Competitive Strategies

Data-security services and software specialist Trustwave Holdings Inc. served notice last week that it is planning a $100 million initial public offering, the first such IPO by a company heavily vested in services and technology for the Payment Card Industry data-security standard, or PCI. Chicago-based Trustwave’s registration statement, filed with …

Tyfone Inc. this week launched what appears to be the first solution from a third-party vendor that allows any consumer with a mobile device to enroll in, and then use, mobile banking directly from a handset. The new product, which also features integration with Tyfone’s near-field communication (NFC) platform for …

The announcements last week that two top-10 U.S. banks will soon start issuing smart cards based on the EMV chip card standard, while largely symbolic for now, could herald bigger deployments later on. Normal banking competition, meanwhile, could also bring more U.S. banks to issue chip cards, bank executives and …

Think Computer Corp., the startup behind the FaceCash mobile-payments system, has launched a browser-based point-of-sale register in an effort ease FaceCash integration for merchants. “The register lets any small business turn a Web browser into a cash register,” says Aaron Greenspan, Think’s chief executive and president. The product, which has …

Once avoided as a money-loser, person-to-person payments are picking up momentum, with Discover Financial Services as the latest entrant. Discover’s Money Messenger service, which went live Monday, allows cardholders to send cash to anyone with a PayPal account. Recipients who aren’t PayPal customers can set up an account quickly via …

Displaying its newfound mobile-payments fervor for the second time in just over a fortnight, American Express Co. on Wednesday announced it was investing in a startup called Payfone Inc. and would integrate Payfone’s technology with its new Serve mobile-pay platform. Founded in 2008, New York City-based Payfone uses a consumer’s …

Regulatory pressures, the public’s lack of awareness of prepaid cards, and negative publicity from consumer groups and the media are weighing on prepaid card executives’ minds, according to new findings from Aite Group LLC. Researchers from Boston-based Aite polled 24 senior executives during March’s Prepaid Expo USA conference in Orlando, …

Local demographics and the availability of a mass-transit system that uses contactless technology for fare payment chiefly accounted for the decision by Isis, the joint venture formed late last year and led by major wireless carriers, to launch its first pilot next year in Salt Lake City, Utah,  Isis’s head …

  Ingenico S.A. will buy part of point-of-sale terminal maker Hypercom Corp.’s U.S. assets as VeriFone Systems Inc. prepares to complete its acquisition of Hypercom under a deal the companies announced Monday. France-based Ingenico also installed the head of its Australian unit, Thierry Denis, as its new North American president. …

ViVOtech Inc., a payment hardware and software provider specializing in near-field communication (NFC) technology, on Thursday said it is interested in buying the U.S. assets of Hypercom Corp., the point-of-sale terminal maker in the process of being acquired by rival VeriFone Systems Inc., San Jose, Calif. Santa Clara, Calif.-based ViVOtech …