Pricing is by far the biggest reason merchants cite when asked why they left their previous payment card processor, but there's more to the attrition story than meets the eye, according to a new study by Aite Group LLC. “Pricing is only the proverbial straw that breaks the camel's back,” …

Processors' experimentation with debit cards is taking on even more variety with the entry of Wilmington, Del.-based startup Maverick Network Solutions Inc. into the market. Maverick, which has brought together a handful of long-time payment-industry executives and received $1.5 million in venture funding in December, expects to begin a pilot …

At a time when many independent sales organizations are struggling to keep transaction volumes up as consumers reduce discretionary retail and restaurant spending, YapStone Inc. is further entrenching itself in a stable and high-growth revenue niche, recurring payments, through its Dec. 31 acquisition of the assets of Paymerica LLC. Jacksonville, …

Apple Inc.'s iPhone accounts for only a tiny fraction of the cell phones out there, but it's the undisputed headline grabber in the niche of mobile devices called smart phones that enable enhanced Web browsing, play music, and perform other gee-whiz functions. The iPhone also is the focus of intense …

A mobile-payments startup called Paymo Inc., which launched this week with service in 39 countries, hopes to succeed in what has turned out to be a tough market: micropayments for digital content. The San Francisco-based company has more than 300 merchants approved to accept payments on its platform, says Terry …

Secure Vault Payments, the online payment system that NACHA has been piloting since last spring, is catching on as a bill-payment alternative among colleges and state agencies, says Kendall Myles, the executive who is heading up SVP merchant recruitment for NACHA, the regulatory body for the automated clearing house network. …

The NYCE electronic funds transfer network, which last month said it will pilot PINless purchase transactions online, has become the second EFT system to agree to test Web-based debit card transactions secured by PINs. While Steven A. Rathgaber, president and chief operating officer at Secaucus, N.J.-based NYCE, says many of …

Electronic commerce hasn't been the slam-dunk for the electronic funds transfer networks that it has been for Visa and MasterCard. One of the biggest issues has been if and how to facilitate Internet transactions from PIN-based debit cards issued by the EFT networks' member banks and credit unions. Now Metavante …

In what it calls a first for a major oil company, the U.S. subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell plc in January plans to offer a PIN-based consumer debit card that uses the automated clearing house network, gives consumers a discount on gas, and costs Shell's retail outlets 40 cents per …

Recent U.S Department of Justice demands for documentation about the payment card networks' acceptance rules have the merchant-acquiring industry wondering if the networks are in for another confrontation with antitrust authorities. If so, the issue will involve how much freedom card-accepting merchants should have to seek other forms of payment …