ACI Worldwide Inc.’s $109 million deal to buy Official Payments Holdings Inc. is a bid to grow its transaction volume and pairs well with its January purchase of Online Resources Corp., analysts suggest. Official Payments is a processor that specializes in online payments to government entities. ACI Worldwide is paying …

Investors may be disappointed with Apple Inc. in the wake of that tech giant’s introduction of two new iPhone models, but they’re plenty happy with digital wire-transfer company Xoom Corp. San Francisco-based Xoom on Tuesday raised $85.6 million in a new stock offering, about $20 million more than it expected …

Linda Punch Time was, regulators largely left independent sales organizations and other acquirers alone. Now, with a trio of major enforcement actions, the Federal Trade Commission is showing how those days are over. For entities that play such a key role in the acquiring industry, independent sales organizations have led …

Banks remain key clients, but ultimately Visa and MasterCard must serve the interests of major investors. Can they pull that off while warring with merchants over fees?By Peter Lucas Former Visa Inc. chairman and chief executive Joe Saunders couldn’t have been happier on March 19, 2008, when the day’s trading …

Michael Barrett and Sebastien Taveau Standards are finally emerging that will bring secure biometric authentication to millions of smart phones. Those of us who practice the “dark arts” of information security know all too well that we are often misunderstood by our colleagues. They have been quick to impugn our …

  VeriFone Systems Inc. interim chief executive officer Richard McGinn gave a blunt review of the company’s recent past Wednesday in the point-of-sale hardware and payment software provider’s first quarterly earnings call in memory without former chief executive Douglas Bergeron. McGinn said the company under-invested in research and development and …

  Heads look like they’re going to roll at troubled point-of-sale terminal maker VeriFone Systems Inc. as it begins what chief executive Douglas Bergeron calls a “rebuilding year” in the wake of missteps that contributed to lower-than-expected revenues. Bergeron told stock analysts Tuesday that the company has initiated “an exhaustive …

By Holli Targan and Joel Alam Dealmaking is hot in the acquiring business just now, in many cases drawing buyers from outside the industry. But acquiring transactions isn’t like making widgets. Here’s a summary of key deal points both buyers and sellers should know. Mergers and acquisitions in the payments …

Jane Adler With the daily-deals goldmine close to played out, companies like Groupon are hoping to use payments to streamline redemptions and kick revenues into high gear. But how many followers will they have? In the minds of many consumers these days, the daily deal is so 2011. If you’re …

The gift card, the bedrock of the prepaid card world, is increasingly taking on a digital form, cutting costs for merchants and adding to convenience for mobile-phone-wielding customers. But hold the obituaries for plastic. By Lauri Giesen One of the fastest-growing payment cards isn’t really a plastic card at all. …