News

March, 2010

• 1 March

  TSYS Changes Course, Forms Joint Venture with First National of Omaha

  The joint merchant-acquiring venture announced Monday by Total System Services Inc. (TSYS) and First National Bank of Omaha marks a major change in strategy by both companies. The deal, scheduled to close April 1, marks the first time TSYS is taking an ownership interest in a merchant portfolio. And for …

February, 2010

• 25 February

  Reload Capability Eludes Consumers Despite Prepaid’s Popularity

  The concept of the reloadable general-purpose prepaid card is a familiar one to those who work in the prepaid card industry, but it hasn't caught on with the general public, according to findings from Mercator Advisory Group Inc. A Mercator survey of 1,012 adults last May and June found that …
• 25 February

  UATP Books a Hotel As Its Airline-Card Network Diversifies

  Processing volume hit some turbulence last year, but that didn't stop Universal Air Travel Plan Inc. from pursing its goal of adding merchants to its airline-owned network. Washington, D.C.-based UATP last week reported that LQ Management LLC's La Quinta Inns & Suites has become the first hotel chain in the …
• 24 February

  Prepaid Card Mall Pioneer Blackhawk Moves into Online, B2B

  Less than a decade after launching its first gift card mall, the Blackhawk Network Inc. is looking for new frontiers of prepaid card growth in the online world and the business-to-business market. “I think we've learned a few things on how to serve the customer better,” Teri Llach, chief marketing …
• 23 February

  NACHA Looks for a Partner to Help Move EBIDS out of Pilot Mode

  An electronic bill-payment and ?presentment network put together by NACHA, the governing body of the automated clearing house, is seeking an organization that can help build out the system and give it marketing firepower. Rob Unger, senior director of e-billing and payments at Herndon, Va.-based NACHA, says the association issued …
• 23 February

  Opportunity Comes With Risk for Public-Sector Prepaid Cards

  Government represents one of the biggest opportunities out there for prepaid card issuers and processors, but the market is fraught with pricing, operational, and other hurdles, according to executives who work with the public sector. About $65 billion currently is loaded onto prepaid card programs for federal and state benefits …
• 23 February

  U.S. Issuers Begin to Fret About Mag-Stripe Problems Overseas

  U.S. card issuers are starting to worry about problems some of their high-spending and corporate card customers are having using their magnetic-stripe cards in countries that support the chip-and-PIN standard, according to executives who spoke on Tuesday at a smart card conference. Whereas the issue hardly seemed apparent only a …
• 18 February

  A Rebound for Credit Cards Online Will Slow Gains for Alternatives

  Various payment alternatives will continue to grow in volume and claim more share of Web-based sales, but the dramatic gains of recent years will moderate as credit cards stage a partial comeback, according to a forecast released this week. Alternative payment methods, which have proliferated in variety over the past …
• 18 February

  PayPal’s Facebook Deal Could Open Big Transaction Potential

  With the announcement on Thursday that PayPal Inc. will process payments for Facebook, the massive social network has found a major-brand payments partner and PayPal has established a tie to what could become an enormous online marketplace with equally big transaction potential. The two companies said PayPal will process payments …
• 18 February

  Heartland Restructures Its Sales Force to Jumpstart Productivity

  While hoping that it's seeing the light at the end of its long data-breach tunnel, Heartland Payment Systems Inc. also is restructuring its sales force in an effort to boost flagging productivity. The Princeton, N.J.-based merchant acquirer fired 98 low-performing relationship managers in November, but is in the process of …