Not content with restrictions on debit card interchange, merchants are now targeting bigger game. A set of major antitrust cases could be just the opening salvo—and a trial is set to start in September. By Linda Punch While the card networks and banks are still wrestling with the repercussions from …

Gideon Samid  Gideon@AGSgo.com Last summer, at a Las Vegas conference, the normally tightlipped National Security Agency (NSA) made an unusual plea and admission. ÒElectrical engineers rely on physics, chemical engineers build on chemistry, physicians on biology, but what is the science that security professionals rely on?Ó asked Steve Borbash of …

  Discover can point to some major triumphs since it was launched by Sears a quarter-century ago, not least its success in taking on Visa and MasterCard. But a fast-changing payments landscape offers no assurance of future success. Discover’s plan: It pays to network.   By Jim Daly     …

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  By Jane Adler   The payments industry has made great strides in the area of security, but malicious computer code is still an ever-evolving threat to processors and merchants.       For a restaurant manager, Gary Sipp knows a whole lot about malicious computer software, usually referred to …

  What with the Durbin Amendment taking effect and serious moves in mobile payments, many observers had the feeling that the pace of change in e-payments quickened in 2011. But along with faster change come more problems. Herewith some of the most salient.   By Jim Daly and John Stewart …

  Linda Punch   Increasingly sophisticated fraud schemes show that personal identification numbers are more vulnerable than once thought. Bring in the reinforcements.       For the past 40 years, personal identification numbers have built an enviable reputation as a nearly inviolable security feature. They’re much more secure than …

  Keeping a Wary Eye on the Networks   Forget about Google and PayPal. Merchant acquirers are more worried about competitive threats from their long-time spouses by forced marriage, the payment card networks.   That intelligence comes from an Aite Group LLC survey of 20 industry executives, including 17 chief …

n by Steve Mott   While most observers have viewed Visa’s recent string of acquisitions as a mere broadening of its conventional card franchise, a long-time analyst of the payments business sees a clever play for dominance of the digital future.   Just when the U.S. payments industry appears poised …

  Purveyors of card-acceptance services for mobile phones  are booking merchants by the hundreds of thousands.  But many of these merchants present underwriting risks and generate little charge volume. Are they worth it?   By Jim Daly   Everyman a merchant? Thanks to smart phones and aggressive merchant processors such …