Acquiring

While hoping that it's seeing the light at the end of its long data-breach tunnel, Heartland Payment Systems Inc. also is restructuring its sales force in an effort to boost flagging productivity. The Princeton, N.J.-based merchant acquirer fired 98 low-performing relationship managers in November, but is in the process of …

In expectation that legislation regulating online gambling in the U.S. will pass, the United Kingdom-based payments-processing company UC Group Ltd. has opened a U.S. subsidiary, SecureTrading Inc., headed by three former MasterCard Inc. senior executives. UC Group, a provider of online payment-processing services, is an advocate for regulated Internet gambling …

USA Technologies Inc. and a dissident shareholder group buried the hatchet last week, but their settlement agreement sets some high hurdles for the provider of vending-machine card readers and remote networking transaction-processing services to clear. If not, the dissidents could reassert themselves?just as competition for processing payments from unattended locations …

Same-store sales on credit and debit cards continue to drop for small businesses, indicating that any signs of recovery from the recession have yet to be seen by either Main Street merchants or their acquirers. Sales on cards for small merchants fell 12.15% in the fourth quarter last year compared …

One of the nation's biggest independent sales organizations may be putting itself up for sale, indicating a possible thaw in an icy mergers-and-acquisition market for merchant processors. Reuters reported on Wednesday that Troy, Mich.-based North American Bancard has hired investment bank Deutsche Bank to advise it about a possible sale. …

On the Back Burner in Congress, Interchange Heats up in California Proposed regulation of interchange is stalled in Congress, but California lawmakers are investigating the controversial revenue generator for credit and debit card issuers that merchants ultimately pay. It's not clear yet, however, whether the informational hearing held this week …

With merchant acquirers on the lookout for new ways to manage and motivate sales agents in a difficult economy, processor United Bank Card has launched a program for independent sales organizations that furnishes qualified merchant leads and also sets up appointments with those merchants. The new program specifically supports an …

The choices available for merchants eyeing mobile commerce expanded this week when wireless-payment technology provider Apriva Inc. unveiled two applications that turn smart phones into mobile-payment terminals. Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Apriva is differentiating itself in the booming m-commerce marketplace by claiming space as a full-service software and services provider for merchants …

It's too early to make a final judgment, but a Web-site design and hosting company serving 25 online fashion retailers says acceptance of Amazon.com Inc.'s new PayPhrase is doing one of the key things online retailers want a payment service to do?reduce shopping-cart abandonment. Secaucus, N.J.-based eFashionSolutions LLC is one …

Star, one of the nation's largest electronic funds transfer networks, on March 1 will implement changes in its interchange pricing for point-of-sale transactions that in some cases will include dramatic increases and an elimination of fee maximums. The network is also introducing on April 1 a new fee category that …