Overwhelmed by the volume of comments it received, Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben S. Bernanke on Tuesday said in letters to Congress the Fed would miss Congress’s April 21 deadline to have issued final debit card interchange and network regulations. Bernanke, however, said the Fed still plans to meet the …

ATM network changes and legislation rank as the top worries of ATM independent sales organizations, while declining transaction volumes also keep many ATM ISO executives up at night, according to newly released survey results. Kahuna ATM Solutions, a Bloomington, Ill.-based ATM ISO that services smaller ISOs, commissioned the survey, which …

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 …

Does EMV  Make Sense in the  United States? We pose the question above not because we are wondering about the answer, and still less because we doubt the benefits of chip-and-PIN security, but because a recent decision by Visa Inc. leaves us wondering what kind of future the world’s largest …

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 …

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 …

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 …

Visa Inc. on Wednesday said it will relieve merchants outside the U.S. of the requirement to validate compliance with the Payment Card Industry data-security standard (PCI) if the merchants process at least three-quarters of their Visa transactions from chip-enabled terminals. In a busy day at the world’s largest payments network, …

Trends & Tactics Android’s Edge in the Smart-Phone Skirmish The splashy news in smart phones last month was Verizon Wireless’s announcement that it will start marketing the iPhone, breaking AT&T Mobility’s long-held exclusivity on Apple Inc.’s popular device. But there was quieter mobile news that will be of greater consequence …

Opinion & Analysis Washington’s Assault on Payments Eric Grover Congress and regulators are bent on turning payment networks into public utilities subject to political pressure rather than market forces. Can they be stopped? Consumers and merchants have never been better served by the retail electronic payments industry than they are …