Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
Consumers' propensity to use mobile devices to conduct banking functions depends on the sophistication of the device, not on the consumer's age, according to recent research. Indeed, mobile users equipped with iPhones or other touchscreen-enabled smart phones are far more likely to use the devices for mobile financial services than …
Read More »Internet Pioneer Case Promotes RevolutionCard to Audience of Bankers
Entrepreneur Steve Case, whose founding of America Online Inc. helped popularize the Internet, told an audience of bankers on Monday that his new venture is set to shake up electronic payments by dramatically slashing costs for merchants and consumers. Case's remarks came on the same day that venture, St. Petersburg, …
Read More »FIS’s Metavante Acquisition To Create a Processing Powerhouse
Fidelity National Information Services Inc. (FIS) will buy Metavante Technologies Inc. in a $2.94 billion all-stock deal announced on Wednesday. The acquisition will create a bank- and payments-processing giant with $5 billion in combined revenue and a vast array of products in everything from core banking services to credit, debit, …
Read More »Contactless Stickers for Cell Phones Move onto Payments Networks
First Data Corp. announced on Tuesday it will use technology from Inside Contactless, a French chipmaker, for its Go-Tag product, a sticker that can be affixed to mobile phones to make them work like contactless-payment devices. Under the three-year agreement, Inside Contactless will supply so-called prelams, or chip-and-antenna elements, that …
Read More »There’s No Bill, But the Interchange War Heats up in D.C. All the Same
An interchange battle is raging this week in Washington D.C., even though there is no interchange bill pending in Congress. Some merchants, however, hope that will change soon and are pushing their agenda with an advertising campaign that includes a YouTube video and advertising designed to influence new members of …
Read More »Sale of Fifth Third Processing Biggest Such Deal in More Than a Year
In the biggest sale of a merchant acquirer in more than a year, private-equity firm Advent International Corp. will take a 51% stake in Fifth Third Processing Solutions through a deal announced today with the big processor's parent company, Fifth Third Bancorp. Boston-based Advent will pay $561 million in cash …
Read More »Bill Me Later (And Thus eBay) Enters Tax Payments Via Link2Gov
In another example of tax payments going electronic, processor Metavante Corp.'s Link2Gov subsidiary has added Bill Me Later as an option that consumers and businesses can use to pay federal taxes. Assuming all goes as planned, the deal announced on Tuesday should bring more transaction volume to Metavante, the payment …
Read More »Heartland Gets Hedge-Fund Investment And Warns Rival Processors
After weeks of bad tidings, there is some positive news for Heartland Payment Systems Inc., the Princeton, N.J.-based merchant acquirer struggling to recover from a data breach late last year. Last week, SAC Capital Partners, a high-profile hedge fund known for its investment savvy, bought 767,300 shares, or about 2%, …
Read More »Pulse Becomes Third EFT Network to Agree to Test Online PIN Debit
The Pulse electronic funds transfer network on Monday announced it will test transactions in which consumers use PIN debit cards to pay online merchants. The Houston-based network is the third EFT system to agree to run such a pilot using technology from Acculynk Inc., an Atlanta-based software company. The Accel/Exchange …
Read More »While Google Checkout Reprices, eBay Eyes Big Growth for PayPal
Announcements last week from two of the major online payment systems, PayPal Inc. and Google Inc.'s Google Checkout, show the two are taking differing roads: PayPal is getting ready for a big growth spurt, while Google Checkout is changing its longstanding pricing plan with tiered rates that amount to price …
Read More »