Endpoint A few smaller banks get it, and have issued EMV cards to their customers who travel abroad. But most bigger banks are still on the sidelines. We’re still stuck with the mag stripe and all of its attendant problems because the big banks have too great a stake …

When eBay Inc. released its fourth-quarter results back in January, the company’s top executives spent some time during their conference call with analysts discussing the potential effect of the Durbin Amendment on PayPal Inc., eBay’s e-commerce transaction processor. Durbin and its restrictions on debit card pricing and transaction routing remain …

Data-security services and software specialist Trustwave Holdings Inc. served notice last week that it is planning a $100 million initial public offering, the first such IPO by a company heavily vested in services and technology for the Payment Card Industry data-security standard, or PCI. Chicago-based Trustwave’s registration statement, filed with …

U.S. debit card holders received cash back on just over 1 billion point-of-sale purchases in 2009, according to new figures from the Federal Reserve. That statistical nugget and others in the Fed’s 2010 Payments Study help to explain why ATM operators are struggling to keep transaction volumes up. The Fed …

Local demographics and the availability of a mass-transit system that uses contactless technology for fare payment chiefly accounted for the decision by Isis, the joint venture formed late last year and led by major wireless carriers, to launch its first pilot next year in Salt Lake City, Utah,  Isis’s head …

Trends & Tactics   No Apocalypse Now—Or Later—for Debit As Digital Transactions went to press this month, the ultimate extent and timing of the debit restrictions contained in the Durbin Amendment remained unclear. Final rules had not yet issued from the Federal Reserve, and in mid-March a bill appeared in …

Security Linda Punch Knowledge about the risk of a data breach is woeful among small merchants, as is understanding of PCI. ISOs could be doing more to help, and now there are signs that, finally, they are. For most small merchants, the independent sales organization is their first, and usually …

E-Commerce Peter Lucas Gateways have always had to reinvent themselves. Now, with e-commerce returning to double-digit growth and mobile payments poised for takeoff, they have to do it again—and this time with more competition than ever. Since their inception about a decade ago, gateways have marketed value-added services, such as …

Opinion & Analysis Steve Mott Banks and card networks argue Durbin and other recent regulation will hurt small banks and consumers. But take heart, the sky will remain firmly in place. The cries of anguish from the banking industry and from the payments players that live off banking’s traditional revenue …

Endpoint What gives? The global payment card networks are attempting to gain closed-model benefits while remaining open. Vertical integration and emerging players are redrawing the traditional boundaries between networks and other payments players. It can be confusing, but it will ultimately add value to the business, says Eric Grover. Eric …