News

May, 2006

• 22 May

  Valista Gears New Software Release to M-Payments Trends

  Hoping to take advantage of the related trends in mobile commerce toward so-called off-portal business and direct-to-bill payments, international m-payments processor Valista Ltd. has introduced a new version of its transaction-processing engine, which is aimed primarily at mobile-network operators and Internet Service Providers. The latest release of the engine, called …
• 19 May

  A Boom Is Building in FSA Debit Cards, But Challenges Remain

  Because of the efficiency, savings, and convenience they bring to a system traditionally choked with paper, debit cards linked to flexible-spending accounts (FSAs) are turning into a hot growth market in electronic payments. Issuers will put 6 million of the cards in circulation in 2006, up 50% over last year …
• 18 May

  Tiny LendingTools.com Has Big Ambitions for National Image Exchange

  A small Wichita, Kan.-based software company is getting set to take a big step in bringing image exchange to small financial institutions around the country. Starting with the north central region of the U.S., LendingTools.com Inc., a provider of Web-based systems for image processing and origination of automated clearing house …
• 18 May

  Online Bill Payments Show Big Gains, But Some Fret over Security

  In another indication of the erosion of paper checks in consumer transactions, the volume of bill payments made by check as a fraction of all bill payments has fallen to 37.5% from 61.1% four years ago, according to a report released this week by online bill-payment processor CheckFree Corp. with …
• 17 May

  Wal-Mart Claims Its Bank Could Stop Transactions for PCI Non-Compliance

  Critics blasted away at Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s plan to open a Utah industrial loan corporation for most of three days in late April, and now the world's biggest retailer is firing back. Wal-Mart filed a 14-page letter earlier this month with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. addressing the major concerns …
• 16 May

  Newly Private iPayment Logs Profit Jump, Points to CardSystems Fallout

  The final quarterly filing from iPayment Inc. as a public company contains a report of a double-digit gain in profit at the Nashville, Tenn.-based merchant acquirer as well as a terse reference to what amounts to continuing fallout from the huge data breach last year at Atlanta-based merchant processor CardSystems …
• 15 May

  ECOM Finds Issuer for Anonymous, Disposable Prepaid MasterCard

  ECOM Financial Corp., which has developed a disposable, anonymous prepaid card that works on the MasterCard network, has taken a step toward commercialization by reaching an issuing agreement with First Bank of Delaware, Wilmington, Del. In an announcement released Monday, the Stuart, Fla.-based company, which has had the card in …
• 12 May

  Small Banks Adopt a Wide Spectrum of Electronic Payments

  Small banks are adopting electronic-payments technologies at a rate that rivals, and in some cases exceeds, that of their larger competitors, according to a survey released this week. Two-thirds of the nation's community banks are processing checks under the rules of the Check Clearing Act for the 21st Century (Check …
• 12 May

  Home Depot: No Designs on Payments with Deal to Buy ILC

  In sharp contrast to Wal-Mart Stores Inc., leading home-improvement retailer Home Depot Inc. professes no intentions of getting into the payments business even though, like Wal-Mart, it plans to operate a Utah-chartered industrial loan corporation, or ILC, that would give it an entrée into financial services. Less than a month …
• 11 May

  Key Issues Nag NACHA As It Nears Internet Payments Pilot

  NACHA, which took the opportunity presented by its annual payments trade show this week in San Diego to promote the upcoming pilot of its new Internet payment application, appears to be on track toward its Aug. 30 target date for recruiting most participants for the project. But key issues like …