News

January, 2005

• 12 January

  PayPal Says It Will Stop Blocking of Payments Backed by Credit Cards

  PayPal Inc. has announced it will no longer allow sellers that have bank accounts registered with the San Jose, Calif.-based processor to block payments funded by credit cards, effective next month. Sellers' ability to refuse such payments has been part of the company's “Payment Receiving Preferences” policy for so-called premier …
• 12 January

  Discover Seals Its Pulse Acquisition Following Pulse Members’ OK

  Discover Financial Services Inc. and Pulse EFT Association announced today that Discover's $311-million acquisition of the Houston-based electronic funds transfer network, announced in November, has closed. The deal's completion follows approval of the merger by Pulse's member banks, and, according to Discover, more than doubles the company's U.S. card base …
• 12 January

  eFunds Buys ClearCommerce, Picks up CNP Anti-Fraud Expertise

  eFunds Corp. today announced it is buying ClearCommerce Corp., an e-commerce transaction gateway specializing in online fraud detection and prevention, for $19.4 million in cash. The deal is expected to close by March 31. By acquiring Austin, Texas-based ClearCommerce, eFunds picks up anti-fraud products and expertise for the card-not-present market, …
• 11 January

  GTCR Will Keep Its Grip on VeriFone Even After the Proposed IPO

  VeriFone Inc. will continue to be controlled by GTCR Golder Rauner LLC, a Chicago-based private equity firm, and its current chief executive, Douglas Bergeron, will continue to be a major shareholder even after the San Jose, Calif.-based point of sale terminal maker completes its proposed initial public offering of stock. …
• 10 January

  Half of Online Banking Customers Are Phishing Targets, Survey Shows

  Half of online banking customers now receive fraudulent e-mails, known as phishes, and 78% say they are less inclined to respond to e-mails from the banks they do business with. That's according to a study released by New York-based security software company Cyota Inc. that illustrates how much worse the …
• 7 January

  WaMu’s Move to MasterCard Underlines Intense Card Competition

  Washington Mutual Inc.'s decision to switch its 10.5-million-card debit portfolio to MasterCard International from Visa U.S.A., though a big win for MasterCard, doesn't necessarily herald a trend, observers say. At the same time, it throws into relief a bylaw Visa quietly put into place in 2003 that penalizes large debit-card-issuing …
• 6 January

  Visa Holiday Volume Up 15.7%, as Transactions Peak Christmas Eve

  Visa reports the holiday shopping season generated a 15.7% increase in dollar volume on its card products compared to the same time last year, with volume reaching $218.7 billion on all Visa-branded cards in the Nov. 1 to Jan. 2 period. Consumer spending on the company's debit cards grew 26.2%, …
• 5 January

  TechTrans Begins Service to Deliver and Install ATMs for Makers

  Technical Transportation Inc. announces it has added ATM support to its delivery service for high-value, heavy machines. The 15-year-old company, based in Dallas, says it will now deliver, install, and test ATMs, bringing them from manufacturer to location and working through a network of agents and technicians. The company says …
• 5 January

  USPTO Will Re-Examine CyberSource’s Patent at ReD’s Request

  The United States Patent and Trademark Office has said it will re-examine a patent granted in 2000 to CyberSource Corp. that lies at the heart of a patent-infringement suit the Mountain View, Calif.-based processor filed last August against rival Retail Decisions PLC (ReD) and its U.S. operation, Retail Decisions Inc. …
• 3 January

  C-Store Chain Sheetz Is First Merchant to Adopt PayPass Chainwide

  Sheetz Inc. will install MasterCard International's PayPass tap-and-go payment system in all 305 of its stores by March 1, the two companies have announced. Sheetz, a top-10 operator of convenience stores based in Altoona, Pa., says it hopes the radio-frequency-based system will add to customer convenience by cutting transaction time …