News

November, 2007

• 12 November

  Though Still Shaky, a Smaller TRM Gets Closer to Profitability

  Still financially challenged but claiming to be on the mend, TRM Corp., operator of the nation's second-largest non-bank ATM network, reduced its loss in the third quarter as it culled underperforming machines and cut expenses. The Portland, Ore.-based firm on Friday reported a net loss of $4.89 million compared with …
• 10 November

  Its Overhaul Complete, Visa Shoots for the Moon with Its Pending IPO

  Visa Inc. late Friday said it aims to raise $10 billion in its upcoming initial public offering of stock. The figure, while preliminary, is four times the $2.4 billion MasterCard Inc. grossed in its May 2006 IPO, the first chance the market had to value a bank card network. A …
• 8 November

  PCI Council: Software Security Guidelines To Be a Standard

  In a move long expected by software developers, merchant processors, and others, the PCI Security Standards Council this week said it is adding a new standard for point-of-sale software based on Visa Inc.'s set of best practices for card-processing applications. The action is aimed at strengthening the software component of …
• 8 November

  Retailers Must Do More To Tout Tap-And-Go, Expert Argues

  Lack of consumer awareness regarding contactless transaction technology ranks as a leading concern among retailers and may ultimately impede development of contactless payments based on mobile phones, research released this week indicates. Yet most merchants that have adopted contactless programs don't promote those programs to their customers, according to the …
• 8 November

  A Bill Offers Relief to Merchants Besieged by Suits over Receipts

  Few people would deny that a law Congress enacted in 2003 mandating payment card receipt truncation had a noble aim?to prevent criminals from getting enough data when they obtained other people's transaction receipts to steal identities or commit card fraud. But some merchants, while complying with the truncation provision that …
• 7 November

  Before IPO, Visa Reaches a $2.25 Billion AmEx Antitrust Settlement

  In an attempt to clear away legal issues before its planned initial public stock offering next year, Visa Inc. today said it would pay rival American Express Co. more than $2 billion to settle an antitrust lawsuit AmEx brought seeking compensation for lost business during the years a Visa rule …
• 6 November

  Pay By Touch Melodrama Includes Board Fight and Possible Bankruptcy

  Biometrics payment technology provider Pay By Touch reaped a bushel of favorable publicity last week when it launched its fingerprint-based system at 10 Chicago-area Shell stations in the company's first petroleum-sector rollout. What went unmentioned, however, was that Pay By Touch's parent company was entangled in court fights on the …
• 6 November

  New Fed Pricing Expected to Spur Further Moves to Electronic Processing

  The Federal Reserve Board is cutting its fees for handling Check 21 items delivered to paying banks electronically but raising tariffs for processing paper checks and the substitute checks authorized under Check 21, a Fed announcement released on Tuesday says. Effective Jan. 2, the Fed's new rates for 2008 will …
• 1 November

  Amid Data Thefts, Visa’s Software Rules Align More Closely with PCI

  With five new mandates for merchant acquirers and processors to meet by 2010, Visa Inc.'s Payment Application Best Practices, a set of standards governing payment-processing software, are becoming ever more tightly aligned with the comprehensive Payment Card Industry data-security standard (PCI) promulgated by the major card networks. But mandates may …
• 1 November

  Eye on Earnings: MasterCard, Heartland, Online Resources

  The flow of third-quarter earnings reports from payments companies continued this week with MasterCard Inc. reporting a hefty increase in transaction volume, revenues, and profits, while fast-growing merchant acquirer Heartland Payment Systems Inc. weighed in with a 20% increase in processing volume. And the chief executive of bill-payment processor Online …