Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
As transaction processors add services to their basic product, they put increasing pressure on gateway providers to differentiate themselves. One of the most ambitious strategies for differentiation is being pursued by Authorize.net Inc., acquired this spring for $82 million by Lightbridge Inc., a Burlington, Mass.-based provider of billing and fraud-management …
August, 2004
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10 August
Moneris Introduces Check Conversion to Complement Credit, Debit
Moneris Solutions U.S. Group, Chicago, has rolled out a check-conversion and check-authorization service for merchants at the point of sale that combines with the processor's credit and debit card product. The company says it is introducing the new offering to round out its arsenal of processing services for merchant clients …
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9 August
Mer-Tec Gets Set to Grab a Share of the Micropayments Market
Competition in the nascent market for micropayments, or transactions of $5 or less, is about to become even more heated. A 10-year-old maker of e-commerce systems for retailers says it is 30 to 45 days away from introducing a micropayments product that will be tied to prepaid consumer accounts and …
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3 August
FDC: Star Expects to Counter Fiercer Rivalry in EFT Networking
Now that Metavante Corp. has closed on its acquisition of the NYCE electronic funds network and First Data Corp. has put its acquisition and integration of Concord EFS Inc. and its Star Systems network behind it, look for competition among the remaining regional EFT networks to become even more intense, …
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3 August
Phishing Attacks Climb 19% in June As Citi Again Tops Target List
The Internet scam known as phishing continued to grow in June, jumping 19% from May to 1,422 unique attacks, according to The Anti-Phishing Working Group, which tracks the fraud. Attacks have increased at an average monthly rate of 52% since the group began keeping statistics last fall. For the third …
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2 August
The Fed Plans for Nine More Check-Office Closings by Early 2006
The Federal Reserve Banks announced today they plan to shutter check-processing operations at nine facilities during 2005 and early 2006. The Fed now plans to consolidate check operations in 23 remaining locations. In a statement, the Fed says the decision “respond[s] to the nation's increasing substitution of electronic payments for …
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2 August
Reeve Quits Lightbridge Four Months After Buying Authorize.net
Pamela D.A. Reeve, long-time president and chief executive of Lightbridge Inc., has resigned from the Burlington, Mass.-based company, which this spring acquired Authorize.net, a major transaction gateway for Internet merchants, from Infospace Inc. Lightbridge announced that Robert Donahue, a member of the company's board, would step in as interim president …
July, 2004
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30 July
Discover Redoubles Its Commitment to Single-Use Card Numbers
Although some issuers and processors have soured on so-called single-use or proxy numbers for secure Internet transactions, Discover Financial Services Inc. has just rolled out an advanced version of its own single-use system and plans very soon to begin a major marketing campaign for it. The most significant feature of …
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30 July
Metavante Closes NYCE Deal As NYCE Chief Lynch Leaves
Metavante Corp. announced today it has closed its $610-million acquisition of the NYCE electronic funds transfer network. It also announced that Dennis F. Lynch, who has been president and chief executive of Montvale, N.J.-based NYCE since 1996, is leaving the network and will be replaced by Steven A. Rathgaber, currently …
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29 July
Visa Sees First Fruits of a New Sales Push for Verified by Visa
Visa U.S.A.'s consumer authentication system for Internet transactions, Verified by Visa, will see its merchant base expand by 50% in the next few days as online-shopping aggregator 2checkout.com switches on 10,000 Web retailers for the service. It's a significant lift for VbyV, and represents the first fruits of a new …