The PCI Security Standards Council on Monday unveiled a preview of its soon-to-be-released Version 1.2 of the Payment Card Industry data-security standard, an update the council's boss says adds no major rules. The update also will clarify existing requirements in Version 1.1, eliminate redundancies, and in general try to bring …

This is the fourth installment of a six-part series exploring the growing economic tensions and structural conflicts between acquirers and issuers in the bank card business. If you're a top-10 bank card issuer these days, the good times are looking increasingly tenuous; if you are one of the nation's 17,000 …

ATM surcharges often make the news when they hit a sensitive threshold such as $3, but the flip side of the story is the growth of options banks and credit unions offer customers to avoid paying the fees. According to newly released results from the Pulse electronic funds transfer network's …

The movement by card issuers and government entities to replace check-based benefit payments with prepaid cards entered a new category this week with JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s announcement it will issue a Visa card backed by workers' compensation funds. Unlike unemployment compensation, child-support payments, and other benefits that have backed …

Merchant transaction volume increased by a healthy 11% at processor First Data Corp. in the second quarter, but a marked shift by consumers toward debit cards and spending at big discounters lowered margins at the card industry's biggest processor. Debit's growth has been outpacing credit's for years, but in a …

A survey of about 100 mobile and broadband executives indicates the wireless bill is rapidly gaining support as a vehicle for handling payments for digital-content downloads to mobile devices in the U.S. But at the same time the executives expressed doubts about the prospects for payments via near-field communication (NFC) …

The Allpoint and Co-op surcharge-free ATM networks are bigger, but Minneapolis-based U.S. Bancorp's MoneyPass network has been on a quiet growth spurt in 2008. MoneyPass over the spring and summer has announced a number of new members and in October is set to boost its ATM count by another 3,000 …

With its U.S. operations holding up despite the economic slowdown, non-bank ATM network operator Cardtronics Inc. is eyeing opportunities as a third-party ATM processor. Cardtronics executives said at a conference call with analysts on Tuesday morning that the conversion of the network's nearly 33,000 ATMs to a new in-house processing …

This is the third installment of a six-part series exploring the growing economic tensions and structural conflicts between acquirers and issuers in the bankcard business. A handful of big issuers dominate the bank card business and command the lion's share of merchant-acceptance fees. Just about everyone else in the payments …

The softening economy so far hasn't taken a big bite out of payment processors' earnings, but it is having some effects. Meanwhile, processors continue to streamline their operations, integrate acquisitions, and roll out new services. ? Reflecting the recent weakness in consumer spending, big merchant acquirer Heartland Payment Systems Inc. …