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n At a conference call with analysts to discuss the No. 2 payment card network’s third-quarter earnings, MasterCard president and chief executive Ajay Banga said his company is offering select merchants and merchant acquirers incentives to direct debit card transactions MasterCard’s way. “We are in a completely different competitive …
Read More »Aiming to Smooth In-Store Mobile Transactions, VeriFone Buys Global Bay
Extending itself further into mobile retailing and software, VeriFone Systems Inc. on Tuesday announced it has acquired 9-year-old Global Bay Media Technologies, a South Plainfield, N.J., vendor of in-store mobile solutions. Terms of the deal, which had already closed by the time of the announcement, were not disclosed. The acquisition …
Read More »Citing New IRS Rules, the ETA And the ABA Ask to Delay Part of Federal Reporting Law
Two industry trade groups are asking for a delay in implementation of portions of the new federal law requiring acquirers to report merchants’ electronic payment transactions to the Internal Revenue Service, saying constant changes in the reporting form and other problems are making it difficult to meet the reporting …
Read More »In the Wake of Reporting Complaints, IRS Says It Will Delay Penalties, Withholding
Responding to complaints about problems in implementing a new federal law requiring acquirers to report merchants’ electronic payment transactions, the Internal Revenue Service announced on Wednesday it will delay penalty provisions and withholding requirements for a year, until Jan. 1, 2013. Acquirers still are required to file the new 1099-K …
Read More »With Numbers up, Visa Execs Touch on Strategies to Keep Network Dominant
Confirming other findings that payment card usage is picking up in the U.S., Visa Inc.’s credit and debit card dollar volume rose 9% in the network’s fourth fiscal 2011 quarter ended Sept. 30 to $516 billion from $474 billion a year earlier. Payment transactions increased 7.3% to 10.5 billion. Visa’s …
Read More »Payment Firms’ Returns Belie the Economic Gloom
Shadows darken the recent economic news, but early third-quarter reports from payments-industry companies paint a much sunnier picture. The big card-issuer and merchant processor Total System Services Inc., for instance, on Tuesday said it was increasing its dividend by 43%, its first dividend increase in five years. Last week, Visa …
Read More »Yet Another New IRS Tax-Reporting Revision Adds to Acquirers’ Burdens
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Read More »Unfazed by a Patent-Office Rebuff, LML Soldiers on with Infringement Case
n “It’s not final by any means,” vows Patrick H. Gaines, chief executive of Vancouver, British Columbia-based LML. The company is preparing an appeal of the patent office’s action, he says, and has also applied for its own re-examination, which could allow it to add or amend claims. “Certain …
Read More »How Mobile Deposit Capture Is Expanding with Large And Small Banks Alike
Two very different financial institutions are adding or expanding their mobile remote deposit capture services to meet what they say is growing customer acceptance of the new banking channel that removes paper from the payments system and hitches banks and credit unions onto the rising smart-phone star. On the …
Read More »A NACHA Proposal, out for Comment, Calls for Networkwide Same-Day ACH
The automated clearing house network took a crucial step toward faster transaction movement last Friday when NACHA, the network’s governing body, distributed a request for comment on a proposal for same-day settlement. NACHA sent the 22-page document, which sets out a proposed system called Expedited Processing and Settlement (EPS), …
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