Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
A trade group of ATM independent sales organizations says its study of the major EFT networks’ surcharging rules favor banks at the expense of non-bank ATM owners. The Atlanta-based National Association of ATM ISOs and Operators, which represents ISOs that own or operate 70,000 ATMs, says it is negotiating with …
Read More »PayPal’s P2P API Is Winning Bank Adoption, Exec Says
PayPal Inc.’s 1-year-old person-to-person payment application for financial institutions is catching on with banks, says the PayPal executive charged with marketing the product, part of a collection of payment services PayPal introduced when it opened its platform to outside developers last year. Dan Schatt, senior director and head of financial …
Read More »TCF’s Suit Is ‘Nonsense,” Anti-Interchange Crusader Says
TCF National Bank’s federal lawsuit against the controls on debit card interchange contained in the Dodd-Frank financial reform law draws scant sympathy from retailers who have been battling against card interchange, including a merchant and entrepreneur who has been leading a crusade against the pricing mechanism for years. “It’s nonsense,” …
Read More »It’s Back to a Service-Oriented Future for Bank ATMs
Banks are abandoning their dreams of ATMs generating profits and instead returning to their original focus of using the machines for customer service, according to new findings from First Annapolis Consulting Inc. Linthicum, Md.-based First Annapolis spoke with executives from the nation’s 10 largest banks by assets about their ATM …
Read More »TCF Challenges the Durbin Amendment’s Constitutionality
TCF National Bank, a top 10 debit card issuer, on Tuesday filed a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the so-called Durbin Amendment, which, as part of the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill Congress passed in July, will regulate debit card interchange beginning next year. TCF alleges the debit card provisions …
Read More »Visa, MasterCard Settle with DoJ, But AmEx Vows a Fight
The U.S. Department of Justice and seven states on Monday sued Visa Inc., MasterCard Inc., and American Express Co. over their merchant-acceptance policies, especially those that restrict discounting for other cards or payment forms. Visa and MasterCard immediately announced a settlement, but AmEx said it would fight. The antitrust lawsuit …
Read More »Banks’ Remote Capture Fee Focus Is Misplaced, Experts Say
Many financial institutions that have jumped into remote deposit capture to reap fee income, or have shied away from it out of fear of risk, may be missing the point, according to experts who spoke this week at a conference on the subject. Instead, banks and credit unions should focus …
Read More »Visa Gears up for a Post-Dodd-Frank Debit World
With the coming of debit card interchange regulation and more merchant freedom from payment card network operating rules, Visa Inc. has established what it calls “strategy teams” to develop alternatives and respond once the Federal Reserve issues new rules next year. That’s the word from Visa chief financial officer Byron …
Read More »Touting Cost Savings, NACHA Launches Pilot for Deposited Checks
NACHA, the regulator for the automated clearing house network, announced on Tuesday it has launched a long-awaited pilot for a payment method that would let banks convert low-value consumer checks into electronic transactions and then clear them through the ACH. The method, called Deposited Check Truncation (DCT), is intended to …
Read More »Blackhawk Makes a Big Jump into Reloadable Prepaid Cards
Blackhawk Network, the supermarket-based prepaid card specialist firmly rooted in gift cards, announced on Monday its first major foray into general-purpose reloadable (GPR) prepaid cards. The move puts Blackhawk into direct competition with powerhouses Green Dot Corp. and NetSpend Inc., but that’s okay, according to chief marketing officer Teri Llach. …
Read More »