While processors continue to struggle with the economics of micropayments, Javien Digital Payment Solutions Inc. may have found a way to make the tricky payments work. The McLean, Va.-based processor, which this week introduced a payments gateway to go along with a payment-processing platform it offers primarily to sellers of …
Read More »Blackstone’s Alliance Data Deal Could Be Latest Victim of Credit Crunch
The already-delayed $7.8 billion buyout of Alliance Data Systems Corp. by private-equity firm The Blackstone Group may not be consummated, the Dallas-based payment processor disclosed on Monday. The news sent Alliance Data's shares down 34% and fueled speculation that the deal announced last May 17 would become the latest victim …
Read More »MasterCard Streamlines OTA for Its Spokane M-Payments Pilot
With its latest pilot for near-field communication (NFC) technology, which was announced on Monday and got under way last Thursday with select U.S. Bancorp credit card holders in Spokane, Wash., MasterCard Worldwide is testing a streamlined version of handset personalization it hopes will make it easier for consumers to adopt …
Read More »Visa Reports Mid-Sized Merchants Are Making PCI Progress
Merchants accounting for two-thirds of Visa Inc.'s U.S. transaction volume have validated compliance with the Payment Card Industry data-security standard, or PCI, Visa reported on Tuesday. This latest report from Visa comes in the wake of a Dec. 31 deadline for so-called Level 2 merchants?mid-sized merchants that submit 1 million …
Read More »Global Payments Looks to New Platform for Faster Merchant Integration
Having introduced a new processing platform to ease integration with payment software and hardware products, Global Payments Inc. on Wednesday announced it will work with NitroSell, a supplier of shopping-cart software, to allow NitroSell's merchants to process e-commerce transactions on the new system. Atlanta-based Global Payments last week announced it …
Read More »Ready Credit And CheckFree Get Set to Offer Kiosk-Based Bill Pay
Kiosk-based electronic bill payments got another boost this week when processor Fiserv Inc.'s CheckFreePay walk-in bill-pay unit announced a deal with Ready Credit Corp. that will make bill-pay services available to consumers using cash at Ready Credit's 55 ReadyStation self-service kiosks by early spring. The kiosks, which already allow consumers …
Read More »USA Technologies’ Rental Program Boosts Contactless Vending
USA Technologies Inc.'s new Quick Start program, which lets bottlers and other vending-machine owners rent rather than buy its e-Port G6 readers that process magnetic-stripe and contactless card transactions, apparently is delivering the desired lift to e-Port shipments. Malvern, Pa.-USA Technologies today reported that it shipped 7,123 e-Port devices in …
Read More »EC Ruling on MasterCard Interchange Could Foster Regulation in the U.S.
A European Commission ruling that MasterCard Worldwide's interchange-fee structure is illegal in that region will affect relatively few transactions in Europe but could encourage regulators?including those in the U.S.?to act on interchange, among other bleak implications for bank and network executives. “On balance, the EC decision is negative,” says Eric …
Read More »Some Pay By Touch Owners Are Also Among Its Largest Creditors
The bankruptcy petition Solidus Networks Inc., which does business as Pay By Touch, filed this month shows that a number of the biometric technology provider's largest unsecured creditors also have equity interests in the company, and, in the case of three individuals, weren't paid when Pay By Touch bought their …
Read More »TJX Settles with Financial Plaintiffs in Breach Case?with One Holdout
TJX Cos. Inc. late on Tuesday said it has settled with three banking associations and three individual banks that sued the off-price retailer in the wake of a data breach that potentially compromised nearly 100 million credit and debit card numbers. That leaves just one Alabama community bank still in …
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