News

January, 2004

• 22 January

  Network Security: One Step Ahead of the Bad Guys?

  This week's outbreak of yet another computer-network virus has served as a reminder to the online transactions industry that the networks they rely on for e-commerce?and increasingly for ATM and point-of-sale traffic?are vulnerable to malicious code. Although the latest outbreak, called the “bagle” virus, was quickly brought under control after …
• 22 January

  NACHA Adopts a Third-Party Processor Rule

  The Herndon, Va.-based National Automated Clearing House Association announced its members have approved a new rule governing third-party processing of automated clearing house (ACH) transactions. The rule, an amendment to the NACHA Operating Rules that goes into effect next December, requires that third parties agree to be bound by the …
• 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, …
• 21 January

  Scotiabank’s Barrie Smart Card Pilot Readies for Its Next Phase

  An ambitious multi-application smart card pilot launched late last year in Barrie, Ontario, is ready to move to its next phase, which will involve signing up 40 more merchant locations in February. Toronto-based Scotiabank, the issuer of the cards, will not release how many it has issued so far, though …
• 20 January

  Why Ticketing Kiosks Are Checking into Hotels

  The next step in transaction automation in the travel industry may well be the introduction of self-service ticketing machines, which are getting increasing usage at airports, into related markets like hotels, allowing travelers to integrate several transactions into one. Already, self-service kiosks at hotels allow travelers not only to check …
• 16 January

  A Check Hauler Gets Set to Embrace the Future

  Fast Forward Solutions LLC, a subsidiary of Columbus, Ohio-based air-freight hauler AirNet Systems Inc., is gearing up AirNet's seven regional hubs to handle Fast Forward's new business: transporting image-replacement documents for banks converting from paper checks to check imaging. Within six weeks, says Jeff Harris, the former banker and AirNet …
• 15 January

  Chase-Bank One Merger Creates a Transactions Powerhouse

  The merger of banking powerhouses J.P Morgan Chase & Co. and Bank One Corp., announced late yesterday, would create the nation's second largest credit card issuer as measured by credit outstanding, the banks' chief executives said this morning in a meeting with analysts. The combined bank would boast 95 million …
• 14 January

  MasterCard Survey: Rejecting Debit Could Hurt Sales

  Just weeks after Wal-Mart Stores Inc. informed MasterCard International Inc. that the chain would stop accepting MasterCard debit cards effective next month, the bank card company has released a consumer survey showing that merchants who reject debit cards risk losing sales. Sponsored by MasterCard and conducted by Harris Interactive, best …
• 13 January

  A Survey Shows Why Web Transactions Fail

  Consumers who abandon shopping carts on e-commerce sites do so mainly because the sites impose costly shipping and handling costs or lengthy shipment times. This is one part of the findings of a survey conducted last month by NetIQ Corp., a San Jose, Calif.-based vendor of web-analytics tools. The company …
• 12 January

  Peppercoin Scores Another Online Song Merchant

  Peppercoin Inc., the Waltham, Mass.-based provider of software to process very small online transactions like payments for 99-cent songs, has signed up another new client in the red-hot market for online music. Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, a non-profit record label belonging to the Smithsonian Institution, announced it had signed on with …