Signaling further progress among merchants toward compliance with a key data-protection mandate, Visa USA announced this week that 40% of the largest merchants accepting its cards now comply with the Payment Card Industry data-security standard (PCI). Further, some 96% of these merchants have certified they are not storing account data, …

Wireless card-payment devices deployed systemwide this spring by Amtrak to sell food and beverage items are making a favorable impression on passengers and boosting sales while cutting chargebacks, an executive with the national railroad says. Amtrak is now planning to start using wireless terminals to sell tickets on trains, adds …

Fraudsters have started using computer files that allow them to instantly create a phishing site on a compromised computer, a move that could make their activities harder to detect, a report from RSA Security Inc. says. The Bedford, Mass.-based security firm's Anti-Fraud Command Center has discovered what it calls a …

An online-ordering system for fast food, introduced in January by a Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based independent sales organization, has been adopted by more than 1,200 locations so far, including small proprietors looking to compete with large chains. The system, which allows consumers to order and pay for pizzas, sandwiches, and other …

Information is beginning to emerge indicating that consumer usage of contactless devices for payments may be picking up. According to an Internet survey conducted by Atlanta-based Synergistics Research Corp. late last year, 9% of respondents had used a contactless card or fob. In two previous surveys, both conducted by phone …

Unlike its experience with online bill payment, Synovus Financial Corp. expects ultimately to generate significant revenue from a new Internet payments system based on the automated clearing house for which a 12-to-18-month pilot will start by October. Exactly how much revenue, however, may depend on the pilot itself, as well …

Processor eFunds Corp. today gave further momentum to a financial transformation of the transaction-processing business by announcing that it has hired investment bank Goldman Sachs & Co. to explore what it calls “strategic alternatives” that could result in a merger. The eFunds disclosure comes just over a month after announcements …

The back-office conversion e-check code has been live for nearly two months now, and, as many predicted with its March 16 debut, it came in like a lamb. There have been few, if any, high-profile product launches or other splashy events associated with the new automated clearing house payment option. …

Amid highly publicized data breaches at major chains like TJX Cos. Inc. and Stop & Shop Supermarket Cos., large merchants are making progress in achieving compliance with the Payment Card Industry data-security standard (PCI), though nearly two-thirds of them have still not been certified as meeting the standard. Some 35% …

With its first top executive in place, an industry consortium formed last year to promote the Payment Card Industry data-security standard (PCI) is getting set to elect a board of advisors, launch educational programs for merchants, and conduct a meeting aimed at updating the security rules. The announcements come in …