Transaction Processing

Extending its reach into emerging mobile-banking and payments markets, First Data Corp. on Thursday announced an agreement with mFoundry Inc. under which the leading payment processor will offer mFoundry services to the thousands of bank and credit-union members of First Data's Star electronic-funds transfer network. The First Data agreement marks …

Payment-processing software specialists hoping to find new business through independent sales organizations may have a new way to reach those often-elusive customers. The channel comes in the form of an agreement between Denver-based technology provider IP Commerce Inc. and eProcessing Network LLC, a gateway with links to major payment processors, …

Responding to a report that surfaced on Wednesday, online retailing giant Amazon.com Inc. refuses to comment on whether it is planning to introduce soon an e-commerce payment service that will compete with other alternatives to credit and debit cards. “We do not comment on rumors or speculation,” an Amazon spokesperson …

Signaling further progress among merchants toward compliance with a key data-protection mandate, Visa USA announced this week that 40% of the largest merchants accepting its cards now comply with the Payment Card Industry data-security standard (PCI). Further, some 96% of these merchants have certified they are not storing account data, …

Amid reports about tightening credit, First Data Corp. shareholders today approved the $29 billion sale of their company to private-equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. According to a First Data release, more than 98% of the shares cast voted in favor of the buyout. Shareholders will get $34.00 in …

Confirming long-standing industry speculation, Columbus, Ga.-based bank-holding company Synovus Financial Corp. on Tuesday said it would consider spinning off its processing subsidiary, Total System Services Inc. (TSYS), to Synovus shareholders. Assuming a spin-off eventually happens, TSYS will have played a key role in 2007's major processing-industry restructuring that will take …

Volume for Internet payment processor PayPal Inc. climbed 21% in the second quarter, to 172.9 million transactions, and the San Jose, Calif.-based company continues to make steady inroads with e-commerce merchants away from eBay Inc.'s online auctions, according to statistics filed last week by eBay, PayPal's parent company. Off-eBay volume …

More large merchants now meet the dictates of the Payment Card Industry data-security standard, or PCI, according to new numbers from Visa U.S.A. At the same time, Visa, the biggest payment-card network, is turning its security attention to small merchants, the source of the majority of data breaches. Visa and …

Though still growing in volume from month to month, substitute checks now account for only about one-third of total image-exchange traffic between banks, according to the latest industrywide data. By contrast, a year ago these costly paper printouts of check images amounted to 56% of all image-exchange volume. At the …

The booming popularity of prepaid cards has created opportunities for payments companies far beyond just issuing plastic cards. The reloading of already-issued prepaid cards, for instance, is emerging as a major business. And that means Monrovia, Calif.-based Green Dot Corp.'s 40,000-location reload network is attracting attention from such big companies …