Transactions amounting to $10 or less could potentially amount to at least 10% of all point-of-sale payment transactions processed annually in North America, a bonanza of transaction volume that goes a long way toward explaining why giant card companies and small startup processors alike are chasing the so-called micropayments market. …
Read More »A Fingerprint Check System Rolls Out with BI-LO
BioPay LLC has reached agreement with BI-LO, a major supermarket chain concentrated in the Southeast, to make its biometrics-based paycheck authentication service available in 176 of the chain's 300 stores. The system is expected to be operating by Thanksgiving at stores in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. When …
Read More »Payment Veterans Set Their Sights on Training ISO Agents
A new organization focused on training for merchant-level salespeople now has its Web site live and is looking toward its first seminar in Dallas Nov. 15, which it expects will draw 100 to 150 attendees. The Mountain Home, Ark.-based Institute for Payment Professionals, formed this fall by industry veterans Paul …
Read More »Web-Based Drivers’ License Renewal May Be Coming
The state of Washington, home to Microsoft Corp. and Amazon.com and considered one of the most digitally advanced states in the country, has passed the 1 million mark in electronic transactions on its Web site, and plans next to allow citizens to renew their drivers' licenses online. According to an …
Read More »Check 21: Big Cost, Big Profit Opportunity
Creating and moving check images across banking networks now that President Bush has signed the Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act into law is likely to cost banks a great deal of money–but most are likely to find it worth their while. Popularly known as Check 21, the law …
Read More »Could Debit Start Trending Toward PINs?
While First Data Corp. vows to contest action by the Department of Justice to stop its acquisition of Concord EFS, industry observers say the Denver-based processing giant may have good reason to fight for a stronger position in the market for debit transactions secured by personal identification numbers. The $7.3 …
Read More »Shift to Electronics Surprises the Fed
The movement from paper-based to electronic payment is happening even faster than the Federal Reserve expected, and as a result the central bank is cutting its estimate of check volume while raising its check-processing fees. Effective Jan. 2, the Fed's fees for check services will go up by a blended …
Read More »Nation’s First Shared Ticketing Machines Go Live
McCarran International Airport, Las Vegas, has installed and switched on the nation's first ticketing kiosks serving multiple airlines. The airport's initial installation, which cost it about $2 million in hardware and software, includes more than 30 self-service machines at the airport itself and another six hooked up at the Las …
Read More »Microsoft and Vodafone Work to Link PC-Wireless Transactions
Microsoft Corp. and Vodafone Group PLC are working together on technology standards that would allow personal computers to exploit wireless networks for functions ranging from user authentication to payment to text messages. A company that sells online games, for instance, could use the new mobile Web specifications to accept micropayments …
Read More »Behind a Web-Based Network’s Explosive Growth
A Web-based payments transaction processing program has been growing at about 400% annually since it branched out beyond the hospitality industry. When Las Vegas-based Shift4 Corp. developed its $$$ on the Net system for nearby resorts five years ago, the system was designed to allow the hotel, gift shops, casinos, …
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