The PCI Security Standards Council on Monday unveiled a preview of its soon-to-be-released Version 1.2 of the Payment Card Industry data-security standard, an update the council's boss says adds no major rules. The update also will clarify existing requirements in Version 1.1, eliminate redundancies, and in general try to bring …
Read More »Industry Insiders Say Billing Gaining Ground for Mobile Content Payments
A survey of about 100 mobile and broadband executives indicates the wireless bill is rapidly gaining support as a vehicle for handling payments for digital-content downloads to mobile devices in the U.S. But at the same time the executives expressed doubts about the prospects for payments via near-field communication (NFC) …
Read More »A Fed Dragnet Catches Some Big Fish, But Are the Hacks Solved?
Federal authorities on Tuesday announced 11 people from the U.S. and at least four other countries have been charged with numerous crimes stemming from computer intrusions at major retailers that resulted in the theft and sale of 40 million credit and debit card numbers. The vast scheme, with charges originating …
Read More »Blockbuster-NCR Deal Heats Up Competition in Unattended Payments
The growing market in DVD rentals from vending machines became more competitive this week when video-rental icon Blockbuster Inc. announced a deal with NCR Corp. in which the maker of ATMs, other banking hardware, and kiosks this quarter will begin deploying the first of what it expects could be 10,000 …
Read More »Critics Decry a Costly Merchant-Reporting Rule, But It’s Now the Law
A revenue-generating proposal that would force merchant acquirers to report their clients' card-based sales to the Internal Revenue Service was signed into law Wednesday by President Bush. The provision, which critics say will impose a costly burden on the entire acquiring business at a time when the industry is under …
Read More »A High-Tech Card Maker Aims for ‘Holy Grail’ of Transaction Cards
Innovative Card Technologies Inc., a 15-year-old maker of high-tech bank cards, expects to have pilots under way with U.S. financial institutions by the end of September for its primary product, a credit-card-sized device that generates a one-time pass code for online transactions. Steven R. Delcarson, chief executive of the Los …
Read More »Eye on Earnings: American Express, USA Technologies, Fifth Third
Lending took a bit out of travel-and-entertainment card leader American Express Co.'s second-quarter profits, but discount revenue still grew. Meanwhile, Fifth Third Processing Solutions outperformed its struggling parent company, and USA Technologies Inc. reported that transactions on its network of unattended machines more than doubled while sales of contactless card-reading …
Read More »TNS Hopes Its Dial-up-to-IP Converter Will Draw Cost-Conscious Merchants
With an estimated 11 million point-of-sale terminals still in place in the U.S. processing card transactions on dial-up connections, processors and merchants are seeking ways to convert these devices to broadband without taking on the costs of replacing them. The latest is Transaction Network Services Inc., a Reston, Va.-based company …
Read More »House Committee Passes Interchange Bill, But Scraps Panel of Judges
The U.S. House Judiciary Committee passed the controversial Credit Card Fair Fee Act of 2008 on Wednesday on a 19-16 vote, but with a significant change. The marked-up bill no longer includes a provision that would have established a three-judge panel to arbitrate interchange pricing should merchants and the bank …
Read More »Up Only a Week, ChargeSmart’s Next Step Is Lender Tie-Ins
A startup that lets consumers use their credit cards to make mortgage payments and meet other credit obligations online is talking to lenders about including its payment service when consumers close on loans. Because the service doesn't charge billers for payments, company officials expect the tie-ins will carry considerable appeal …
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