Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
Recent research by Aite Group LLC estimated the Visa and MasterCard bank card networks paid nearly $5 billion to merchants and card issuers between 2005 and 2007 to spur acceptance or issuance of their respective brands (Digital Transactions News, Feb. 20). Visa Inc.'s latest registration statement, filed Monday in advance …
February, 2008
-
27 February
Smart Card Marketing, HomeATM Enable PIN Debit Online, at Stores
In a move that could further the penetration of Internet-based PIN debit, a San Antonio-based processor of prepaid card transactions has adopted a device that will allow users of its electronic-wallet service to load their accounts online with credit cards and PIN debit cards. Smart Card Marketing Systems Inc., which …
-
26 February
Euronet Far from Certain It Will Renew Its Pursuit of MoneyGram
Although the door is still open for Euronet Worldwide Inc. to renew its bid for rival remittance processor MoneyGram International Inc., Euronet's chief executive says it's by no means certain his company will press ahead, despite a determined effort it made to acquire the larger processor just two months ago. …
-
26 February
An Acquiring Paradox: Discounts Are Squeezed, But Spreads Are up
Counter-intuitive though it may be, independent sales organizations and merchant acquirers in general are seeing their spreads increase while simultaneously facing margin compression. The reason, according to a new report from Aite Group LLC assessing trends in the acquiring industry: acquirers are generating new revenues from their merchants outside of …
-
25 February
Visa Looks for a Record IPO in Defiance of Wall Street Headwinds
Facing financial markets that have been roiled by troubled subprime mortgages and a weakening economy, Visa Inc. on Monday said it is seeking to raise $15 billion to $17 billion in its upcoming initial public offering of common stock?an amount that even on the low end would be a record …
-
22 February
Beleaguered Pay By Touch Looks To Sell Itself in Two Auctions
With potential buyers so far proving to be no more than tire kickers, bankrupt biometrics payment company Solidus Networks Inc., which does business as Pay By Touch, is looking to sell itself in separate auctions of what it calls its core and non-core assets. The core assets center on Pay …
-
21 February
MasterCard Cuts Interchange for Rent, Utilities, and Insurance
Apartments and other rental real estate such as vacation properties, one of the great remaining virgin markets for electronic payments, could get a boost in April when a new MasterCard Inc. interchange incentive takes effect that will lower card-acceptance costs for property managers. MasterCard's program is intended to direct more …
-
21 February
New York-New Jersey Mass Transit Plans Contactless Pilot
Contactless payment took another step forward in the mass-transit market with the announcement on Thursday by two key New York City-area transportation agencies that they will run a pilot of MasterCard Worldwide's PayPass system next year. The Port Authority will install contactless readers at 40 turnstiles in all 13 of …
-
20 February
How an Incentive Boom Could Push Visa, MasterCard into Acquiring
Locked in increasingly fierce competition with each other and with other card networks, Visa Inc. and MasterCard Worldwide are paying out higher and higher sums to issuers and merchants in the form of rebates and incentives, a trend that not only hurts the bank card networks' yield on each dollar …
-
19 February
With $20.5 Million in Fresh Capital, IPP Prepares To Execute
Walk-in bill-payment provider IPP of America Inc. on Tuesday announced it had raised $20.5 million from three institutional investors, capital that will enable the fast-growing company to expand its physical presence and add more billers to its network. The investment also represents the first round of venture-capital financing arranged by …