Competitive Strategies

Universal Air Travel Plan, which processes corporate travel payments for some 200 accepting airlines around the world, is opening its network to third-party Internet transaction processors as part of a strategy that could significantly boost network volume and bring consumer transactions through its settlement system for the first time. Ralph …

Special Report MasterCard Inc.'s proposed initial public stock offering would put 49% of the payment company's shares and more than 80% of the voting power in the hands of the public, potentially increasing the influence of aggrieved retailers who believe they currently get a raw deal in card pricing. MasterCard …

Point-of-sale terminal maker VeriFone Holdings Inc., which early this year led a long-awaited and closely watched initial public offering, reports its net income for the quarter ended July 31 reached $6.5 million, under generally accepted accounting principles. This represents a swing to a profit from the $2.9 million loss the …

A top official for a trade association representing half of the gas-station operators in Colorado has written to Congress asking for regulation of credit card interchange fees. In a letter dated Aug. 15 and printed in today's online edition of the Rocky Mountain News, Roy A. Turner, executive vice president …

New York-based SVPCO, architect of an image-exchange network serving some of the nation's largest banks, this week switched on a new service that allows users of its network to clear check images automatically. The new automated settlement function, which comes about a year after the network began flowing images, effectively …

In testimony today before a committee of the Australian house of representatives, the governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia stoutly defended the RBA's action last year to regulate credit card interchange rates in that country, claiming it has saved merchants some $447 million (US) in the past year and …

Citigroup Inc.'s decision to bail out of the merchant-acquiring business, which was announced yesterday, could benefit both the banking kingpin and the buyer of the 15,000-location portfolio, processing giant First Data Corp. But Denver-based FDC may emerge as the bigger winner, some observers say, now that Citi has decided to …

The disclosure by Wal-Mart Stores Inc. in late July that it plans to charter an industrial bank in Utah to acquire its own payment transactions is creating more questions than answers about current relationships between the world's largest retailer and the payments entities with whom it currently works. Bentonville, Ark.-based …

The increase in thefts of personal and financial information from databases, highlighted by the recent security breach at payment processor CardSystems Solutions Inc., is causing other processing entities to enhance security efforts beyond just fortifying computers and telecommunications links. For instance, Vital Processing Services LLC, a big merchant processor based …

An offer from Gregory S. Daily, chief executive of Nashville, Tenn.-based processor iPayment Inc., to buy the company has been rejected by the company as too low. A special committee of iPayment's board of directors announced Friday that Daily's offer to buy all outstanding stock for $38 per share, which …