News

March, 2004

• 15 March

  Visa Looks to a Sweepstakes to Promote Check Card Transactions

  Visa USA has announced a sweepstakes promotion for this summer aimed at increasing transactions on its signature-based debit card. The Visa check card, on which Visa introduced permanently lower interchange rates effective Jan. 31, offers Visa debit card issuers less revenue than was the case before last year's settlement of …
• 12 March

  A Check 21 Guide Seeks to Aid Training, Cut Confusion

  With banks and other players in the electronic transactions arena scrambling to get ready for the implementation in October of the Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act, some 16 financial-services companies and associations have published a guide to the law. They hope the new 20-page document will be used …
• 12 March

  TransFirst’s Fifth Third Deal Bulks up Its Processing Heft

  TransFirst, a Dallas-based merchant processor, expects its acquisition of the third-party processing business of Fifth Third Bank Processing Solutions to drive down its transaction costs and give it a sharper edge when it comes to pricing. The deal, announced yesterday and expected to close April 1, will add 90 million …
• 10 March

  Why Piggly Wiggly Went with Biometric Payments

  Piggly Wiggly Carolina Co., a Charleston, S.C.-based chain of supermarkets with stores in South Carolina and Georgia, has adopted a payment system secured by biometrics primarily to increase its share of technologically savvy, white-collar customers. “It sends a message that we're trying to be cutting edge,” says David Schools, senior …
• 9 March

  McDonald’s Expands Its Test of Self-Serve Kiosks

  Having spread rapidly in the past year at airports, self-service transaction technology is starting to make inroads in the lodging and fast-food industries. McDonald's Corp., Oak Brook, Ill., has tested kiosks at a handful of its corporate-owned stores in Raleigh, N.C., and in Denver, and within the past few weeks …
• 8 March

  PayPal Pays $150,000, Clarifies Terms to Settle New York Case

  PayPal agreed today to pay the state of New York $150,000 and clarify its user agreement as part of a settlement of a case brought against the San Jose, Calif.-based online payments processor by the New York state attorney general's office. In the settlement, PayPal, a unit of online auction …
• 5 March

  The Wal-Mart Case Hits MasterCard with a $763 Million Charge

  MasterCard International took a $763.5 million charge against earnings in 2003 to account for its share of the settlement of the massive Wal-Mart class-action suit, documents filed yesterday reveal. As a result of the charge, the bank card association sustained a $385.8 million loss last year, compared to net income …
• 4 March

  With Mperia, BitPass Enters the Red-Hot Online Music Market

  Two weeks after its launch, a Web site created by BitPass Inc., a Palo Alto, Calif.-based micropayments startup, has attracted nearly 100 bands and other musicians selling single songs and tracks at prices ranging from a quarter to $1.50. Designed for so-called independent musicians seeking an outlet for their music …
• 3 March

  Behind FDC’s Effort to Get Beyond Credit Cards on the Web

  With Internet merchants increasingly demanding transaction capabilities beyond credit cards, acquirers and processors are starting to look into ways to simplify and standardize the introduction of such payment alternatives as electronic checks, debit cards, and third-party billing. The latest such effort comes from the nation's biggest transaction processor. Denver-based First …
• 2 March

  Visa Names Rodrigues to Succeed Williamson as CEO

  Christopher J. Rodrigues, group chief executive of U.K.-based banking firm Bradford & Bingley, is the new president and chief executive of Visa International, the bank card network announced today. Rodrigues, 54, will take over June 1 from William Boardman, chairman of Visas International's board, who is serving as interim chief …