The operator of the Secure Vault Payments network for online automated clearing house payments said it is creating a marketing council to promote awareness and usage of the new payment system. The council has the endorsement of ACH governing body NACHA, said Denver-based SVP operator eWise Systems USA Inc. Dean …

Retailers, other merchants, and processors are increasingly embracing online and mobile forms of gift cards and related prepaid products as they seek to give customers as many payment options as possible, according to executives who spoke at this week’s Prepaid Expo USA in Orlando, Fla.   “If you’re not in …

With opposition to looming debit card interchange regulations growing, merchant groups that would benefit from regulation by way of lower payment card acceptance costs are making a case to prevent the Federal Reserve Board’s planned rules from being delayed or scuttled. Much of the questioning about the Dodd-Frank financial-reform law’s …

Supposedly mature North America lately is sporting growth rates befitting a green-field market for leading point-of-sale terminal maker VeriFone Systems Inc. VeriFone, which is moving ahead with plans to buy rival Hypercom Corp., late Tuesday reported that North American revenues increased 43% in its first fiscal 2011 quarter ended Jan. …

P2P Books a Fast Ride on EFT Rails Thanks to new agreements involving two major electronic funds transfer networks, person-to-person (P2P) electronic payments are poised to get a whole lot faster. Under a deal announced in February, NYCE Payments Network LLC will offer CashEdge Inc.’s Popmoney person-to-person payments service to …

By Lauri Giesen Acquirers and payment specialists are coming out with new services for small and mid-size health-care providers to convert paper-based payments into electronics. But it’s a delicate, time-consuming undertaking. In some ways, moving cash and paper-based payments to electronics is not much different for health-care providers than it …

By Lauri Giesen PayPal, followed by Visa and MasterCard, have thrown open their networks to outside developers, sparking a geyser of payments innovation while slicing R&D costs. Why didn’t they do this a long time ago? You’ve heard of open platforms. Well, now they’re coming to the payments business—and with …

Can the fast pace of innovation  that has characterized the prepaid card  sector in recent years continue  as lawmakers and regulators  increasingly target the business? By Linda Punch After years of skirting the edges of the industry, the prepaid card market finally is getting a toehold in the mainstream of …

Do mobile customers save banks money? Are they more profitable? Here’s what eight leading financial institutions found when they adopted mobile banking. Recently, mobile-banking vendor ClairMail Inc. commissioned analyst firm TowerGroup to study the real value of mobile banking in today’s marketplace by surveying eight U.S. financial institutions that use …

The National Retail Federation misstates par value, understates banks’ costs to process debit cards, and conveniently forgets how merchants have benefited from replacing checks with electronic transactions, says Rule Loving. Merchants should be careful of what they seek. Unintended consequences from misinformation may tarnish anticipated benefits. Rule Loving is assistant …