Demand is booming for better payment card security as a result of the many data breaches of recent years, and the solution being touted more than any other is “end-to-end encryption.” But a new report from Mercator Advisory Group Inc. asserts that the term is imprecise and implementing the technology …

So-called third-party checks represent a potentially lucrative niche market for remote deposit capture, and now a biometric-authentication vendor has been granted a patent for a process by which such checks can be authorized and imaged for deposit under Check 21 rules. AllTrust Networks, which announced the patent last week, now …

PIN-debit cards and contactless acceptance seem like two unlikely electronic-payment services to promote in one point-of-sale device, but that's exactly what First Data Corp. is doing with the latest addition to its FD line of POS hardware. The big processor's goal with the new FD-30 PIN pad: build future demand …

Wausau Financial Systems Inc., which late last year introduced a version of its remote deposit capture product specifically designed for independent sales organizations, has signed one ISO and will have three more on board by the end of the month, according to a company executive and company reports. Wausau, a …

The Credit Card Fair Fee Act, a bill that would inject government into the interchange-setting process, has been resurrected after dying in committee last year. But this time there are more players around the table seemingly less inclined to sympathize with the defenders of the current bank card interchange system. …

The U.S. Senate didn't pass a credit card reform bill last week as many expected, but senators are expected to take up the issue again Tuesday. The question for the merchant-acquiring industry is whether the final bill, which is concerned with regulating credit card issuers' most controversial practices, also would …

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. paid discount fees totaling more than $1 billion to take credit and debit cards in the 12 months ended Jan. 31. Acceptance costs now exceed health-care premiums at The Home Depot Inc. And TJX Cos. Inc. finds sagging apparel prices make it difficult to recoup acceptance costs …

The top two executives of merchant acquirer Heartland Payment Systems Inc. on Thursday painted a picture of a company on the mend in the wake of the big data breach it disclosed in January. But the recession and the far-from-over effects of the breach still took a toll on the …

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 …

First Data Corp. on Wednesday reported merchant-services revenue of $1.1 billion, up 18%. Excluding debit-network fees and Chase Paymentech Solutions LLC, revenue growth was 1%. First Data in November terminated its joint venture with JPMorgan Chase & Co. to operate Chase Paymentech. First Data signed nearly 116,000 domestic merchant locations, …