Competitive Strategies

Dexit Inc., a Toronto-based processor of stored-value transactions using radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology, is expanding nationally in Canada and will begin processing transactions in other parts of the world next year?but not in the U.S. any time soon. Dexit, which allows consumers to use chip-embedded keychain “tags” to tap accounts …

Magex Ltd., a London-based e-commerce and person-to-person transaction processor, has acquired Open Payment Technologies Inc., a provider of stored-value card systems to restaurants, supermarkets, and other merchants. A price was not disclosed. Phoenix-based OPT will become a division of Magex, and Dave Ingwersen, OPT's president, is assuming the title of …

MasterCard International reports that 7 million of its 545 million debit cards linked to personal identification numbers worldwide are now enabled for use with SecureCode, the card network's security program for Internet transactions on credit and debit cards. Most of this activity is in Europe. MasterCard says some 5,800 Web …

Despite widespread industry perceptions that 3D Secure technologies are rendering proxy payment numbers obsolete, the primary vendor of such single-use-number technology says its system remains highly attractive to card issuers looking for ways to encourage customers to spend on the Internet. “I feel very bullish about our product,” says Diane …

The arrests announced yesterday by the federal government in an operation directed against e-commerce fraud is cause for optimism, but there's still plenty to keep online merchants up at night, according to a key executive who helped carry out the latest law-enforcement action. The government's Operation Websnare led to the …

John Barrett, a 16-year veteran of MCI Corp., has joined First Data Corp. to run the processor's merchant-sales operations through independent sales organizations and sales agents. In his position as senior vice president for FDC's third-party sales channel, Barrett will have responsibility for all merchant-sales efforts through third parties at …

PayPal isn't likely to be the last new payment channel Retail Decisions USA Inc. adds to its transaction products for online merchants. The Hazlet, New Jersey-based unit of Retail Decisions PLC in the U.K. announced earlier this month it was adding PayPal acceptance to its transaction-processing software, LiveProcessor, and its …

Banks are getting set to unveil revamped fleets of ATMs equipped with the latest technology and able to perform a wide range of advanced transaction functions, such as truncation of check deposits. That's according to a new report from Needham, Mass.-based consultancy TowerGroup, which says large banks in the U.S. …

7-Eleven Inc., the nation's largest convenience-store chain, has acquired the ATM network deployed in its stores from American Express Co. for $44 million. The network connects some 5,483 machines in stores owned, franchised, and licensed by Dallas-based 7-Eleven. The acquisition positions the chain as a major player in electronic funds …

With an increasing number of consumers checking credit card statements and paying bills online at credit card issuers' Web sites, Keynote Systems Inc., San Mateo, Calif., announced it will begin measuring the speed and reliability of nine sites as part of a benchmarking index. The company, which specializes in measuring …