News

February, 2004

• 2 February

  Wells Mortgage Unit Makes Fast Progress on Electronic Payments

  In a sign of how fast an organization can convert paper transactions to electronic, the National Automated Clearing House Association announced today that the home-mortgage unit of Wells Fargo & Co. will process 88% of its payments electronically in the first quarter, up from 36% only a year ago and …
• 2 February

  A New ETA Program Reaches out to Merchant-Level Salespeople

  The Electronic Transactions Association announced today new initiatives intended to appeal to individual merchant-level sales agents. Traditionally a trade organization for larger ISOs and acquirers, the Washington, D.C.-based ETA says it will give merchant-level salespeople access to ETA products, services, and conferences at reduced rates. While association membership is open …

January, 2004

• 30 January

  MBNA-AmEx Deal Helps Them More Than It Hurts the Bank Networks

  The card-issuing alliance American Express Co. and MBNA Corp. announced yesterday will benefit the two financial-services companies more than it will hurt Visa and MasterCard, some observers note. Although MBNA, second only to Citigroup Inc. as a credit card issuer, has already said it will seek to convert current cardholders …
• 29 January

  MyDoom Hardly Makes a Dent in Web Performance

  MyDoom, characterized by many experts as one of the most virulent viruses ever to hit the Internet, has had only a slight impact on Web transaction speed and page availability, according to Keynote Systems Inc., a San Mateo, Calif., company that measures Web site performance. Keynote analysts credit the nature …
• 29 January

  A Visa Member Letter Touches off A Debit Card Debate

  A brief reference to a rival debit card network in a recent document sent from Visa USA Inc. to its members has raised the hackles of the co-founder of that network and embroiled him in a debate with Visa USA chief executive Carl Pascarella over the risk associated with debit …
• 28 January

  Continental Aims at a 20% Expansion of Its Kiosk Network

  Already the second-largest deployer of electronic ticketing machines at airports, Continental Airlines Inc. plans to add another 150 units this year, including some at international destinations. The first airline to deploy self-service ticketing kiosks nine years ago, Continental now has 779 online at 130 domestic airports, trailing only Delta Air …
• 27 January

  Yankee Group Charts the Rise of Outsourced Network Security

  As network security managers scramble today to combat the so-called MyDoom virus, one of the most malicious network attacks security experts have seen yet, the Boston-based consulting firm Yankee Group has released a report predicting that the frequency and virulence of such incidents will create a flourishing new market in …
• 27 January

  A New Online Processor Charts An Ambitious Course

  Digency Inc., an El Dorado Hills, Calif.-based third-party processing startup specializing in Internet payments, has begun processing transactions for a handful of merchants and now looks to execute an ambitious business plan that calls for the company to earn $13 million in fee revenue in 2004 from some 240 online …
• 23 January

  AmEx Looks to Have Its First Bank Issuer by Year’s End

  American Express Co. says it will be a matter of “months,” not “years,” until banks in the United States are issuing the company's card products now that the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals has thrown out a motion from Visa International Corp., Visa USA Inc., and MasterCard International Inc. …
• 22 January

  Prepaid Plastic Zeroes in on the Payroll Market

  With gift cards accounting for more than $17 billion in retail sales, or about 8% of merchants' total take, during the recent holiday shopping spree, according to the National Retail Federation, the plastic has become a star in the electronic transaction firmament. But while gift cards are stealing the headlines, …