The reorganization of the Visa bank card association will allow the resulting company to invest in new payments technologies and cultivate promising new acceptance markets, but the ultimate impact on the way the business sets interchange pricing is unknown, says a spokesperson for Visa International, the umbrella organization that has …

Qpass Inc., whose software handles mobile-commerce transactions for wireless networks, processed almost $500 million in digital-content sales, up 50% over the like period in 2005, according to Amdocs Inc., Qpass's parent company. Transaction volume grew at an average quarterly rate of 12% in the period, Amdocs said. The St. Louis-based …

Facing many of the same pressures that led its rival MasterCard Inc. to go public earlier this year, Visa announced on Wednesday it plans to scuttle the membership-association structure that has characterized it throughout its 36-year history in favor of a sweeping reorganization that will lead to ownership by the …

It's not yet four months old, but already Google Inc.'s Checkout Internet payment service is making an impact, with 7% of online retailers surveyed in recent weeks by CyberSource Corp. having adopted it. That compares with 35% for PayPal, 24% for e-checks and other automated clearing house debits, and 16% …

Debitman Card Inc., the PIN-debit alternative network to the major card brands, on Monday signed on another issuer, and one of its top executives says more issuer announcements are coming. Getting retailers to issue as well as accept Debitman has been a major initiative for the San Mateo, Calif.-based company, …

Consumers spend up to $1.5 trillion a year using on small purchases using cash, depending on who's estimating, but converting so-called micropayments into electronics will be one of the payment card industry's tougher challenges. Experts contacted by this newsletter's sister publication Digital Transactions magazine for an upcoming story on micropayments …

The new president of Moneris Solutions Inc., the U.S. arm of Canada's leading merchant-acquiring operation, says he will diversify the company's distribution channels and at the same time seek profitable niches in a highly competitive industry. Buffalo Grove, Ill.-based Moneris currently derives most of its U.S. transactions from merchants booked …

With PIN debit fraud losses rising along with consumer usage of PIN debit cards, MasterCard Worldwide announced on Wednesday a system it says will score PIN transactions in real time to assess their risk of fraud. Purchase, N.Y.-based MasterCard says when the service goes live in the first quarter of …

Three days after Congress passed a law restricting payments for Internet wagers, what seems clear is that the implications for banks and transaction processors are mixed. Observers say the new law will likely prevent most U.S. banks or third-party companies that still process online gambling payments from continuing to do …

It may be as rare as an ivory-billed woodpecker, but the merchant that accepts Visa without also accepting MasterCard or vice versa is not extinct in the United States. Within the past week, discount retailer Dollar General Corp. announced it would accept Visa credit and check (signature-debit) cards but not …