Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
Could the 2008 presidential election be influenced by the candidates' Web sites?and in particular, those sites' ability to process online donations? A report released on Wednesday by Gomez Inc., a company specializing in Web-site performance measurement, would seem to suggest it might be. According to an online poll of prospective …
Read More »Processors Report Major Leaps for Image Exchange So Far in ’07
After months in which banks struggled to cope with the technology and rules surrounding image exchange, check processors so far in 2007 are reporting remarkable leaps in image-exchange volume. The nation's largest image-exchange network reported Monday its March volume hit 177.4 million items, up 507% over March 2006. Volume was …
Read More »Citi Expects New Mobile Service to Reach More Than Half of Accounts
The new mobile-banking application unveiled by Citigroup Inc. this week will penetrate more than half of the banking giant's U.S. consumer accounts within five years, an executive at Citi says. The application, dubbed Citi Mobile and set to debut Friday in California, represents the first rollout of an electronic-banking and …
Read More »If Spun off, Would Metavante Remain Independent for Long?
Barely a day after industry-leading processor First Data Corp. announced that it was going private comes word that the Milwaukee bank-holding company that owns Metavante Corp. is dusting off plans to spin off its fast-growing payments subsidiary. According to The Wall Street Journal, Marshall & Ilsley Corp. is planning a …
Read More »‘Barbarians’ Get Set to Take over First Data in a $29 Billion Buyout
The leveraged-buyout craze caught up with the electronic-payment processing industry on Monday when No. 1 processor First Data Corp. announced it had struck a $29 billion deal to be acquired by investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. Under the plan approved by Greenwood Village, Colo.-based First Data’s board of …
Read More »Eye on M-Commerce: Firethorn, Metavante, ViVOtech, MobileLime
It has been a busy week for mobile banking and payments, with an announcement from Firethorn Holdings Inc. about new bank and carrier signings; from Metavante Corp. about a joint venture to launch a U.S. mobile-payments service; from ViVOtech about a new service to allow over-the-air provisioning of event tickets; …
Read More »Morgan Stanley Outlines Risks for an Independent Discover
Broadening merchant acceptance and negotiating the shoals of merchant pricing will be key parts of Discover Financial Services LLC's strategy to survive and grow once parent company Morgan Stanley spins off the No. 4 payments network. Morgan Stanley, a New York City-based investment bank, late on Friday filed a document …
Read More »A Telecom Processor Rolls out Gateway with Online Phone Billing
A San Antonio, Texas company that specializes in clearing and settling consumer charges for telecommunications companies has signed up seven sellers of digital content for a new online payments gateway that lets users charge downloads to their phone bills. The seven undisclosed merchants are the first clients for what BSG …
Read More »Unfazed by Wal-Mart Pullout, Home Depot Presses on with ILC Plans
Home-improvement giant Home Depot Inc. is pressing on with its plan to get an industrial-loan corporation charter despite a hostile political environment that has only grown stronger over the weekend. Opponents to ILC applications by commercial enterprises notched a victory Friday with Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s decision to abandon its efforts …
Read More »An Investor Letter Sparks a Tussle Between the Terminal Kingpins
A letter from a major Hypercom Corp. investor to the point-of-sale terminal maker's chief executive advising a stock buyback and referring to a possible sale of the company, made public Friday in a Securities & Exchange Commission filing, has prompted rival VeriFone Holdings Inc. to target Hypercom customers with an …
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