Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
Just a week ago, it looked like MasterCard Inc. was about to win a battle in its ongoing debit card war with market leader Visa Inc. MasterCard stalwart Citigroup Inc. had struck a deal to buy, with help from the government, most of struggling Wachovia Corp.'s banking assets, including Wachovia's …
Read More »New Version of PCI Shows More Flexibility, While PABP Takes Hold
After a summer of discussion, the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council on Wednesday officially released Version 1.2 of the PCI data-security standard, the sweeping set of rules for protecting Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, and JCB cards and transactions. Wednesday also is the first day for a Visa Inc. …
Read More »MasterCard Could Catch a Break from Citi’s Deal for Wachovia
Citigroup Inc.'s government-assisted takeover of Wachovia Corp.'s banking assets, announced Monday morning, holds a debit card silver lining for MasterCard Inc. in a deal that otherwise symbolizes the radical reshaping of the banking industry after the mortgage meltdown. Citi is a predominantly MasterCard issuer while Wachovia is a big Visa …
Read More »Chase’s WaMu Deal Puts MasterCard on the Debit Defensive
MasterCard Inc., the distant No. 2 in the U.S. signature-based debit card market, scored a big win in 2005 over rival Visa Inc. when Washington Mutual Inc. said it would convert its Visa-branded debit portfolio of more than 10 million cards to MasterCard. But that gain is now in jeopardy …
Read More »Interchange: the Unheralded Benefit of Unembossed Cards
Visa Inc. this week announced it would permit the widespread issuance of unembossed consumer credit and debit cards and business debit cards. In doing so, Visa played up the advantages to issuers, including less-complex supply-chain management, quicker activation, the ability to issue cards to customers in person at bank and …
Read More »ISOs Are Bullish About Pay-at-Table Market Despite Sour Economy
Although observers report the economic downturn has soured many restaurants on so-called pay-at-table technology for the time being, some independent sales organizations see opportunity in the market and are moving ahead with plans to exploit it. Alpine Payment Systems, an ISO in Vancouver, Wash., that processes payments for about 100 …
Read More »Debit Rivalry Heats up with National City, RBS Shifts to Visa
With National City Corp. and Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc moving portfolios into its camp, Visa Inc. scored two big debit card wins over MasterCard Inc. this week in the bank card networks' ceaseless struggle to curry issuer and merchant favor. Analysts say the payment industry can expect to …
Read More »Temperatures Rise in Canadian Merchant Protest over Card Fees
The heat over payment card interchange and debit cards in Canada is getting high enough to melt glaciers in the Yukon. A retailer group dominated by big stores, the Retail Council of Canada (RCC), on Wednesday launched a Web site called StopStickingItToUs.com in a campaign to build merchant resistance to …
Read More »Canadian Business Group Warns of Higher POS Debit Pricing
A big change may be in the offing for Canada's point-of-sale debit market that could bring American-style percentage-based interchange to a system whose pricing currently is based on flat fees. The change could possibly even bring Visa and MasterCard debit cards to the country for the first time. The result, …
Read More »Public Sector Drives Network-Branded Prepaid Card Growth
The dollar value loaded onto so-called network-branded or open-loop prepaid cards grew nearly 45% last year, or nine times the growth rate of closed-loop cards, according to a new report from Mercator Advisory Group. Mercator's fifth annual study of network-branded cards says the public sector is emerging as one of …
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