Acquiring

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 …

The struggling U.S. contactless card market took another blow late last year when leading consumer-electronics retailer Best Buy Co. Inc. stopped accepting the Visa payWave contactless card, reportedly because it objected to paying Visa Inc.'s signature-debit interchange rates. Best Buy's action probably cost the retailer nothing in lost sales but …

Merchant acquirer Heartland Payment Systems Inc. cleared away probably the single biggest remaining matter from the huge data breach it disclosed a year ago by announcing a $60 million settlement with Visa Inc. on Friday. The settlement will cover losses Visa credit and debit card issuers incurred in the wake …

A Discover Financial Services employee test of contactless payment stickers for mobile devices that started in April 2009 will continue, according to a Discover executive. But Discover is being coy about if and when it or its card-issuing partners will roll out Discover's Zip contactless brand on a wide scale. …

Payment card terminal maker VeriFone Holdings Inc. on Monday issued a press release trumpeting its victory in a courtroom skirmish with merchant acquirer Heartland Payment Systems Inc. What VeriFone didn't mention, however, was that it is in settlement talks with Heartland that could end their multifront legal war. That war, …