Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
Canada's Interac Association PIN-debit network this week announced a deal with the Houston-based Pulse network that will let holders of Pulse, Discover, and Diners Club cards withdraw cash at Canadian ATMs. More such deals with other networks are likely as Interac seeks to let foreigners use their cards while visiting …
Read More »Debt, Accounting Issues, Recession Led Cynergy Data to Bankruptcy
With $83 million in debt added since 2007, accounting errors, and finally the recession, the big independent sales organization Cynergy Data LLC concluded late this summer that it needed bankruptcy-court protection, according to an emerging picture of the company as it seeks to sell its assets to a private-equity firm. …
Read More »Citing Debt Load, Cynergy Data Declares Bankruptcy And Seeks Sale
Citing the weak economy and “an unsustainable debt load,” the big independent sales organization Cynergy Data filed for Chapter 11 protection Tuesday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware. The Long Island City, N.Y.-based processor also said it planned to sell its assets to The ComVest Group, a private-equity firm with …
Read More »Moneta’s Bank-Centric Strategy Gives It a Lift with Online Retailers
Alternative-payments processor Moneta Corp. this week announced the addition of three online merchants to its roster of clients and next week will sign a major Internet housewares retailer, says Guido F. Sacchi, chief executive of the Atlanta-based company. In all, some 20 merchants will be signed by month's end, he …
Read More »Nokia’s Mobile-Payments Gambit Could Give a Boost to Obopay
The announcement on Wednesday by Nokia, the world's largest cell-phone maker, that it will launch a mobile-payments service is likely to give a competitive leg-up to Obopay Inc., the Redwood City, Calif.-based mobile-payments processor that developed the software for the new venture, called Nokia Money. Four-year-old Obopay, in which Nokia …
Read More »New Intuit Payment Service Could Vie for Consumer Transactions
Intuit Inc. has quietly introduced an online-payment product that may be aimed initially at small businesses looking for ways to let other businesses pay them electronically, but could move into consumer payments later on. The new service, called Intuit PaymentNetwork, charges a flat 50 cents per transaction, with no set-up …
Read More »With Walk-in Bill Pay, Wal-Mart Adds More Payments Muscle
It's now official: Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has become a major distributor of walk-in electronic bill-payment services. Processor Fiserv Inc. announced that 3,755 U.S. Wal-Mart locations now offer standard and next-day bill payments from Fiserv's CheckFreePay service. The service enables customers to pay 2,500 utility, credit card, phone, insurance, and other …
Read More »Report: Consolidation, Security, Debit Are Top Challenges for Acquirers
The merchant-acquiring industry can expect more market consolidation and more attention to security, and it also will have to adjust to the secular shift away from credit and toward debit, according to a new assessment of market trends from Mercator Advisory Group Inc. Portfolio sales and acquisitions of smaller processors …
Read More »With Goldleaf, Jack Henry Beefs up Its Remote-Capture Business
Bank technology provider Jack Henry & Associates Inc. on Monday said it would buy Goldleaf Financial Solutions Inc. in a $19.1 million cash deal that will bring two of the leading deployers of remote deposit capture services under one roof. The pending acquisition will be Monett, Mo.-based Jack Henry's 17th …
Read More »Network Rivalry Sparks 10-Year Quadrupling of PIN-Debit Pricing
Merchants increasingly are complaining about the rising cost of accepting PIN-debit transactions, once by far the cheapest payment they could process from any piece of plastic. Now, data compiled by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City show why: the cost of accepting PIN-debit cards rose 305% between 1996 and …
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