U.S. automakers and lots of banks are finding their business models under severe stress, but not so money-transfer businesses despite a likely decline in transfer volume this year, according to new research from Aite Group LLC. The industry, especially big players such as The Western Union Co. and MoneyGram International …

Contactless payments took another incremental step recently when USA Technologies Inc. struck an agreement with Visa Inc. under which Visa will subsidize the deployment of up to 4,000 of USA Technologies' card-accepting devices for vending machines. The agreement, potentially worth $800,000, is significant because it is the first between Visa …

Key operating metrics posted solid gains in recent quarterly reports from two of the payment industry's specialty providers, non-bank ATM network operator Cardtronics Inc. and expedited bill-payment provider TIO Networks Corp. Houston-based Cardtronics, however, still posted a $57.9 million fourth-quarter loss, most of which originated with a one-time charge involving …

Yet another banking industry vendor, NCR Corp., is entering the consumer-capture marketplace. But as the field of providers gets more crowded, financial institutions are struggling to get a decent return on technology that enables consumers to make images of and deposit checks from their homes, according to an industry analyst. …

MoneyGram International Inc.'s deal with Cardtronics Inc. to process remittances and bill payments on more than 2,000 sophisticated kiosks Cardtronics operates in 7-Eleven Inc. convenience stores may extend MoneyGram's reach, but at least one observer questions whether the service will get the traffic the Minneapolis-based money-transfer company is expecting. “I …

With its $50-million acquisition of Sunnyvale, Calif.-based software house Infonox Inc., TSYS Inc. has become one of a handful of transaction processors that are in the early stages of overhauling and upgrading their acquiring operations to support what many experts view as a coming explosion of volume as new payment …

The growing market in DVD rentals from vending machines became more competitive this week when video-rental icon Blockbuster Inc. announced a deal with NCR Corp. in which the maker of ATMs, other banking hardware, and kiosks this quarter will begin deploying the first of what it expects could be 10,000 …

The PCI Security Standards Council this week said it would extend the reach of its rules for PIN-entry devices (PEDs) to cover unattended payment terminals such as pay-at-the-pump gasoline dispensers, kiosks, and vending machines. The extension also affects devices called hardware or host security modules (HSMs), which are secure cryptographic …

Bolstered by the acquisition of convenience-store giant 7-Eleven Inc.'s sizable ATM business, leading non-bank ATM network operator Cardtronics Inc. on Thursday reported fourth-quarter financials that show an improvement in most operating measures. Company executives insist their efforts to improve the performance of 7-Eleven's high-function Vcom kiosks as well as other …

With potential buyers so far proving to be no more than tire kickers, bankrupt biometrics payment company Solidus Networks Inc., which does business as Pay By Touch, is looking to sell itself in separate auctions of what it calls its core and non-core assets. The core assets center on Pay …