News

October, 2005

• 28 October

  Is Peppercoin Eyeing Opportunities in Hot Contactless Market?

  Could Peppercoin Inc., a processor of micropayment transactions both online and in card-present venues, be eyeing opportunities in the hot market for contactless payments? Though he refuses to comment on whether the company has any such plans, Mark Friedman, the Waltham, Mass.-based company's chief executive, he has clearly watched developments …
• 28 October

  TransFirst Looks to Buy a Bill Processor to Create Card-Based Service

  Noted in recent years for its strategy of buying assets in high-growth processing niches, TransFirst LLC is back in the hunt, this time looking for a bill-payment processor that can help it create a service for small financial institutions that would allow customers to pay bills on the banks' Web …
• 27 October

  Chase Brings Contactless Payments to the Northeast Corridor

  JPMorgan Chase & Co. is extending its rollout of contactless payment technology to the populous northeast corridor of the country. Its Chase Bank U.S.A. N.A. said today it will begin sending new cards equipped with chips and tiny radio transmitters to some 2.9 million cardholders this week. In addition, about …
• 26 October

  Federal Regulators Get Behind Strong Online Authentication

  A new guidance from federal banking regulators calling traditional user names and passwords “inadequate” for online banking could lead to a major push for strong authentication next year. The guidance, released last month by the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council, recommends what it calls multi-factor authentication, or identification systems involving …
• 25 October

  Volume Grows for AmEx, As Does Dependence on Acquiring

  U.S. transaction volume for American Express Co. grew nearly 19% in the third quarter, to $89 billion, over the year-ago period, the New York-based travel-and-entertainment company reported. Its U.S. card base increased 10%, to 42 million, of which 31.9 million are so-called basic cards. The U.S. accounts for nearly three-quarters …
• 25 October

  Survey: Popularity Propels Gift Cards into Consumer Mainstream

  Some 59% of adults, or an estimated 131 million people?either bought or received a gift card over the year from August 2004 to August 2005, a study released today reveals. In part, this has meant that the electronic stored value cards are gaining popularity as gifts for a more diverse …
• 21 October

  Data Breaches, State Laws Drive Encryption Business for Ingrian

  Widespread publicity surrounding the huge data breach at CardSystems Solutions Inc., coupled with a movement among the states to require disclosure of data compromises, is driving business for companies specializing in data security. “Consumers are up in arms about enterprises not taking security seriously enough,” says Karim Toubba, vice president …
• 21 October

  PayPal Stuck at About 70% in eBay Volume, Though Accounts Boom

  PayPal Inc. may be trying to process more transactions for e-commerce sites independent of its parent company, giant online auctioneer eBay Inc., but its latest quarterly figures indicate it still depends on eBay's auction activity for 69% of its transaction volume, a ratio that has remained virtually unchanged for months. …
• 19 October

  Britain’s OFT Says Visa’s Interchange Pricing Is Anti-Competitive

  The United Kingdom's Office of Fair Trading today said interchange fees paid by Visa acquirers to Visa issuers in the U.K. are anti-competitive, an action that could lead to regulatory action against the fee structure. In what it calls a “statement of objections,” the OFT said Visa's interchange structure, formally …
• 19 October

  PayPal Will Use VeriSign’s Gateway to Plunge Deeper into Acquiring

  PayPal Inc. will use the transaction gateway it is buying from VeriSign Inc. for $370 million to thrust itself even more deeply into the business of acquiring transactions for small off-eBay Internet merchants, a senior executive for the transaction-processing unit of eBay Inc. tells Digital Transactions News. PayPal, which this …