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Confirming long-standing industry speculation, Columbus, Ga.-based bank-holding company Synovus Financial Corp. on Tuesday said it would consider spinning off its processing subsidiary, Total System Services Inc. (TSYS), to Synovus shareholders. Assuming a spin-off eventually happens, TSYS will have played a key role in 2007's major processing-industry restructuring that will take …
Read More »Branded Prepaid Growth Is Lapping That of Private Label, Report Says
The two major sides of today's prepaid card industry, branded or general purpose on one side and private label on the other, both still have enormous growth potential, but the branded side has the stronger prospects, according to a new report from Boston-based financial research firm Aite Group LLC. Aite …
Read More »Image Exchange Hits Its Stride, But Clouds Form on the Horizon
Though still growing in volume from month to month, substitute checks now account for only about one-third of total image-exchange traffic between banks, according to the latest industrywide data. By contrast, a year ago these costly paper printouts of check images amounted to 56% of all image-exchange volume. At the …
Read More »Green Dot Begins to Look Like the Go-To Prepaid Reload Network
The booming popularity of prepaid cards has created opportunities for payments companies far beyond just issuing plastic cards. The reloading of already-issued prepaid cards, for instance, is emerging as a major business. And that means Monrovia, Calif.-based Green Dot Corp.'s 40,000-location reload network is attracting attention from such big companies …
Read More »PayPal Launches What It Calls a Game-Changer for M-Commerce
PayPal Inc.'s much-anticipated mobile-commerce service made its official debut this week in a development PayPal executive Kevin Dulsky calls a “game-changing” event for the electronic-transactions business. The launch of PayPal Mobile Checkout, which claims at least 20 merchants signed up so far, follows weeks of speculation about the m-commerce version …
Read More »Despite a Strong Bench, First Data Picks an Outsider As Its New CEO
Michael D. Capellas, a tech executive from outside the payments industry, will head First Data Corp. as the No. 1 payment processor begins its new life as a privately held company. Capellas, who held top posts at MCI Inc. and Compaq Computer Corp., will take over as chief executive from …
Read More »Patent Office Validates a DataTreasury Image Exchange Patent
The U.S Patent and Trademark Office has upheld substantially all of the claims contained in a key patent held by DataTreasury Corp. that covers processes related to check image exchange. The USPTO decision, reached in May but not made public until recently, follows a formal process in which Plano, Texas-based …
Read More »‘Day of Reckoning’ Beckons As Image Volume Peaks in ’08
Image-exchange networks and the financial institutions that use them to process checks electronically may have to contend with a dwindling supply of checks sooner than they expected. For the time being, the networks are doing a robust business, with the volume of items expected to more than quadruple this year, …
Read More »Northwest Deal Lets PayPal Gain Altitude in Online Travel Sales
Alternative payments have penetrated the market for airline tickets with Northwest Airlines Inc.'s decision to accept PayPal on its Web site. The move by the major air carrier, which executes about 1,400 daily departures around the world, makes it the first airline to accept PayPal and gives the San Jose, …
Read More »With an Eye on EFT, Fidelity Picks up eFunds with a $1.8 Billion Bid
The strategic review that payment processor eFunds Corp. disclosed May 9 ended today with the announcement that another processor, Jacksonville, Fla.-based Fidelity National Information Services Inc. (FIS), will buy e-Funds for $1.8 billion in cash. The purchase price of $36.50 per share represents a 5.5% premium over eFunds' Tuesday closing …
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