Acquiring

Prepaid card processor eCommLink Inc. is joining with mobile phone and payment technology providers to offer a cell phone and prepaid debit MasterCard tied to a single account. The prepaid MasterCard function eventually will be incorporated into the phone, enabling consumers to use the phone for payments at merchants' points …

As part of its efforts to rationalize its operations, First Data Corp. plans to consolidate its 12 U.S. data centers into three over a two-year period starting in the second quarter, according to a quarterly report the processing giant filed this week with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The total …

Amid highly publicized data breaches at major chains like TJX Cos. Inc. and Stop & Shop Supermarket Cos., large merchants are making progress in achieving compliance with the Payment Card Industry data-security standard (PCI), though nearly two-thirds of them have still not been certified as meeting the standard. Some 35% …

Fledgling PIN-debit network Tempo Payments Inc. this week reported that Chase Paymentech Solutions LLC, the nation's largest merchant acquirer, is now offering Tempo acceptance. With Chase processing for more than 500,000 merchants, the agreement opens a huge new acceptance base to San Mateo, Calif.-based Tempo, though whether that potential is …

If regulation can't be avoided, national trade groups often prefer federal regulation over regulation by states on the theory that one set of rules is less costly and easier to comply with than 50 different sets of rules. But when it comes to interchange, the National Retail Federation is challenging …

With its first top executive in place, an industry consortium formed last year to promote the Payment Card Industry data-security standard (PCI) is getting set to elect a board of advisors, launch educational programs for merchants, and conduct a meeting aimed at updating the security rules. The announcements come in …

Mobile-payments processor Obopay Inc. expects to have at least 20 merchants accepting transactions through its new platform by the end of the year, a top executive with the Redwood City, Calif.-based company says. Obopay introduced its so-called mobile merchant platform, which extends the 2-year-old processor's reach beyond person-to-person payments into …

The leveraged-buyout craze caught up with the electronic-payment processing industry on Monday when No. 1 processor First Data Corp. announced it had struck a $29 billion deal to be acquired by investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. Under the plan approved by Greenwood Village, Colo.-based First Data’s board of …

The startling size of the TJX Cos. Inc. data breach–at least 45.7 million credit and debit cards compromised–has some electronic-payments experts wondering whether the card networks will ultimately succeed in winning merchant compliance with their data-security rules. “If a major U.S. retailer cannot have its house in order, how can …

Recent cases of card-data theft from retailers?and the publicity surrounding them?are apparently generating opportunity for startup security-software companies. “More and more retailers are looking for ways to prevent breaches,” says Mark Buczynski, vice president of marketing at BitArmor Systems Inc., a 4-year-old, Pittsburgh-based company that markets encryption software it has …