Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
Remote deposit capture by mobile phone, a recent technology still considered experimental by many bankers, has proven itself in deployments so far, a banking researcher said on Monday. “The technology is demonstrably ready for broad adoption,” Robert Meara, a senior analyst at Celent LLC, told attendees at a banking conference. …
Read More »TSYS Changes Course, Forms Joint Venture with First National of Omaha
The joint merchant-acquiring venture announced Monday by Total System Services Inc. (TSYS) and First National Bank of Omaha marks a major change in strategy by both companies. The deal, scheduled to close April 1, marks the first time TSYS is taking an ownership interest in a merchant portfolio. And for …
Read More »Reload Capability Eludes Consumers Despite Prepaid’s Popularity
The concept of the reloadable general-purpose prepaid card is a familiar one to those who work in the prepaid card industry, but it hasn't caught on with the general public, according to findings from Mercator Advisory Group Inc. A Mercator survey of 1,012 adults last May and June found that …
Read More »UATP Books a Hotel As Its Airline-Card Network Diversifies
Processing volume hit some turbulence last year, but that didn't stop Universal Air Travel Plan Inc. from pursing its goal of adding merchants to its airline-owned network. Washington, D.C.-based UATP last week reported that LQ Management LLC's La Quinta Inns & Suites has become the first hotel chain in the …
Read More »Prepaid Card Mall Pioneer Blackhawk Moves into Online, B2B
Less than a decade after launching its first gift card mall, the Blackhawk Network Inc. is looking for new frontiers of prepaid card growth in the online world and the business-to-business market. “I think we've learned a few things on how to serve the customer better,” Teri Llach, chief marketing …
Read More »NACHA Looks for a Partner to Help Move EBIDS out of Pilot Mode
An electronic bill-payment and ?presentment network put together by NACHA, the governing body of the automated clearing house, is seeking an organization that can help build out the system and give it marketing firepower. Rob Unger, senior director of e-billing and payments at Herndon, Va.-based NACHA, says the association issued …
Read More »Opportunity Comes With Risk for Public-Sector Prepaid Cards
Government represents one of the biggest opportunities out there for prepaid card issuers and processors, but the market is fraught with pricing, operational, and other hurdles, according to executives who work with the public sector. About $65 billion currently is loaded onto prepaid card programs for federal and state benefits …
Read More »U.S. Issuers Begin to Fret About Mag-Stripe Problems Overseas
U.S. card issuers are starting to worry about problems some of their high-spending and corporate card customers are having using their magnetic-stripe cards in countries that support the chip-and-PIN standard, according to executives who spoke on Tuesday at a smart card conference. Whereas the issue hardly seemed apparent only a …
Read More »PayPal’s Facebook Deal Could Open Big Transaction Potential
With the announcement on Thursday that PayPal Inc. will process payments for Facebook, the massive social network has found a major-brand payments partner and PayPal has established a tie to what could become an enormous online marketplace with equally big transaction potential. The two companies said PayPal will process payments …
Read More »Heartland Restructures Its Sales Force to Jumpstart Productivity
While hoping that it's seeing the light at the end of its long data-breach tunnel, Heartland Payment Systems Inc. also is restructuring its sales force in an effort to boost flagging productivity. The Princeton, N.J.-based merchant acquirer fired 98 low-performing relationship managers in November, but is in the process of …
Read More »