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Visa Inc., MasterCard Inc., and their Canadian credit card issuers dodged a legal bullet Tuesday when Canada’s Competition Tribunal refused to quash network rules designed to protect cards from being undercut by merchants seeking lower-cost payment forms. Instead, the tribunal suggested that changing the law was the way for merchants …
Read More »Allpoint Eyes More Surcharge-Free ATM Volume Through a New Pact with Discover
Discover Financial Services has been in the spotlight over the past year because of its high-profile effort with PayPal Inc. to bring the online-payments leader’s service to millions of physical merchants. But that’s just one iron Riverwoods, Ill.-based Discover has in the fire. On Monday, the Allpoint surcharge-free ATM network …
Read More »ISOs Watch Their Backs As Regulators Step Up Scrutiny of the Payments Industry
A growing feeling among independent sales organizations about more eyes looking over their shoulders came through Thursday at the annual conference of the MidWest Acquirers Association, a regional trade group. Jitters over the Federal Trade Commission’s lawsuits against ISOs that processed for allegedly fraudulent telemarketers to increasing worries about data …
Read More »New Retirement Funding Plan Latest Effort by Loss-Racked First Data To Control Costs
In an effort to free up cash to rebuild its struggling business, payment processor First Data Corp. will stop funding its 24,000 employees’ retirement plans with cash and instead provide stock grants to all employees. New First Data chief executive Frank Bisignano announced the change Monday in a memo to …
Read More »Court’s Critique Sparks NetSpend To Mull New Offers As Alternatives to TSYS Bid
Prepaid card program manager NetSpend Holdings Inc. on Wednesday said it will postpone until June 18 the shareholder meeting it planned for Friday to approve its $1.4 billion sale to processor Total System Services Inc. (TSYS). The delay is an attempt in the wake of two shareholder lawsuits to create …
Read More »NEBA Sale Will Close the Book on the Regional Bank Card Processing Associations
The pending acquisition of the processing business of NEBA (formerly the New England Bankcard Association), a Wakefield, Mass.-based bank card issuing and merchant-acquiring association, by processor Primax will mark the end of an era. Founded in 1969, NEBA is the last of the 12 original regional processing associations for …
Read More »TSYS Plans To Go Big-Time in Prepaid With Its $1.4 Billion NetSpend Acquisition
No stranger to prepaid cards, payment card processor Total System Services Inc. (TSYS) will become a major force in the prepaid niche with its planned cash acquisition of program manager NetSpend Holdings Inc. that values NetSpend at $1.4 billion. The deal the two companies announced late Tuesday would pay NetSpend …
Read More »With FSV Under Its Wing, U.S. Bank Poised To Become a Full-Service Prepaid Card Provider
Already a major player in the prepaid card industry, U.S. Bancorp on Tuesday announced plans to bolster that part of its payment card business by acquiring FSV Payment Services, a Jacksonville, Fla.-based prepaid card program manager and processor. Minneapolis-based U.S. Bank issues prepaid cards for more than 4 million account …
Read More »Eye on Prepaid: NetSpend Nets 7-Eleven for Distribution; Green Dot Buys a Processor
Prepaid card program manager NetSpend Holdings Inc. beefed up its retail distribution channels through a new agreement announced on Wednesday with leading convenience-store chain 7-Eleven Inc. The news came just a day after NetSpend rival Green Dot Corp. revealed that it bought assets from eCommLink Inc. that will advance its …
Read More »Eye on Prepaid: Intuit’s GoPayment Card, Green Dot’s Bank
The prepaid card industry is marching to new frontiers as November heads toward a close. Intuit Inc. on Tuesday is expected to launch a prepaid Visa card for new merchants in its GoPayment smart-phone-based service, and the Federal Reserve Board approved prepaid card program manager Green Dot Corp.’s plan to …
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