News

April, 2004

• 28 April

  A U.K. Banker’s Warning for His U.S. Brethren: Get with the Chip

  Bankers in the U.S. who bemoan the absence of a business case for smart cards may soon find one now that a massive rollout of chip-based credit and debit cards secured with personal identification numbers is well under way in the U.K., a British banker warned today. That's because fraudsters …
• 28 April

  AmEx Will Expand ExpressPay And Promote a New Incentive

  American Express Co. this Friday will begin adding more merchants in lower Manhattan in its test of radio-wave technology for payment transactions. Over the next several weeks, three quick-service restaurants near the card company's headquarters will begin accepting the card company's experimental ExpressPay RIFD keyfobs, which communicate with conventional card …
• 27 April

  Advice from an Expert: Don’t Rely on E-Loyalty to Push Technology

  Executives who are counting on loyalty applications to help justify new transaction technologies like smart cards and radio-frequency ID devices may have to reconsider their strategies in light of recent developments, according to an expert in electronic loyalty programs. Speaking at Thomson Media's CardTech SecurTech conference and exhibition this week …
• 27 April

  Nova Buys a 10,000-Merchant Portfolio from Union Bank

  Nova Information Systems, an Atlanta-based transaction processor, announced today it has agreed to acquire a portfolio of 10,000 merchants from Union Bank of California in a deal expected to close by June 30. Pricing and other terms were not disclosed. Nova says the acquisition is expected to add $3 billion …
• 23 April

  The First Bonded Online Auction Set for April 27

  More than 300 sellers are set to participate April 27 in the first online auction in which all transactions will be guaranteed by surety bonds. Dealers in antiques and collectibles will sell their wares during the auction, scheduled for April 27-May 2 at BondedSale.com, a site jointly sponsored by online …
• 22 April

  Authorize.net Sets Its Sights on Brick-and-Mortar Merchants

  Authorize.net Inc., which serves as a payments gateway for 91,000 mostly mid-size and small Web-based merchants, is making a major play for the brick-and-mortar point of sale. With the backing of its new owner, Burlington, Mass.-based Lightbridge Inc., Authorize.net is revving up its marketing and re-seller efforts to expand rapidly …
• 21 April

  TransFirst’s Break from the M&A Game Will Be Brief

  Dallas-based processor TransFirst, which has completed two major acquisitions in the past month that have more than doubled the company's size, is taking a break from the M&A game, but not one that will last long. “It'll be two to three months before another acquisition,” Mark Travis, chief financial officer …
• 21 April

  Exadigm Prepares to Sell an All-in-One IP/Wireless Device

  Exadigm Inc. thinks merchants and acquirers should be able to take for granted wireless and Internet connections for point-of-sale terminals in the same way everyone does for personal computers and cell phones. So it is gearing up a major marketing effort for a new terminal that runs on the Linux …
• 19 April

  BioPay Says 1 Million Enrolled Proves the Case for Biometrics

  BioPay LLC today announced it has enrolled 1 million consumers in its biometric check-cashing and payment services since the services started in June 2000 and September 2003, respectively. The Herndon, Va.-based company also said it has processed almost 7.5 million transactions with a value of $3 billion in that time. …
• 16 April

  A New ANSI Standard Could Extend Image Exchange Into New Uses

  A draft of a new American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standard for electronic exchange of checks and check data among banks and processors will be ready for ballot this summer, and could be ready for trial use this year, according to a member of the committee working on the standard. …