News

April, 2004

• 9 April

  Star Sets Check Service Pricing, Gets Ready to Begin Processing

  Electronic funds transfer network Star Systems Inc., which last month announced a new product that makes use of its EFT network to verify and settle checks written at the point of sale in the same way Star processes debit cards, says it expects Star Chek Direct to begin processing transactions …
• 8 April

  Visa Places Its Bets on Mag-Stripe Cards for Electronic Loyalty

  Target Corp.'s decision several weeks ago to discontinue its chip-based electronic loyalty program has confirmed for Visa USA that U.S. consumers are not likely to embrace new transaction technologies any time soon, whether tied to loyalty programs or not. Indeed, for the foreseeable future, the bank card network is shifting …
• 8 April

  Why More Merchants Are Adopting PIN Debit

  Debit cards linked to personal identification numbers are slowly but surely penetrating more and more merchant locations, and as a result PIN debit transactions will begin to overtake transactions on signature-based debit cards within five years, says an analyst at Speer & Associates Inc., Atlanta, who has studied the issue. …
• 7 April

  An Alternative Emerges to Image Exchange?the ACH

  With at least four separate efforts under way to build national image-exchange networks, some banking officials are starting to ask whether the substantial investment banks and processors are making in these new networks to carry check images between financial institutions is really necessary. The systems required to achieve transfer of …
• 6 April

  Gift Card Market Will Double by 2007, TowerGroup Says

  Sales of prepaid gift cards soared 47% last year as the 8-year-old product picked up momentum that will lead to a doubling of usage by 2007, the research firm TowerGroup Inc. reports in research released today. The largest beneficiary of the trend will be banks, the firm says. While bank-issued …
• 2 April

  First to Swap Images, Endpoint Exchange Reports Fast Growth

  While the race is on to hammer together electronic networks to carry what is expected by many to be a huge volume of check images between banks, the only network that has gone live so far reports it is achieving fast growth. Endpoint Exchange, a network owned and operated by …
• 1 April

  McDonald’s’ Exit from Speedpass May Be Only a Hiccup for RFID

  Although the decision by fast-food king McDonald's Corp. to shut down its test of ExxonMobil Corp.'s Speedpass contactless payment product seems to be a setback for the technology, not all observers agree. Indeed, some are convinced transactions based on radio-frequency identification (RFID) still have a bright future at high-throughput locations–maybe …

March, 2004

• 31 March

  I4Commerce Broadens Its Merchant Network for Online Transactions

  A transaction processor that targets high-volume online merchants is winning adherents among merchants and consumers alike for its product, which allows consumers to buy on credit without entering sensitive account data. I4Commerce Inc.'s “Bill Me Later” service, which became commercially available two years ago as an alternative to credit cards …
• 30 March

  Bi-Lo Says Biometric Authentication Cut Check Fraud 60%

  Bi-Lo LLC, a supermarket chain based in Mauldin, S.C., has announced a biometric-based authentication system has cut its payroll-check fraud losses by 60% since it was installed last fall. The grocer says almost 40,000 customers are now signed up for the system, called Paycheck Secure, and that it has done …
• 27 March

  U.S. Wireless Files for Bankruptcy, Announces Asset Sales

  U.S. Wireless Data Inc., a 13-year-old payment gateway specializing in wireless and vending-machine transactions, has announced it has filed for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. The New York-based company also announced it is selling “substantially all” of its assets. It has reached an agreement with …