As many as one-third of U.S. financial institutions could within the next two years adopt a technology that allows customers at home to convert paper checks into imaged deposits that can be transmitted to the bank via online-banking links. The strongest interest in this so-called consumer-capture capability is likely to …

In another sign of sweeping changes in the Canadian payment card market, Visa Inc.'s Visa Canada unit last week published interchange rates on its Web site for the first time. The posting comes at a time when merchants are complaining about higher rewards-card acceptance costs and expressing fears that possible …

The NYCE electronic funds transfer network, which last month said it will pilot PINless purchase transactions online, has become the second EFT system to agree to test Web-based debit card transactions secured by PINs. While Steven A. Rathgaber, president and chief operating officer at Secaucus, N.J.-based NYCE, says many of …

A Canadian transaction processor has begun enforcing a recently reissued U.S patent whose long list of claims could potentially allow it to control several of the most popular electronic-check applications on the automated clearing house network. Indeed, if LML Payment Systems Inc. succeeds with an infringement suit it brought last …

For a financial-services industry in the throes of economic upheaval, the final rule for implementing the controversial Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIGEA)?issued on Nov. 12 by the U.S. Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve?represents another set of requirements with which to struggle. But for many banks and …

Signs are pointing to fewer merchant-account bookings by independent sales organizations, and that's translating into fewer orders for VeriFone Holdings Inc., the largest U.S.-based point-of-sale terminal developer. Last week, VeriFone reduced its revenue projections for its fourth quarter ended Oct. 31 and fiscal 2008. In a conference call late last …

The Canadian governmental body responsible for regulating competition told banks last week it now has no problem with financial institutions issuing both Visa- and MasterCard-branded cards or acquiring transactions on either bank card network, a radical change from present policy. The decision will likely spur not only fundamental changes on …

Electronic commerce hasn't been the slam-dunk for the electronic funds transfer networks that it has been for Visa and MasterCard. One of the biggest issues has been if and how to facilitate Internet transactions from PIN-based debit cards issued by the EFT networks' member banks and credit unions. Now Metavante …

In what it calls a first for a major oil company, the U.S. subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell plc in January plans to offer a PIN-based consumer debit card that uses the automated clearing house network, gives consumers a discount on gas, and costs Shell's retail outlets 40 cents per …

North American Bancard, one of the nation's biggest independent sales organizations, has established a new division it hopes will help merchants navigate tricky technological waters beyond payment processing, thereby increasing merchant loyalty. Troy, Mich.-based North American says the purpose of its new Alliance Division is to forge relationships with software …