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Beyond a recent press release, First Data Corp. hasn't made a huge public splash about its new payment terminal, the FD-100. Yet the terminal is not just a box that processes payment card transactions. It's an element of First Data's multipronged strategy to get more business from small and mid-sized …
Read More »Rewards Account for 44% of Interchange Cost, Report Concludes
The costs of air miles and other perks and rewards account for 44% of bank card interchange, while card issuers' cost of funds and profit margins take 35%, and network branding efforts account for 3%, according to a new report issued this week. Just 13% of the acquirer-paid fee goes …
Read More »TSYS Battered But Not Broken, Top Execs Say, Citing New Business
Top executives of card processor Total System Services Inc. (TSYS) on Wednesday portrayed a company that may be a bit bruised but is heading for better times. Columbus, Ga.-based TSYS even upped its 2006 profit projections and says earnings next year won't decline as much as previously forecast. TSYS late …
Read More »Market Forces, Including Interchange Cases, Spur Visa to Plan for IPO
Facing many of the same pressures that led its rival MasterCard Inc. to go public earlier this year, Visa announced on Wednesday it plans to scuttle the membership-association structure that has characterized it throughout its 36-year history in favor of a sweeping reorganization that will lead to ownership by the …
Read More »E-Retailers’ Appetite for Payments Hikes PayPal, Checkout Acceptance
It's not yet four months old, but already Google Inc.'s Checkout Internet payment service is making an impact, with 7% of online retailers surveyed in recent weeks by CyberSource Corp. having adopted it. That compares with 35% for PayPal, 24% for e-checks and other automated clearing house debits, and 16% …
Read More »Ex-Global Payments Exec Cohen Seeks New Growth Channels at Moneris
The new president of Moneris Solutions Inc., the U.S. arm of Canada's leading merchant-acquiring operation, says he will diversify the company's distribution channels and at the same time seek profitable niches in a highly competitive industry. Buffalo Grove, Ill.-based Moneris currently derives most of its U.S. transactions from merchants booked …
Read More »New Super Switch Lets Visa Handle Transaction Growth, Diversity
Visa USA, which on Wednesday announced it has completed a massive, five-year project to overhaul its authorization platform, says the new system will allow the network to handle expected jumps in both the volume and diversity of electronic transactions. The overhaul, which its chief architect, John Partridge, calls “the single …
Read More »IRDs Rising, But Image Clearing Is Going up Much Faster, Stats Show
While many bankers and industry experts lament the continuing rise in volume of so-called substitute checks, the paper documents most banks require for clearing of items that had been converted into electronic image files, newly available industry data indicate the number of checks cleared as electronic images is rising even …
Read More »Discover Completes Acquiring Hat Trick, More Processors in Wings
Discover Financial Services LLC last week completed a summer hat trick of partnerships with bank card merchant acquirers to broaden acceptance of its brand, and the card unit of Morgan Stanley says it's not finished. Discover announced its latest deal, involving Atlanta-based RBS Lynk Inc., one day after news broke …
Read More »The New PCI Council: Does It Have Enough Teeth?
The creation of the new PCI Security Standards Council LLC by the five leading payment card brands represents a big step forward in enhancing credit and debit card security, but it doesn't go far enough, one analyst tells Digital Transactions News. The council, a creation of American Express Co., Visa …
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