Transaction Processing

CheckClear LLC, which owns and operates what is so far the only national image-exchange network in operation for check processing, announced today it is planning to connect to an image exchange being built by the Federal Reserve. It also said it has made an agreement to connect to imaging equipment …

Nova Information Systems, an Atlanta-based transaction processor, announced today it has agreed to acquire a portfolio of 10,000 merchants from Union Bank of California in a deal expected to close by June 30. Pricing and other terms were not disclosed. Nova says the acquisition is expected to add $3 billion …

Dallas-based processor TransFirst, which has completed two major acquisitions in the past month that have more than doubled the company's size, is taking a break from the M&A game, but not one that will last long. “It'll be two to three months before another acquisition,” Mark Travis, chief financial officer …

BioPay LLC today announced it has enrolled 1 million consumers in its biometric check-cashing and payment services since the services started in June 2000 and September 2003, respectively. The Herndon, Va.-based company also said it has processed almost 7.5 million transactions with a value of $3 billion in that time. …

A draft of a new American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standard for electronic exchange of checks and check data among banks and processors will be ready for ballot this summer, and could be ready for trial use this year, according to a member of the committee working on the standard. …

TPI Software LLC, a privately held provider of e-commerce and point-of-sale systems based in Redmond, Wash., has won certification on Paymentech LP's NetConnect platform, a major network supporting online and telephone transactions, as well as transactions at the point of sale, using Internet connections. TPI, which claims to have developed …

Hypercom Corp., a supplier of point-of-sale transaction devices, has entered the electronic-transaction networking business with the formation of a new subsidiary, HBNet Inc. The new unit has been set up to compete with the dominant player in transaction networking, Reston, Va.-based Transaction Network Services Inc., which completed an initial public …

TransFirst, a Dallas-based processor, today announced it is forming a new division to focus on alliances with independent sales organizations. The new unit, called TransFirst Independent Sales Services, is headed by Nancy Newton, who holds the title of president of the division. Newton is a former Compass Bank and Paymentech …

With at least four separate efforts under way to build national image-exchange networks, some banking officials are starting to ask whether the substantial investment banks and processors are making in these new networks to carry check images between financial institutions is really necessary. The systems required to achieve transfer of …

While the race is on to hammer together electronic networks to carry what is expected by many to be a huge volume of check images between banks, the only network that has gone live so far reports it is achieving fast growth. Endpoint Exchange, a network owned and operated by …