News

October, 2010

• 13 October

  Crackdown on MetaBank Casts a Shadow on NetSpend’s IPO

  Federal banking regulators this month cracked down on MetaBank, a major prepaid card issuer, an action that threw into question the pending initial public offering of prepaid card program manager NetSpend Corp. Austin, Texas-based NetSpend is scheduled to price its long-planned IPO on Thursday, according to reports on the financial …
• 12 October

  TCF Challenges the Durbin Amendment’s Constitutionality

  TCF National Bank, a top 10 debit card issuer, on Tuesday filed a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the so-called Durbin Amendment, which, as part of the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill Congress passed in July, will regulate debit card interchange beginning next year. TCF alleges the debit card provisions …
• 12 October

  Response to Mobile Check-Capture App Catches PayPal by Surprise

  Just as financial institutions were digesting the idea of letting consumers deposit checks by snapping images of them with their handsets, along comes PayPal Inc. with the first such application offered by a non-bank—and one that has so far proven to be quite popular. San Jose, Calif.-based PayPal announced late …
• 7 October

  Out of Stealth, MobilePay USA Promises to Crack the POS

  Payments-industry observers who have been frustrated by the slow progress of near-field communication (NFC) technology for point-of-sale mobile payments may find an alternative in a new mobile application called MobilePay USA. The service surfaced last week when it won an award at a conference sponsored by TechCrunch, a technology blog. …
• 7 October

  PCI Compliance Should Be a ‘LifeStyle,’ Says Assessor Verizon

  Merchants are most likely to remain compliant with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards and avoid data breaches if they adopt security as a lifestyle, according to a study released earlier this week by Verizon Business. Verizon Business provides audits and other PCI-related services. When we've seen people be …
• 6 October

  Shazam Attacks Online PIN Debit with a Trio of Solutions

  If one PIN-debit system for Internet payments is good, three are even better in the eyes of the Shazam electronic funds transfer network. The network on Wednesday announced it has become the first network client of a new online PIN-debit platform from e-commerce systems provider CardinalCommerce Corp. Shazam now has …
• 5 October

  PCI Council Issues Guidance on EMV And Point-to-Point Encryption

  With end-to-end encryption of payment card data rapidly spreading throughout the credit and debit card industry and calls for the U.S. to replace magnetic-stripe cards with so-called EMV chip-and-PIN cards, the card industry’s security overseer is attempting to ensure that security standards change with the times. The PCI Security Standards …
• 5 October

  Citi Will Pilot a New Card with a Button for Rewards

  Citigroup Inc. revealed on Tuesday it will start a pilot next month for a new type of credit card that will let cardholders apply rewards they’ve earned by pressing a button on the card. The pilot for the new card, which Citi has dubbed its 2G credit card, will start …
• 4 October

  Visa, MasterCard Settle with DoJ, But AmEx Vows a Fight

  The U.S. Department of Justice and seven states on Monday sued Visa Inc., MasterCard Inc., and American Express Co. over their merchant-acceptance policies, especially those that restrict discounting for other cards or payment forms. Visa and MasterCard immediately announced a settlement, but AmEx said it would fight. The antitrust lawsuit …
• 1 October

  Mobile-Payments Fraud Starts to Take Its Toll

  Mobile payments are barely out of the starting gate, but fraudsters are quickly discovering the new channel’s potential for making a dishonest buck, according to new research from LexisNexis Risk Solutions. Fraud losses from mobile payments as a percentage of total revenue were 1.13% compared with 0.83% for online-only merchants …