News

January, 2006

• 26 January

  Investors Smile on First Data’s New Look, Western Union Spin-Off

  Despite some poor fourth-quarter financials, shares of First Data Corp. rose nearly 7% this morning after the big transaction processor announced plans to spin off its fast-growing and biggest subsidiary, Western Union, to First Data shareholders. Denver-based First Data also ended speculation that it might sell its lackluster Card Issuing …
• 26 January

  Click&Buy Will Expand Online Payment Options to Phone Bills April 1

  Webpay Inc.'s Click&Buy payment service, which handles largely digital-content sales, will begin processing transactions on consumers' phone bills April 1. The service will work with two so-far unnamed telecommunications carriers that together cover 55% of U.S. land-line subscribers, says Fabian G. Siegel, president and chief executive of Webpay, which has …
• 25 January

  Rapid Growth Puts Acquiring at 25% of Sales for Gateway CyberSource

  CyberSource Corp.'s acquiring business now accounts for fully a quarter of revenue for the Mountain View, Calif.-based provider of gateway and fraud-management services for e-commerce merchants, the company announced today. That represents significant growth from a year ago, when the fledgling acquiring business, in which the company offers and supports …
• 23 January

  Settlement with NCR Positions DataTreasury to Move into ACH and Cards

  With its settlement today with NCR Corp., DataTreasury Corp. will be able to tap technology that will allow it to move beyond check processing and into technology supporting automated clearing house and card transactions, the company's lead counsel says. The small Melville, N.Y. technology company, which had sued NCR early …
• 23 January

  Mobile Processor Qpass Vaults $1 Billion in Premium Content Sales

  Qpass Inc. has announced it is the first processor to reach the $1 billion mark in premium digital content. The Seattle-based company, which produces billing software primarily for mobile carriers, says it hit the milestone Jan. 11 and has now exceeded 400 million paid downloads on its platform. While not …
• 19 January

  PayPal Ends ’05 with a 40% Jump in Traffic As Accounts Boom

  Internet payments processor PayPal Inc. saw its transaction volume grow 40% in 2005's fourth quarter over the year-ago period, to 139.7 million transactions, according to figures released yesterday by parent company eBay Inc. The processor's fourth-quarter volume, which included holiday activity, was also up 19% over third-quarter traffic. Dollar volume …
• 19 January

  With Some Network Help, ShopNBC Cuts Its Prepaid Card Losses

  Writeoffs stemming from transactions on prepaid cards, which had been swelling at online merchant ShopNBC, have eased considerably in the past few months, the retailer reports. Bad debt attributable to the plastic accounted for 3% of total writeoffs for 2005 at ShopNBC, which sells jewelry and electronic gear online at …
• 18 January

  A Startup Readies a Payments Network Based on Driver’s Licenses

  A startup company led by the former head of a processor of automated clearing house transactions is readying a network that will allow consumers to use their driver's licenses to pay for goods at the point of sale. Boulder, Colo.-based Combined Payments Network LLC plans to formally unveil its product, …
• 18 January

  TSYS CEO Upbeat Despite Pending Loss of BofA Consumer Accounts

  Philip W. Tomlinson, chief executive of payment processor Total System Services Inc. (TSYS), played up his firm's strong fourth-quarter and 2005 financials and growth prospects today despite the pending loss of the huge Bank of America Corp. consumer credit card file. Columbus, Ga.-based TSYS reported fourth-quarter net income of $49.7 …
• 18 January

  With GE Consumer Finance, AmEx Claims Seven Bank Card Issuers

  American Express Co. has announced the seventh financial institution to agree to issue AmEx cards since the New York-based travel-and-entertainment giant began courting banks for its network two years ago. GE Consumer Finance, a Stamford, Conn.-based unit of General Electric Co., said it will issue cards on AmEx's network that …