Nova Information Systems, an Atlanta-based transaction processor, announced today it has agreed to acquire a portfolio of 10,000 merchants from Union Bank of California in a deal expected to close by June 30. Pricing and other terms were not disclosed. Nova says the acquisition is expected to add $3 billion …

More than 300 sellers are set to participate April 27 in the first online auction in which all transactions will be guaranteed by surety bonds. Dealers in antiques and collectibles will sell their wares during the auction, scheduled for April 27-May 2 at BondedSale.com, a site jointly sponsored by online …

Authorize.net Inc., which serves as a payments gateway for 91,000 mostly mid-size and small Web-based merchants, is making a major play for the brick-and-mortar point of sale. With the backing of its new owner, Burlington, Mass.-based Lightbridge Inc., Authorize.net is revving up its marketing and re-seller efforts to expand rapidly …

Dallas-based processor TransFirst, which has completed two major acquisitions in the past month that have more than doubled the company's size, is taking a break from the M&A game, but not one that will last long. “It'll be two to three months before another acquisition,” Mark Travis, chief financial officer …

Exadigm Inc. thinks merchants and acquirers should be able to take for granted wireless and Internet connections for point-of-sale terminals in the same way everyone does for personal computers and cell phones. So it is gearing up a major marketing effort for a new terminal that runs on the Linux …

BioPay LLC today announced it has enrolled 1 million consumers in its biometric check-cashing and payment services since the services started in June 2000 and September 2003, respectively. The Herndon, Va.-based company also said it has processed almost 7.5 million transactions with a value of $3 billion in that time. …

A draft of a new American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standard for electronic exchange of checks and check data among banks and processors will be ready for ballot this summer, and could be ready for trial use this year, according to a member of the committee working on the standard. …

TPI Software LLC, a privately held provider of e-commerce and point-of-sale systems based in Redmond, Wash., has won certification on Paymentech LP's NetConnect platform, a major network supporting online and telephone transactions, as well as transactions at the point of sale, using Internet connections. TPI, which claims to have developed …

Hypercom Corp., a supplier of point-of-sale transaction devices, has entered the electronic-transaction networking business with the formation of a new subsidiary, HBNet Inc. The new unit has been set up to compete with the dominant player in transaction networking, Reston, Va.-based Transaction Network Services Inc., which completed an initial public …

TransFirst, a Dallas-based processor, today announced it is forming a new division to focus on alliances with independent sales organizations. The new unit, called TransFirst Independent Sales Services, is headed by Nancy Newton, who holds the title of president of the division. Newton is a former Compass Bank and Paymentech …