News

June, 2010

• 25 June

  Pending Legislation Would Extend CARD Act Deadline for Prepaid

  Issuers of prepaid and gift cards could get an extension of the Aug. 22 deadline for complying with new rules from the Federal Reserve under legislation pending in the U.S. Senate. The so-called ECO-Gift Card bill, sponsored by U.S. Rep. Dan Maffei, D-NY, passed the U.S. House of Representatives on …
• 24 June

  A Dedicated Code for Mobile ACH Is Still on the Table

  While NACHA’s members officially signed off this week on using the existing WEB transaction code for mobile payments that use the automated clearing house network, the working group that recommended using WEB is already at work on further developments for mobile—including the issue of whether these payments should have their …
• 23 June

  ISOs’ Volume Shortfalls Trigger First Data Demands for Fees

  In a move that could have a bottom-line impact for an untold number of independent sales organizations, First Data Corp. is sending letters to client ISOs notifying them they owe fees to the Atlanta-based processing giant to compensate for shortfalls in processing volumes. While it’s not clear how many such …
• 22 June

  Council Grants an Extra Year to Implement New PCI Versions

  Merchants, processors, and others in the card industry will have more time to review and implement new versions of the Payment Card Industry data-security standard under a new schedule announced on Tuesday by the PCI Security Standards Council. With the revised schedule, the main standard and PA-DSS, the standard for …
• 22 June

  Token, Encryption Combo Seen As a Remedy for PCI Headaches

  Tokenization and encryption may be the best solution to one of the biggest data-security challenges facing merchants: how to protect confidential payment card information against emerging threats without disrupting normal business operations. That’s according to a security brief released on Tuesday by RSA, the Security Division of EMC. Security experts …
• 21 June

  Issuers Not Likely to See Much Gain from Durbin’s Concessions

  While a compromise hammered out on Monday moderates some of the impact of the so-called Durbin Amendment, at least one payments expert has no doubt who emerges as the winners of this latest parliamentary maneuvering: merchants. Indeed, despite some concessions, banks are still likely to see considerable erosion of the …
• 17 June

  AmEx’s Premium Cost Could Be Muted for Payments Pro Merchants

  Even though a policy change PayPal Inc. announced late last week will dramatically increase some online merchants’ acceptance costs for American Express transactions, their overall costs may remain flat or possibly decline, if the experience of one online retailer is any guide. “There’s at least a good chance it’s not …
• 17 June

  Behind Wal-Mart’s Stake in Its Prepaid Card Partner, Green Dot

  Utter the name “Wal-Mart” and heads turn in the payments industry. That happened yet again with the revelation this week that Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world’s largest retailer that tried and failed to get into the banking business, had taken an equity interest in Green Dot Corp., a major player …
• 16 June

  Fraud And Overdraft Regs Threaten Debit Card Profitability

  Debit cards are more popular than ever, but issuers see threats to the bottom line from rising fraud and more regulation. Loss rates rose 43% on signature debit cards and 24% for PIN-debit cards in 2009, according to the Pulse EFT network’s fifth-annual survey of the debit market. Meanwhile, issuers …
• 16 June

  Durbin Rips Card Networks for Lack of Interchange Negotiation

  Sen. Richard Durbin chastised the card industry for what he called its refusal to negotiate interchange rates in a hearing held on Wednesday to investigate the fees federal agencies pay to accept cards. Sponsor of a controversial amendment that would regulate interchange fees for debit cards, Durbin also revealed during …