News

July, 2006

• 26 July

  Most Breaches Occur at Card-Present Merchants, Auditor Data Show

  Brick-and-mortar merchants?and restaurants in particular?pose the biggest risk when it comes to card-data compromises, while point-of-sale systems based on personal computers as well as those hooked up to broadband connections are at significantly greater risk. That's according to new data released by AmbironTrustWave, a Chicago-based company that performs security audits …
• 25 July

  First Data Takes Over Banco Popular’s Mainland Merchant File

  First Data Corp. announced Tuesday that it would process the merchant portfolio affiliated with Puerto Rico-based banking company Popular Inc.'s Banco Popular North America unit. The portfolio provides card-processing services for an undisclosed number of BPNA's 50,000 small-business customers in the United States. Banco Popular had outsourced the file to …
• 24 July

  Quarterly Processor Roundup: PayPal, Chase Paymentech, TSYS

  Growth in transaction volume slowed at online payment processor PayPal Inc. in the second quarter, with total transactions for the period reaching 143.3 million, up 27% from the year-ago quarter, according to data released last week by eBay Inc., PayPal's San Jose, Calif.-based parent company. That compares with year-over-year growth …
• 19 July

  SMS Will Slip to Minority of M-Payments by 2011, Survey Says

  Direct charges to subscribers' bills and credit and debit cards will account for the bulk of mobile payments in five years, with today's preferred method, short-message-service (SMS) payments, dropping to a minority of transactions, a survey released this week indicates. Only 6% of respondents to the survey, attendees at a …
• 19 July

  Big POS Merchants Now Face Stricter PCI Validation Rules

  Large merchants whose card transactions are chiefly derived from physical stores, rather than the Internet, will now face stricter requirements for proving compliance with the Payment Card Industry data-security standard, according to an expert observer. With Visa USA this week introducing a revision of the volume bands by which it …
• 19 July

  Partisans Square off Again As the Interchange War Moves to the Senate

  The simmering battle over card interchange, which up to now has been fought mostly in the courts, found a new battlefield in the U.S. Senate Wednesday as opponents and supporters of the controversial fee testified before that body's Judiciary Committee. The occasion was a hearing dubbed, “Credit Card Interchange Rates: …
• 19 July

  First Data Readies an ISO Thrust with Unified Pricing, New Terminal

  Processing giant First Data Corp. soon will launch an initiative aimed at furthering its ties with the high-margin sector of the acquiring market controlled by independent sales organizations by offering ISOs a new terminal and unified pricing for all four major general-purpose card brands, sources tell Digital Transactions News. The …
• 18 July

  Discover Scores Exclusive Deal with Fast-Growing Dollar Tree Chain

  In marketing coup for Discover Financial Services LLC, Dollar Tree Stores Inc. has agreed to accept cards issued on Discover's network exclusively in about 2,100 of its 3,100 stores across the country. The deal, which takes effect immediately, means the Cheseapeake, Va.-based chain, which is part of a fast-growing retail …
• 17 July

  Peppercoin Pursues Opportunity in Contactless, Vending

  Peppercoin Inc., which started out as a processor of so-called micropayments for online content but soon began to embrace small-value point-of-sale transactions, now sees opportunity in both contactless technology and vending markets, its top executive says. “We've set bigger sights for ourselves,” says Mark Friedman, chief executive of the Waltham, …
• 14 July

  Discover’s First Data Deal May Be Just Its First Pact with Big Acquirers

  Discover Financial Services LLC's new merchant-processing pact with leading payment processor First Data Corp. that involves small and mid-sized merchants is just the first of more deals Riverwoods, Ill.-based Discover plans to strike with big merchant acquirers to expand acceptance of the No. 4 card brand while simultaneously reducing costs. …