Transaction Processing

Microsoft Corp. is working on new authentication software that will identify consumers to merchant sites on the Internet and initiate payment processing. The software, which the Redmond, Wash.-based software giant is calling InfoCard for now, will be released to developers for feedback by the end of the month, according to …

A failure by major investors to understand the business model of an independent sales organization may have prompted yesterday's offer by Gregory S. Daily, chairman and chief executive of iPayment Inc., to buy all outstanding shares of the Nashville, Tenn.-based processor. The company, which went public in March 2003, closed …

The Federal Reserve Board of Governors expects the volume of checks the Fed processes to drop 15% this year, a sharp acceleration in the long-term decline in check volume that the central bank attributes to continuing movement by consumers and businesses to electronic transaction channels. The drop would send Fed …

Credit Union 24, the largest electronic funds transfer network in the nation owned by credit unions, said today it had seen transaction volume soar by a record 35% last year, to 140.9 million from 104.7 million in 2003. The network, based in Tallahassee, Fla., credits new members and an expanded …

With card interchange rates becoming a subject that even central bankers are beginning to ponder, a long-time analyst of the electronic-transaction market has released a report arguing that overall acceptance costs are often more favorable to merchants in the U.S. than overseas and that merchants would be better off developing …

After a slowdown in February, the number of Web sites engaged in phishing frauds increased at a faster clip in March, reaching 2,870, according to data released by the Anti-Phishing Working Group, an organization of software firms, payment companies, and law-enforcement agencies that tracks the online fraud. The 6.9% increase …

With online merchants facing a June 30 deadline to prove they comply with a unified card-industry standard for data security, CyberSource Corp. said today it is rolling out a new service that will help Web-based retailers meet the security requirements. The Mountain View, Calif.-based transaction gateway for Internet merchants says …

In a bid to make purchasing its Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificates more efficient for networks, VeriSign Inc. today said it will begin offering three-year certificates next month. The Mountain View, Calif.-based company said the new, longer-term certificates will save customers as much as 24% from the cost of currently …

The need among online merchants and banks to harden their Web sites against phishing, pharming, and other attacks only rises by the month, and that's helping to drive business for startup companies like The 41st Parameter Inc., Scottsdale, Ariz. The company, formed last year, takes its name from its belief …

SVPCO, which began operating a national image-exchange network late last summer, today brought two more banks live on its system, bringing to nine the number of institutions and processors linking to the network. National City Bank, Cleveland, and San Francisco-based Union Bank of California are now trading check images through …