Transaction Processing

Proposals to extend a transaction-messaging protocol based on extensible markup language (XML) to the retail point of sale are meeting some skepticism among current and former POS terminal executives. The protocol, known as interactive financial exchange (IFX), relies on the flexibility of XML, an Internet language, to simplify messaging across …

PayPal isn't likely to be the last new payment channel Retail Decisions USA Inc. adds to its transaction products for online merchants. The Hazlet, New Jersey-based unit of Retail Decisions PLC in the U.K. announced earlier this month it was adding PayPal acceptance to its transaction-processing software, LiveProcessor, and its …

Central Technology Services, the Jefferson, City, Mo.-based transaction-processing arm of Central Bancompany, says it will move its ATM-driving capability from its mainframe to a server-based system from Mosaic Software, Deerfield Beach, Fla. The software, which runs Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating system, will handle ATM driving, transaction switching including intercept processing, …

Retailers who object to current levels of interchange fees on electronic transactions often argue the levy forces them to charge consumers more for goods in their stores, driving up prices and penalizing customers. But a recent report out of Australia undercuts that argument. It finds that prices did not decline …

Pick 'n Save Metro Market, a supermarket in downtown Milwaukee, today began accepting transactions secured by Pay By Touch, a San Francisco-based company that authenticates payments through digital representations of customers' fingerprints. This development comes shortly after the announcement of a co-marketing agreement between Pay By Touch and Discover Financial …

As transaction processors add services to their basic product, they put increasing pressure on gateway providers to differentiate themselves. One of the most ambitious strategies for differentiation is being pursued by Authorize.net Inc., acquired this spring for $82 million by Lightbridge Inc., a Burlington, Mass.-based provider of billing and fraud-management …

Competition in the nascent market for micropayments, or transactions of $5 or less, is about to become even more heated. A 10-year-old maker of e-commerce systems for retailers says it is 30 to 45 days away from introducing a micropayments product that will be tied to prepaid consumer accounts and …

The Internet scam known as phishing continued to grow in June, jumping 19% from May to 1,422 unique attacks, according to The Anti-Phishing Working Group, which tracks the fraud. Attacks have increased at an average monthly rate of 52% since the group began keeping statistics last fall. For the third …

Pamela D.A. Reeve, long-time president and chief executive of Lightbridge Inc., has resigned from the Burlington, Mass.-based company, which this spring acquired Authorize.net, a major transaction gateway for Internet merchants, from Infospace Inc. Lightbridge announced that Robert Donahue, a member of the company's board, would step in as interim president …

Metavante Corp. announced today it has closed its $610-million acquisition of the NYCE electronic funds transfer network. It also announced that Dennis F. Lynch, who has been president and chief executive of Montvale, N.J.-based NYCE since 1996, is leaving the network and will be replaced by Steven A. Rathgaber, currently …