Barely a day after industry-leading processor First Data Corp. announced that it was going private comes word that the Milwaukee bank-holding company that owns Metavante Corp. is dusting off plans to spin off its fast-growing payments subsidiary. According to The Wall Street Journal, Marshall & Ilsley Corp. is planning a …

The leveraged-buyout craze caught up with the electronic-payment processing industry on Monday when No. 1 processor First Data Corp. announced it had struck a $29 billion deal to be acquired by investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. Under the plan approved by Greenwood Village, Colo.-based First Data’s board of …

The startling size of the TJX Cos. Inc. data breach–at least 45.7 million credit and debit cards compromised–has some electronic-payments experts wondering whether the card networks will ultimately succeed in winning merchant compliance with their data-security rules. “If a major U.S. retailer cannot have its house in order, how can …

It has been a busy week for mobile banking and payments, with an announcement from Firethorn Holdings Inc. about new bank and carrier signings; from Metavante Corp. about a joint venture to launch a U.S. mobile-payments service; from ViVOtech about a new service to allow over-the-air provisioning of event tickets; …

Broadening merchant acceptance and negotiating the shoals of merchant pricing will be key parts of Discover Financial Services LLC's strategy to survive and grow once parent company Morgan Stanley spins off the No. 4 payments network. Morgan Stanley, a New York City-based investment bank, late on Friday filed a document …

Proposals to print originators' names on statements and to make compliance audits hinge on the kind of transactions banks are originating are set to follow a current proposal from NACHA-The Electronic Payments Association to increase penalties for unauthorized transactions on the automated clearing house network, according to a NACHA official. …

The automated clearing house's point-of-purchase electronic-check code in 2006's fourth quarter once again posted the highest growth rate among the various e-check codes, but the new back-office conversion (BOC) application that went live March 16 could soon claim POP's place in the sun. According to new data from Herndon, Va.-based …

A letter from a major Hypercom Corp. investor to the point-of-sale terminal maker's chief executive advising a stock buyback and referring to a possible sale of the company, made public Friday in a Securities & Exchange Commission filing, has prompted rival VeriFone Holdings Inc. to target Hypercom customers with an …

Today, the much-heralded back-office conversion electronic-check code goes live on the automated clearing house network. But rather than throw a huge birthday party, executives of the ACH's governing body, NACHA?The Electronic Payments Association, and banks are marking BOC's debut in a decidedly low-key manner. BOC will allow retailers and other …

Image exchange and image clearing kicked into a higher gear in January, with more than half a billion items flowing through image-exchange networks for the first time. Just over two years since the Check Clearing Act for the 21st Century (Check 21) became effective, the volume of checks converted to …