Transaction Processing

A network built by New York-based Small Value Payments Co. (SVPCo.) to allow banks to exchange check images has begun operations with exchanges between KeyBank and J.P. Morgan Chase. The network began with volume at a “controlled” level to allow each bank to test operations, according to an announcement from …

Nine electronic funds transfer networks have now approved a $1,600 retrofit kit from a Cincinnati-based ATM refurbisher and servicer for use in ATMs on their systems. The kit, called 3DESPlus, allows ATM owners to upgrade existing machines to make them comply with new security requirements from the bank card companies …

John Barrett, a 16-year veteran of MCI Corp., has joined First Data Corp. to run the processor's merchant-sales operations through independent sales organizations and sales agents. In his position as senior vice president for FDC's third-party sales channel, Barrett will have responsibility for all merchant-sales efforts through third parties at …

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 …