Acquiring

Having recently agreed to standardize their protocols for transaction-data protection primarily at online merchants, the card networks are beginning to push for improved security of stored data at brick-and-mortar retail locations, as well. The move comes in the wake of alarming breaches of card-transaction data at physical retail stores, including …

MasterCard's recent decision to slash its interchange pricing for e-commerce merchants that adopt the bank card association's SecureCode authentication program should significantly improve the business case for the technology and put pressure on Visa USA to respond, industry sources say. “I can't imagine [Visa is] going to let MasterCard steal …

In a determined if not defiant speech delivered today at a conference of independent sales organizations, Discover Financial Services Inc. chief executive David Nelms invited ISOs to help Discover build its network by helping introduce new services and recruiting more merchants. He also decried high merchant acceptance costs and took …

Although their rate of deployment has slowed somewhat, independent sales organizations continue to install ATMs at a rapid rate and now control nearly half of the 394,500 machines in service in the U.S., according to a new study from Tremont Capital Group Inc. Moreover, the Boston-based investment advisory firm's report …

Having doubled its merchant base via portfolio acquisitions last year, Dallas-based processor TransFirst has created a product division aimed, it says, at introducing new services to help retain merchants and give independent sales agents more ways to relieve pressure on pricing. The first new products, which will go live in …

The nation's largest electronic funds transfer network is rejiggering its interchange pricing in an effort to penetrate new merchant categories and convert more low-value transactions?in some cases, below $10?to PIN debit. As part of a sweeping set of pricing changes to go into effect May 1, Star Networks Inc. is …

Nashville, Tenn.-based iPayment Inc., a publicly held independent sales organization processing for 125,000 small merchants, reported strong results for the fourth quarter of last year and for all of 2004, driven mainly by increased economies of scale from merchant-portfolio acquisitions. Revenue jumped to $101.4 million for the quarter and $364.2 …

Add-on pricing as well as an increase in manual items kept the fees banks and independent sales organizations pay to processors from dropping in 2004, according to a new acquirer-pricing study released today. Although most observers thought processor fees might decline somewhat last year as a result of the emergence …

American Express Co. made no pricing concessions to Walgreen's Co. to keep the pharmacy giant accepting AmEx cards, a top executive says. Responding to questions from securities analysts during a conference call yesterday to discuss AmEx's fourth-quarter and year-end 2004 results, Gary L. Crittenden, chief financial officer at the New …

Discover Financial Services Inc.'s deal with GE Consumer Finance Inc. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will lead to a huge volume boost for Discover and help the Riverwoods, Ill.-based company offer pricing to potential issuing partners that exceeds the interchange income they can get from Visa and MasterCard, an expert observer …