News

May, 2007

• 22 May

  MODASolutions Rechristens Its Service, Unveils Buyer Protection

  MODASolutions Inc. which has been marketing an online-payment system called SECURE-eBill for more than two years, has renamed the service and introduced its first buyer-protection policy to cover instances of delayed or damaged goods, as well as non-delivery. The new policy comes as online retailers seek alternatives to bank-issued credit …
• 22 May

  End of 50-Day Go-Shop” Period Leaves KKR As Sole First Data Suitor”

  The proposed $29 billion buy-out of leading payment processor First Data Corp. by private-equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. cleared another hurdle on Tuesday when First Data reported that its 50-day “go-shop” period had ended without netting any competing bids.n n In announcing the buyout in early April, First …
• 21 May

  Expert: Banks Should Mine Data Troves to Build Merchant Loyalty

  Consumers are more loyal to the form of payment they prefer than they are to any particular retail brand, a situation that could work to the benefit of card issuers and processors but also merchants, a retail consultant says. In a survey cited by Gary Charboneau, president of Wakefield, R.I.-based …
• 17 May

  Eye on Private Equity: Deals for Alliance Data And TransFirst

  Private-equity financing continued to make itself felt this week in the transaction-processing business, with Blackstone Capital Partners VLP's $7.8 billion bid for Alliance Data Systems Corp. and GTCR Golder Rauner LLC's decision to sell TransFirst LLC to an even bigger investment house, Welsh, Carson, Anderson, & Stowe, for $683 million. …
• 16 May

  Retailers Get Ready To Roll Out FDC’s New Loyalty Platform

  With an eye on increasing customer traffic but also on lowering payment-card acceptance costs, several retailers are readying PIN-based loyalty programs built on processor First Data Corp.'s new ConnectPay platform that lets customers pay without presenting a card or writing a check. ConnectPay's pilot retailer is Quincy, Mass.-based Stop & …
• 16 May

  Some Phishing News Not As Good As It Seems, Latest Report Says

  In the battle against the online fraud known as phishing, March brought a mix of good news and bad, with dramatic drops in malicious software offset by a steep rise in targeted brands, according to the latest report from an organization that tracks the fraud. Separately, the U.S. Commerce Department …
• 15 May

  Image Exchange Hits Key Milestones at SVPCO, Viewpointe

  Two milestones announced this week indicate the rapidly growing adoption of image exchange for check processing. SVPCO, which handles paper checks and runs an image exchange network as part of the New York-based The Clearing House Payments Co. LLC, announced on Tuesday that imaged items exceeded paper checks in both …
• 15 May

  Credit Card Veteran Saunders Says He’s Hip to Electronic Payments

  Visa International Inc. on Tuesday reported that it has named Joseph W. Saunders, the card-industry veteran it selected as interim leader of Visa Inc. in February, as the entity's permanent chairman and chief executive officer as it prepares to unify its far-flung regional organizations and become a publicly held company. …
• 14 May

  Why Synovus Is Optimistic About NACHA’s Secure Vault Payments

  Unlike its experience with online bill payment, Synovus Financial Corp. expects ultimately to generate significant revenue from a new Internet payments system based on the automated clearing house for which a 12-to-18-month pilot will start by October. Exactly how much revenue, however, may depend on the pilot itself, as well …
• 11 May

  Less Hype, More Substance Now Behind M-Banking, M-Payments

  Unlike efforts during the dotcom boom to introduce mobile payments and banking?efforts that turned out to be more about hype than substance?initiatives emerging now to deliver financial services via mobile phones will find a ready and willing market, according to executives with a major wireless carrier and bank card network …