News

August, 2005

• 19 August

  RSA Survey Shows Rising Interest in Strong Authentication

  Consumers are willing to engage in more e-commerce if banks, auction sites, and other Web-based service providers offer strong authentication, particularly that based on hardware devices, to protect against fraud, a survey shows. Almost half of consumers surveyed said they would be more or much more likely to switch to …
• 18 August

  SVPCO Gears for Growth with New Automated Settlement Service

  New York-based SVPCO, architect of an image-exchange network serving some of the nation's largest banks, this week switched on a new service that allows users of its network to clear check images automatically. The new automated settlement function, which comes about a year after the network began flowing images, effectively …
• 17 August

  Losses to Phishing Less Than 1% of All Fraud on PIN Debit, Report Says

  Concerns about fraud losses owing to the rapidly growing phishing trend may be overblown, at least when it comes to PIN debit at ATMs and the point of sale, according to new research from TowerGroup, a Needham, Mass.-based research firm owned by MasterCard International. While the number of reported phishing …
• 16 August

  Accelitec Looks to Rising Interchange to Help Sell New RFID System

  A Seattle-based startup that has been quietly testing a contactless payment system intended to be branded and controlled by merchants is now marketing the system as a way for retailers to control rising card-acceptance costs. Accelitec Inc. says its PayPilot system, which includes token dispensers, tokens equipped with chip-and-transmitter inlays, …
• 15 August

  Paymentech-CMS Merger Positions JP Morgan Chase As Processor

  JPMorgan Chase & Co. will merge its two acquiring entities, Paymentech L.P. and Chase Merchant Services L.L.C., in a reorganization to be announced soon, sources tell Digital Transactions News. Details of the deal are sketchy at best, but at least one source familiar with the matter says the merger will …
• 12 August

  Scoring Models Get Results, Make Gains with Online Merchants

  Automated risk-scoring systems are starting to assume a higher profile among online merchants as they struggle to control transaction-fraud losses, rejection of valid orders on suspicion of fraud, and the costs of manual order review. David A. Glaser, director of professional services at CyberSource Corp., a Mountain View, Calif.-based transaction-processing …
• 12 August

  Top Australian Bank Regulator Defends Interchange Regulation

  In testimony today before a committee of the Australian house of representatives, the governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia stoutly defended the RBA's action last year to regulate credit card interchange rates in that country, claiming it has saved merchants some $447 million (US) in the past year and …
• 11 August

  The Dark Side of Stored Value: Bad Debt for Web Retailers

  The booming business in gift and other stored-value cards, which represent an increasing share of sales for merchants of all sizes, is beginning to have an ominous side effect for online merchants: a hike in bad debt. The prepaid plastic, which carries a fixed value in cash and can benefit …
• 10 August

  FDC May Emerge As Bigger Winner in Merchant Deal with Citi

  Citigroup Inc.'s decision to bail out of the merchant-acquiring business, which was announced yesterday, could benefit both the banking kingpin and the buyer of the 15,000-location portfolio, processing giant First Data Corp. But Denver-based FDC may emerge as the bigger winner, some observers say, now that Citi has decided to …
• 10 August

  How Kabira Is Using Beefier Memory to Drive Big Changes in Processing

  A little-known maker of switching software with very well-known clients is counting on a major upgrade in memory horsepower it is helping to pioneer to drive down transaction-processing costs while dramatically boosting the amount of data networks can handle. San Rafael, Calif.-based Kabira Technologies Inc. may not have the immediate …