies and other major consumer billers is growing at a red-hot pace. The process, known as accounts-receivable conversion (ARC), ballooned almost 800% in the second quarter over the year-ago period and now accounts for …

After emerging in the 1990s as specialists in the business of connecting Internet merchants to acquirers and merchant processors, gateway processors are now wrestling with aggressive competition that will retard their growth relative to other e-commerce players, predicts a recent research report on online commerce. Gateways like CyberSource Corp., Authorize.Net …

New processing technologies for so-called micropayments–transactions carrying a value under $5–have received a lot of attention in recent months as the number of sellers of online digital content expands and as the market for song downloads explodes, but some observers now question how far the market can grow. Startups like …

Falling technology costs and the increasing availability of more sophisticated cellular networks are driving a growing trend toward wireless point-of-sale devices, according to research from TowerGroup, a consulting and research firm in Needham, Mass. The firm's research indicates that while mobile terminals are still a small fraction of the installed …

A Cincinnati-based company that specializes in the repair and refurbishment of ATMs has won a comprehensive class of approval from Visa International for a device it invented to bring installed ATMs into compliance with new card-network security protocols. The approval from Visa means any older ATM incorporating the device will …

Acies Inc., an independent sales organization based in New York, today announced it has entered into an agreement with Fort Pierce, Fla.-based Atlantic Synergy Inc., under which the ISO will become a subsidiary of Atlantic Synergy and hold a controlling interest in the company. As part the acquisition, Atlantic Synergy, …

MusicRebellion.com Inc., which operates a 3-year-old Web site selling song downloads, is getting set to adopt an updated version of a micropayments system to help handle growing volume. The Web merchant, which has been using Peppercoin Inc.'s original processing system, introduced last year, says the micropayment method accounts for between …

Official Payments Corp., a Stamford, Conn.-based processor that specializes in payments to government entities, has announced it is now processing electronic checks on the Internet, with settlement through the automated clearing house. The company, which quietly began the service in December and is now trafficking e-checks for 34 government agencies, …

Six New York-based payments businesses, including The Clearing House, a check-settlement processor, and Small Value Payments Co. (SVPCo.), an electronic transaction processor, will be merging over the next 12 months into a single company, The Clearing House announced today. The merger, which has been in the planning process for the …

Visa U.S.A. reported today that the dollar volume of transactions occurring on its cards on the Internet through the first five months of 2004 is running ahead of the gain seen in calendar 2003. Through May 31, Visa's e-commerce volume on credit and debit cards jumped 59% over the year-ago …