Transaction Processing

n Card network Visa Inc. plans to eke out even better merchant compliance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard with a new enforcement plan targeting the largest merchants. The program is scheduled for a Jan. 1 start. That’s according to a copy of an Oct. 21 Visa Bulletin …

Payment processor JetPay Corp. on Monday reported that it had acquired ACI Merchant Systems LLC, an independent sales organization that works through financial institutions to provide credit and debit card processing to their small and mid-sized business customers. Meanwhile, the big merchant acquirer Heartland Payment Systems Inc. recently bought Xpient …

The Durbin Amendment may be best known for its stringent ceiling on debit card interchange, but merchants are discovering that another part of the law that requires transaction-routing choices can be just as effective as rate caps in controlling processing costs. Giant Eagle Inc., a Pittsburgh-based supermarket chain operating nearly …

  Federal law enforcement agencies said Thursday they arrested the person they allege ran a Web site devoted to the buying and selling of illegal drugs using the virtual currency known as Bitcoin. Officials with the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, the FBI and the Homeland …

Payment processor Total System Services (TSYS) this week says it is embarking on a new approach to technology, one that forms a core component of its business and information technology strategy. Called Surround, the approach is expected to lead to products that have easier integrations, greater flexibility and financial innovation, …

Conspicuously absent from new point-of-sale terminal maker Poynt Inc.’s Oct. 30 unveiling was how the new company’s L-shaped, portable devices would be distributed. The answer to that question came Monday when Poynt chief executive Osama Bedier revealed that two of the nation’s largest merchant acquirers, Chase Paymentech and Vantiv Inc., …

First Data Corp.’s Clover point-of-sale system now is available in a mobile version that enables merchants to roam their store aisles with the device. Dubbed Clover Mobile, the service can be paired with the stationary Clover Station or used as a standalone service, First Data says. Like Clover Station, Clover …

The newly rebranded Verifone Inc. this week made several product announcements. As the payments industry pays more attention to data security, Verifone this week said it is making its secure payment service Verifone Point available to all of the terminal maker’s direct customers and U.S. merchant acquirers and independent software …

  Money-transfer provider MoneyGram International Inc. has launched MGiAlloy, a technology platform to enable greater use of alternative financial services. MGiAlloy, which can be used on kiosks, online, on mobile device or at points-of-sale, enables consumers to transfer money, pay bills, cash checks, reload prepaid cards and other services. Dallas-based MoneyGram …

In an effort to prevent money laundering, New York State’s top financial regulator made history last year when he proposed that virtual-currency providers obtain a so-called “Bitlicense” to ensure that they have proper controls in place to protect consumers’ money. Now Benjamin M. Lawsky, superintendent of the New York Department …