Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
Though they are not named as defendants in the antitrust case filed today by Kroger Co. and six other retail chains against Visa International and Visa U.S.A., MasterCard International and individual member banks of both bank card networks could find themselves named in separate actions later, according to one of …
News
July, 2005
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14 July
Webpay’s Click&Buy Maps Strategy for Major U.S. Expansion
An Internet-based payments network that originated in Europe is targeting the increasingly competitive U.S. micropayments market, seeking major-brand U.S. merchants and looking for licensees here for its software. Webpay Inc., a unit of Switzerland-based Webpay International, set up shop in Manhattan 11 months ago and so far has recruited 30 …
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13 July
U.S. Wireless Subscribers Exceed Landline Hookups for the First Time
In a development with implications for mobile commerce in the U.S., the number of wireless subscribers has for the first time exceeded the number of landline connections in this country. According to a report compiled by the Federal Communications Commission, there were 181.1 mobile subscriptions in place on Dec. 31, …
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13 July
Visa Chief, Top Merchant Official Could Meet As Early As September
The new chief executive of Visa U.S.A. could meet with a top official of the National Retail Federation and the Merchants Payments Coalition as early as September to discuss interchange and other issues, according to a spokesman for both merchant organizations. John Philip Coghlan, the former Charles Schwab & Co. …
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12 July
Coghlan’s Olive Branch Not Likely to Bring Retailer-Friendly Change
Despite an apparent willingness by the new chief executive of Visa U.S.A. to meet with merchant representatives on such thorny issues as interchange pricing, some observers say the bank card association's basic position toward the retailer community is unlikely to change. John Philip Coghlan, who took over yesterday as president …
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11 July
Former Schwab Exec Succeeds Long-Time Visa Chief Pascarella
Visa U.S.A. today named John Philip Coghlan, 54, as its new president and chief executive officer, effective immediately. The former Charles Schwab & Co. Inc. executive succeeds long-time Visa chief Carl F. Pascarella, who announced last summer his intention to step down by September (Digital Transactions News, July 16, 2004). …
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8 July
Processor BitPass Looks at Direct Payments for Sub-$5 Digital Goods
BitPass Inc., which has relied on prepaid accounts since it began processing micropayments less than two years ago, is exploring a number of new payment options, including one that would allow users to pay spontaneously rather than from previously funded Bitpass accounts. In an e-mail survey it distributed last week, …
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7 July
Star Survey: Consumers Prefer PIN, While PIN Fees Are Less Frequent
Consumers generally prefer PIN-based debit to signature debit, and are less frequently subjected by banks and merchants to fees for PIN-debit usage, according to a recent survey. At the same time, the number of banks offering rewards incentives to consumers for PIN-debit usage, already a small minority, is declining, says …
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7 July
Plunging Check Volumes Will Cool off ARC Growth by 2008, Report Says
Although the conversion of paper checks into electronic transactions at billers' lockboxes and other central locations is growing at a torrid rate, it will level off by 2008, in part because check volumes are dropping faster than expected, according to a new research report. The 3-year-old conversion process, in which …
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7 July
How DataTreasury Could Become a Toll Collector in Check Imaging
Little noticed until now, a small, privately held technology company on Long Island this week scored a major victory in a patent-infringement case that is sending shock waves throughout the electronic payments business, observers say. One direct result, they say, could be sharply higher costs for banks and third-party processors …