Confirming its earlier signals that it does not want to be a direct U.S. merchant acquirer, at least not yet, Visa Inc. plans to sell its portfolio of just over 9,000 U.S. e-commerce merchants to merchant processor Global Payments Inc. within the next two months. Atlanta-based Global divulged the …
January, 2012
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5 January
Acquirers, Small Merchants See More Risk-Reduction Value in PCI, Survey Shows
The 7-year-old Payment Card Industry data-security standard (PCI) is proving its effectiveness in preventing data breaches among small merchants, according to a survey of payments-industry acquirers set to be released next week. The survey, cosponsored by ControlScan Inc., an Alpharetta, Ga.-based vendor of PCI-compliance solutions, and the Merchant Acquirers’ Committee, …
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5 January
Fiserv Slaps Rival FIS with a Lawsuit Alleging Infringement of Three Payments Patents
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5 January
It Did Turn Out To Be a Very Merry Christmas Online for Merchant Processors
The strong increases in online payment transactions noticed by merchant acquirers and others in November continued through the entire holiday shopping season, according to recently released data. Leading e-commerce acquirer Chase Paymentech reported on Thursday that its Cyber Holiday Pulse Index recorded nearly 360 million transactions valued at approximately $14.5 …
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4 January
PayPal Boss Thompson Decamps for Yahoo Just As Key POS Strategy Unfolds
PayPal Inc. on Wednesday lost its top executive just as the e-commerce processing giant has embarked on an ambitious strategy to handle transactions for brick-and-mortar stores. The departure of Scott Thompson, who has been PayPal’s president since 2008, also represents the second loss of a key executive at PayPal in …
December, 2011
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30 December
Protests Force Verizon Wireless To Drop Its Planned $2 Payment Fee
n Bowing to an outcry of opposition, telecommunications giant Verizon Wireless cancelled a controversial $2 fee for one-time telephone and online payments just one day after announcing it. The carrier’s reversal came less than two months after Bank of America Corp. cancelled its enormously unpopular plan to charge some customers …
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28 December
New DoJ Interpretation Could Lead to State-by-State Online Betting, Despite UIGEA
A 5-year-old law that bans U.S. banks and processors from handling online-gambling transactions won’t stand in the way of a U.S. Justice Department opinion released last week that appears to put the federal government's imprimatur on intrastate online betting. The DoJ on Dec. 23 released a 13-page memorandum giving states …
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22 December
Free-Equipment Pioneer United Bank Card Hints at Enhancements to Come
Despite criticism that free point-of-sale terminals for card-accepting merchants undercut independent sales organizations’ profitability, the company that started the trend back in 2004 remains staunchly committed to the strategy. The investment in hardware is more than returned in reduced attrition, says Jared Isaacman, chief executive of United Bank Card Inc. …
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22 December
Christmas Season Throws Spotlight on a Developing Trend Toward Digital Gift Cards
With Christmas day looming, retailers that issue digital gift cards, along with the vendors that supply them, are expecting a rush of last-minute purchases from shoppers who don’t have time to buy plastic cards. With e-cards flying out to the handsets of recipients at parties and in homes and offices, …
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21 December
ACH Bill Payments Move into the Passing Lane
The financially struggling U.S. Postal Service is bemoaning the accelerating shift by consumers away from sending everything from Christmas cards to bill payments by physical mail. But, on the other side of the coin, new data confirm that the automated clearing house is where a lot of former paper-based …