Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
In an attempt to clear away legal issues before its planned initial public stock offering next year, Visa Inc. today said it would pay rival American Express Co. more than $2 billion to settle an antitrust lawsuit AmEx brought seeking compensation for lost business during the years a Visa rule …
Read More »Merchants’ PCI Travails Prompt Security Program from Big Blue
With compliance deadlines already passed for some merchants and looming for others, the Payment Card Industry data-security standard (PCI) has drawn a bevy of vendors into the market to help merchants cope with one or more of its dozen requirements. Now the biggest vendor yet is jumping in. IBM Corp. …
Read More »Amid Data Thefts, Visa’s Software Rules Align More Closely with PCI
With five new mandates for merchant acquirers and processors to meet by 2010, Visa Inc.'s Payment Application Best Practices, a set of standards governing payment-processing software, are becoming ever more tightly aligned with the comprehensive Payment Card Industry data-security standard (PCI) promulgated by the major card networks. But mandates may …
Read More »Eye on Earnings: MasterCard, Heartland, Online Resources
The flow of third-quarter earnings reports from payments companies continued this week with MasterCard Inc. reporting a hefty increase in transaction volume, revenues, and profits, while fast-growing merchant acquirer Heartland Payment Systems Inc. weighed in with a 20% increase in processing volume. And the chief executive of bill-payment processor Online …
Read More »Upon Further Review, Accounts Exposed in TJX Breach Double
Sources reached by Digital Transactions News aren't surprised at the news that the number of credit and debit card accounts affected in the TJX Cos. breach has doubled, as disclosed by court filings and reported this week by The Boston Globe. Although the off-price retailing chain reported in March that …
Read More »It’s Official: Synovus Will Spin off Processor TSYS in $600 Million Deal
Capping months of planning, bank-holding company Synovus Financial Corp. confirmed Thursday afternoon that it would spin off its entire 80.8% interest in payment card processor Total System Services Inc. (TSYS) to its shareholders. In doing so, Synovus brings up what is likely to be the rear of an extremely active …
Read More »By Arming Consumers, a Startup Hopes to Cut Down on ID Fraud
In a sign of how the problem of identity fraud is spawning new businesses, a La Jolla, Calif.-based startup announced on Tuesday a free service allowing consumers to determine which pieces of junk mail they want to stop receiving. Once consumers use ProQuo Inc.'s Web site to indicate their preferences?which …
Read More »MasterCard Opens a PCI Schoolhouse Featuring ‘Tailor-Made’ Sessions
No. 2 payment network MasterCard Worldwide this week unveiled a global education effort about the Payment Card Industry data-security standard, or PCI. The campaign, which includes free Web-based seminars and live training, comes at a time when restive merchants and others are challenging the card networks about data security, with …
Read More »Discover Boosts Issuing Prospects Among Banks with TSYS Deal
In a move that could give it a big boost in signing up banks to issue cards on its network, Discover Financial Services Inc. on Tuesday announced a deal with TSYS Inc. under which TSYS clients will be able to issue Discover credit and prepaid cards and use TSYS for …
Read More »Eyeing the Point of Sale, Bill Me Later Readies Test for Core Service
Bill Me Later Inc. will work with two to three merchants starting next month to test an extension of its online, credit-based payments service to the physical point of sale. If the test yields good results, the Timonium, Md.-based processor will likely launch a commercial service by the middle of …
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