Wednesday , November 27, 2024

Digital Transactions News staff

Why MasterCard Is Moving To Certify Instant Issuance

MasterCard International plans by the end of the year to have in place a program to certify instant card issuance activity in the United States. The bank card company is testing an instant-issuance certification plan in Brazil now, and is concerned enough about perceived risk in instant issuance that it …

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A New ANSI Standard Could Ease the Way for Triple DES

A new U.S. standard in the works now could dramatically cut the costs ATM deployers face in bringing their machines into compliance with the so-called Triple DES encryption requirement set by the bank card networks. As things stand now, banks and other deployers must distribute the Triple DES encryption key, …

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AmEx May Be Behind the Latest MasterCard Rate Hike

The immediate reaction among industry observers to the disclosure last week that MasterCard International Inc. is raising its interchange rates on some credit card transaction categories effective April 2 was that the move is meant to recoup issuer income lost in the major debit card settlement reached last year. But …

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Electronic Checks Help Drive Up Revenue for ECHO

Electronic Clearing House Inc., an electronic transaction processor based in Camarillo, Calif., today announced a 22% increase in revenue in its October to December 2003 quarter over the same quarter in 2002. Revenue for the most recent quarter reached $11.4 million. This result was fueled by increases in both bank …

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A New Regional ISO/MLS Group Announced for the West

Seven founding members announced today the formation of a new regional association serving merchant-level salespersons, ISOs, vendors, processors, and financial institutions in the western United States. Called the Western States Acquirers Association, the new group plans to hold its first conference in November in San Francisco, and is in the …

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Pay By Touch Close to Breakthrough Deals, CEO Says

Pay By Touch, the San Francisco-based supplier of a point-of-sale payment technology that replaces cards and other media with fingerprint scans, says it is close to several major deals which, if consummated, will give the fledgling company and its system considerable momentum. Among the deals in the pipeline, says Pay …

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A Providian-Barclays Deal Could Fuel Transaction Innovation

The news that Barclays PLC is talking to Providian Financial Corp. about buying the San Francisco-based credit card issuer has some observers speculating that the merger could accelerate the development of new electronic transaction products both in the U.S. and in Europe, where Barclays is a major card issuer with …

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Visa USA Reports Transactions Rose Nearly 12% in 2003

Visa USA reported today that its cards produced 16.1 billion transactions last year, an increase of 11.7% over its transaction volume in 2002. Although credit cards accounted for $650 billion in volume in 2003, or 59% of Visa's total dollar volume, signature-secured debit cards made up 59% of the bank …

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Security Fears Put Electronic Voting Under the Microscope

Fears concerning computer security are resulting in setbacks for the movement toward electronic voting. Most recently, the Pentagon has scuppered plans to allow Americans living abroad to cast ballots on the Internet. At the same time, some county and state elections officials, bowing to worries about computer viruses and the …

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First Data Says Western Union Inquiry Won’t Impact Concord Deal

First Data Corp. says it does not expect an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice of its money-transfer business to have an effect on the completion of its acquisition of Concord EFS Inc. The Denver-based processor said earlier this week it expects to close the merger with Concord Feb. …

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