The Herndon, Va.-based National Automated Clearing House Association announced its members have approved a new rule governing third-party processing of automated clearing house (ACH) transactions. The rule, an amendment to the NACHA Operating Rules that goes into effect next December, requires that third parties agree to be bound by the …

An ambitious multi-application smart card pilot launched late last year in Barrie, Ontario, is ready to move to its next phase, which will involve signing up 40 more merchant locations in February. Toronto-based Scotiabank, the issuer of the cards, will not release how many it has issued so far, though …

The next step in transaction automation in the travel industry may well be the introduction of self-service ticketing machines, which are getting increasing usage at airports, into related markets like hotels, allowing travelers to integrate several transactions into one. Already, self-service kiosks at hotels allow travelers not only to check …

Fast Forward Solutions LLC, a subsidiary of Columbus, Ohio-based air-freight hauler AirNet Systems Inc., is gearing up AirNet's seven regional hubs to handle Fast Forward's new business: transporting image-replacement documents for banks converting from paper checks to check imaging. Within six weeks, says Jeff Harris, the former banker and AirNet …

The merger of banking powerhouses J.P Morgan Chase & Co. and Bank One Corp., announced late yesterday, would create the nation's second largest credit card issuer as measured by credit outstanding, the banks' chief executives said this morning in a meeting with analysts. The combined bank would boast 95 million …

Just weeks after Wal-Mart Stores Inc. informed MasterCard International Inc. that the chain would stop accepting MasterCard debit cards effective next month, the bank card company has released a consumer survey showing that merchants who reject debit cards risk losing sales. Sponsored by MasterCard and conducted by Harris Interactive, best …

Consumers who abandon shopping carts on e-commerce sites do so mainly because the sites impose costly shipping and handling costs or lengthy shipment times. This is one part of the findings of a survey conducted last month by NetIQ Corp., a San Jose, Calif.-based vendor of web-analytics tools. The company …

Peppercoin Inc., the Waltham, Mass.-based provider of software to process very small online transactions like payments for 99-cent songs, has signed up another new client in the red-hot market for online music. Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, a non-profit record label belonging to the Smithsonian Institution, announced it had signed on with …

Pay By Touch, a San Francisco-based company offering a biometrics-based technology that allows consumers to pay at the point of sale without presenting a card, keyfob, token, or any other payment medium, announced today that it has formed an alliance with IBM Corp. that should give the fledgling biometrics company …

Continental Airlines has announced it has now installed ticketing kiosks in all domestic airports served by its planes. With a machine going online Dec. 31 at the airport in Reno, Nev., the airline's network of machines now numbers 779 across 130 U.S. airports. Continental says self-service check-in has become the …