News

September, 2006

• 22 September

  Payments Group Plans to Ride Wave Made by New Microsoft OS

  In coming months, software colossus Microsoft Corp. will be reaping bushels of publicity about Microsoft Windows Vista, the newest version of the world's leading desktop operating system that's scheduled for release early next year. Along for the ride, and with a novel approach to the electronic payments business, is a …
• 21 September

  After Some Delay, Check Imaging at ATMs Is Serious Business

  Check imaging at ATMs is poised to become a big business, much bigger even than some experts had thought up to now. Driven by the Check Clearing Act for the 21st Century (Check 21), enacted in October 2004, banks are just now starting to equip machines to take so-called envelopeless …
• 21 September

  New Program Links Any Credit, Debit Card to Funds in FSA Accounts

  A Conshohocken, Pa.-based processor has begun marketing a service that allows employees covered by flexible-spending health-care plans to use any payment or loyalty card they have to access benefits. Finpago Inc. announced this week an agreement with health-benefits administrator WageWorks Inc., San Mateo, Calif., to launch its FSAok AnyCard program …
• 20 September

  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 …
• 19 September

  Yodlee Heats up Bill-Pay Rivalry with Product That Eases Switching

  Yodlee Inc. announced Tuesday it plans to introduce new technology that could heat up competition in electronic bill payment by letting consumers switch more easily from an online bill-payment program at one bank to that offered by another. The Redwood City, Calif.-based provider of Internet banking software says it will …
• 18 September

  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 …
• 15 September

  Iron Triangle Vaults Acquiring Ranks with Deal to Buy BA ISO Unit

  Iron Triangle Payment Systems LLC, a 3-year-old Louisville, Ky.-based processor that has been steadily pursuing plans to build an acquiring business by buying independent sales organizations, on Friday announced it is taking over the ISO business belonging to BA Merchant Services Inc. for an undisclosed sum. By adding the business, …
• 13 September

  Stuck in a Rut, POP E-Checks Get a Boost from Bentonville

  After about two years of lackluster growth, e-checks at the point of sale started popping in the second quarter, according to new statistics from NACHA?The Electronic Payments Association. Sources tell Digital Transactions News that the force behind POP's sudden popularity is none other than Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest …
• 12 September

  Study Says ATM Deployers Are Changing Tactics As Profits Fall

  How much money financial institutions are making on their ATMs depends very much on where the machines are deployed, but in any case machine margins for banks and independent sales organizations alike are under pressure, forcing deployers to change how they view the technology. That's among findings contained in a …
• 12 September

  July Phishing Numbers Bring Mixed News on the Online Fraud

  July was a month of mixed news on the online-fraud front, as the number of unique reports of phishing attacks dropped 17% from June, to 23,670, but the population of Web sites hosting attacks ballooned 41%, to a record 14,191, according to the latest numbers from the Anti-Phishing Working Group, …