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A new organization focused on training for merchant-level salespeople now has its Web site live and is looking toward its first seminar in Dallas Nov. 15, which it expects will draw 100 to 150 attendees. The Mountain Home, Ark.-based Institute for Payment Professionals, formed this fall by industry veterans Paul …
Read More »Visa Posts Strong Third-Quarter Volume Gains
Shrugging off what it called a “challenging” year that included a $2 billion legal settlement with retailers, Visa USA reported this morning strong gains in transaction volume on its credit and debit card business for the third quarter. Total volume grew almost 13% to $285.8 billion, leading president and chief …
Read More »Web-Based Drivers’ License Renewal May Be Coming
The state of Washington, home to Microsoft Corp. and Amazon.com and considered one of the most digitally advanced states in the country, has passed the 1 million mark in electronic transactions on its Web site, and plans next to allow citizens to renew their drivers' licenses online. According to an …
Read More »Early Results Look Good for AmEx’s RF Payment Pilot
American Express Co.'s experiment with contactless payment based on keyfobs in and around Phoenix, in progress since July, is expanding into more locations and apparently meeting with merchant and consumer approval. The ExpressPay program, which puts small keychain fobs in the hands of consumers instead of plastic cards, relies on …
Read More »Survey: Better Content Might Ignite Online Micropayments
A survey released today at a conference on micropayments reveals the extent to which Americans are willing to buy content from Web sites at prices measured in the pennies. Extrapolations from the survey show that 4 million Americans made micropayments for digital content costing $2 and under in the past …
Read More »Check 21: Big Cost, Big Profit Opportunity
Creating and moving check images across banking networks now that President Bush has signed the Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act into law is likely to cost banks a great deal of money–but most are likely to find it worth their while. Popularly known as Check 21, the law …
Read More »U.S. Justice Department Blocks First Data-Concord Merger
Arguing that the transaction would stifle competition in the market for transactions secured with personal identification numbers, the Department of Justice filed suit today to stop a proposed $7.3 billion acquisition of Concord EFS by First Data Corp. Officials of Justice's antitrust division argued that the merger would weaken competition …
Read More »FSA-Linked Debit Cards Get a Pass on HIPAA
Issuers of debit cards tied to flexible-spending accounts may be breathing a sigh of relief now that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) unit of the federal Department of Health & Human Services has sent a letter to a marketer of one such card exempting its product from …
Read More »Visa and MasterCard: Doing What Competitors Do?
Does the motion filed last week by MasterCard in federal court against Visa signal a new era of real competition between the two card companies? The answer seems to be yes, but the question is whether it’s healthy competition. The motion seeks to stop Visa from enacting a “settlement fee” …
Read More »Banks May Like What Big Blue and Discover Could Offer
Expect some unique credit card offerings in the next six to nine months now that a three-judge panel of the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld an October 2001 U.S. District Court ruling allowing banks to issue American Express and Discover cards. American Express has already issued a …
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