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MasterCard International plans by the end of the year to have in place a program to certify instant card issuance activity in the United States. The bank card company is testing an instant-issuance certification plan in Brazil now, and is concerned enough about perceived risk in instant issuance that it …
Read More »AmEx May Be Behind the Latest MasterCard Rate Hike
The immediate reaction among industry observers to the disclosure last week that MasterCard International Inc. is raising its interchange rates on some credit card transaction categories effective April 2 was that the move is meant to recoup issuer income lost in the major debit card settlement reached last year. But …
Read More »Electronic Checks Help Drive Up Revenue for ECHO
Electronic Clearing House Inc., an electronic transaction processor based in Camarillo, Calif., today announced a 22% increase in revenue in its October to December 2003 quarter over the same quarter in 2002. Revenue for the most recent quarter reached $11.4 million. This result was fueled by increases in both bank …
Read More »Pay By Touch Close to Breakthrough Deals, CEO Says
Pay By Touch, the San Francisco-based supplier of a point-of-sale payment technology that replaces cards and other media with fingerprint scans, says it is close to several major deals which, if consummated, will give the fledgling company and its system considerable momentum. Among the deals in the pipeline, says Pay …
Read More »A Providian-Barclays Deal Could Fuel Transaction Innovation
The news that Barclays PLC is talking to Providian Financial Corp. about buying the San Francisco-based credit card issuer has some observers speculating that the merger could accelerate the development of new electronic transaction products both in the U.S. and in Europe, where Barclays is a major card issuer with …
Read More »Visa USA Reports Transactions Rose Nearly 12% in 2003
Visa USA reported today that its cards produced 16.1 billion transactions last year, an increase of 11.7% over its transaction volume in 2002. Although credit cards accounted for $650 billion in volume in 2003, or 59% of Visa's total dollar volume, signature-secured debit cards made up 59% of the bank …
Read More »MBNA-AmEx Deal Helps Them More Than It Hurts the Bank Networks
The card-issuing alliance American Express Co. and MBNA Corp. announced yesterday will benefit the two financial-services companies more than it will hurt Visa and MasterCard, some observers note. Although MBNA, second only to Citigroup Inc. as a credit card issuer, has already said it will seek to convert current cardholders …
Read More »AmEx Looks to Have Its First Bank Issuer by Year’s End
American Express Co. says it will be a matter of “months,” not “years,” until banks in the United States are issuing the company's card products now that the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals has thrown out a motion from Visa International Corp., Visa USA Inc., and MasterCard International Inc. …
Read More »Scotiabank’s Barrie Smart Card Pilot Readies for Its Next Phase
An ambitious multi-application smart card pilot launched late last year in Barrie, Ontario, is ready to move to its next phase, which will involve signing up 40 more merchant locations in February. Toronto-based Scotiabank, the issuer of the cards, will not release how many it has issued so far, though …
Read More »Why Ticketing Kiosks Are Checking into Hotels
The next step in transaction automation in the travel industry may well be the introduction of self-service ticketing machines, which are getting increasing usage at airports, into related markets like hotels, allowing travelers to integrate several transactions into one. Already, self-service kiosks at hotels allow travelers not only to check …
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