Interchange, the most controversial part of credit and debit card pricing, is the subject of a background paper MasterCard Inc. posted on its Web site last week, just ahead of the inauguration on Tuesday of a new president and his administration. A MasterCard spokesperson tells Digital Transactions News the document …

This is the third installment of a six-part series on how Web 2.0 developments are likely to transform the payments business. The online marketplace is morphing to payments embedded in top-line oriented-marketing services, and integrated infrastructure where small retailers can share the scale and cost savings of bigger players. Both …

Processors' experimentation with debit cards is taking on even more variety with the entry of Wilmington, Del.-based startup Maverick Network Solutions Inc. into the market. Maverick, which has brought together a handful of long-time payment-industry executives and received $1.5 million in venture funding in December, expects to begin a pilot …

This is the second installment of a six-part series on how Web 2.0 developments are likely to transform the payments business. Web 2.0 is still in its infancy, and skeptics about its business models abound. Meanwhile, most online merchants are still scrambling to shore up and extend their current Web …

Fireman's Fund Insurance Co. this week unveiled what it says is the first coverage available to small and medium-sized businesses for losses from payment card data breaches. News of the policy came on the same day that a non-profit research organization reported that data breaches increased 47% last year. The …

Independent sales organizations are in the cross hairs of at least one vendor of check-transaction processing software looking for ways to sign up more merchants for a product that lets businesses turn paper checks into images they can transmit electronically to their banks. Wausau Financial Systems Inc. this spring will …

At a time when many independent sales organizations are struggling to keep transaction volumes up as consumers reduce discretionary retail and restaurant spending, YapStone Inc. is further entrenching itself in a stable and high-growth revenue niche, recurring payments, through its Dec. 31 acquisition of the assets of Paymerica LLC. Jacksonville, …

Apple Inc.'s iPhone accounts for only a tiny fraction of the cell phones out there, but it's the undisputed headline grabber in the niche of mobile devices called smart phones that enable enhanced Web browsing, play music, and perform other gee-whiz functions. The iPhone also is the focus of intense …

This article kicks off a six-part series by electronic-payments researcher and consultant Steve Mott that explores how the next generation of e-commerce will be defined by the Web 2.0 phenomenon, leading to dramatic changes in the transactional environment. The final installment of the series will appear in the February issue …

Not surprisingly, Amazon.com Inc. disclosed this week that it would no longer accept Bill Me Later Inc., the fast-growing online credit system now owned by Amazon archrival eBay Inc. But at least one analyst expects the damage to Bill Me Later will be minimal despite the loss of access to …