Cynergy Data LLC, the big independent sales organization that filed for bankruptcy Sept. 1, got a second lease on life last week when the sale of its assets to The ComVest Group, a private-equity firm with holdings in other payment processors, closed. ComVest paid $81 million for Long Island City, …

PIN-debit is now live on the Web with Monday's announcement that Accel/Exchange is the first electronic funds transfer network to roll out such a service. The network, a unit of Brookfield, Wis.-based Fiserv Inc., is making the PaySecure system from technology provider Acculynk Inc. available to its membership base this …

Just three weeks after its parent company struck a novel deal with PayPal Inc., The Star Network pushed the boundaries of PIN-debit a bit further by unveiling a prepaid card reload service for ATMs and point-of-sale locations. Star, a unit of Atlanta-based processor First Data Corp., claims its load and …

Impatience in the electronic-payments business with the snarled progress of near-field communication for mobile payments is prompting a number of technology providers to develop products that can facilitate transactions without relying on full-fledged NFC. Now Inside Contactless, a major supplier of chips for contactless cards, has entered this arena with …

With credit card growth sputtering, an expanding debit card market will help lift transaction processors' volumes for the foreseeable future, according to new research from Goldman Sachs & Co. The investment bank also predicts processors will find robust growth markets in nascent channels like mobile payments and established debit-related markets …

U.S. payment card issuers missed out on nearly $4 billion in charge volume in 2008, including $78.7 million in interchange, because of problems cardholders had with their cards while traveling abroad, according to a new report by Aite Group LLC. The default response when travelers have a card problem is …

While a raft of players over the past several months have introduced software that equips smart phones to accept cards, Ingenico has introduced a wireless point-of-sale device that combines in one unit the ability to take card payments, print receipts, and act as a personal digital assistant (PDA). The French …

The first Visa-branded debit cards in Canada will be out in 2010's first quarter, Visa Inc. chairman and chief executive Joseph W. Saunders reported late Tuesday. Saunders, reviewing Visa's financial report for fiscal 2009's fourth quarter, also told analysts that signs of recovery from recession are starting to appear in …

Utility companies looking to convert from paper-based billing to electronic payments are continuing to become payment card acceptors, according to the MasterCard Inc. executive who oversees the network's programs for that merchant sector. “We're very pleased with the movement towards card acceptance across utilities of all sizes,” Steve Carnevale, vice …

A sour economy isn't hobbling PayPal Inc.'s online-payments steamroller, but the downturn and the seemingly fragile recovery are creating some challenges for Bill Me Later, the online credit processor PayPal parent eBay Inc. bought a year ago and this week integrated with PayPal. Meanwhile, rumors continue to swirl around the …