Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
With its official unveiling on Friday of an early version of an online payments system, e-commerce giant Amazon.com Inc. has launched itself into head-on competition with established players like PayPal Inc. and well-funded upstarts like Google Checkout. The service, called Amazon Flexible Payments, is in a so-called beta stage with …
Read More »CheckFree Deal Vaults Fiserv into Front Ranks of Bill Payment, ACH
Electronic bill-payment and presentment technology may be CheckFree Corp.’s sexiest products, but bank processor Fiserv Inc. will be get access to other fast-growing markets when its planned $4.4 billion cash acquisition of CheckFree, announced Thursday, closes. Most notable, perhaps, is that CheckFree just happens to be the leading provider of …
Read More »An Online Payments Product Soon? Amazon Refuses to Comment
Responding to a report that surfaced on Wednesday, online retailing giant Amazon.com Inc. refuses to comment on whether it is planning to introduce soon an e-commerce payment service that will compete with other alternatives to credit and debit cards. “We do not comment on rumors or speculation,” an Amazon spokesperson …
Read More »Visa Reports Progress on PCI Among Large and Small Merchants
Signaling further progress among merchants toward compliance with a key data-protection mandate, Visa USA announced this week that 40% of the largest merchants accepting its cards now comply with the Payment Card Industry data-security standard (PCI). Further, some 96% of these merchants have certified they are not storing account data, …
Read More »As Shareholders Okay KKR Deal, FDC Insists Buyout Is on Track
Amid reports about tightening credit, First Data Corp. shareholders today approved the $29 billion sale of their company to private-equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. According to a First Data release, more than 98% of the shares cast voted in favor of the buyout. Shareholders will get $34.00 in …
Read More »A Startup Prepares a Dual POS/Online Contactless Card
Spotting an opportunity in combining online authentication with contactless technology, a 6-month-old Knoxville, Tenn.-based company plans to have a product on the market by early next year that consumers could use to make payments both on e-commerce sites and at the point of sale. Elemental Knowledge LLC is starting with …
Read More »How Vending Payments Could Benefit from the Change in Reg E
The nascent market for electronic transactions in self-service machines should get a sizable boost from a Federal Reserve rule change set to go into effect Aug. 6, an industry observer notes. The rule change could also foster the development of contactless transactions at these machines, laying the groundwork for payments …
Read More »Online Resources’ $45 Million ITS Deal Beefs up Its Biller Business
In a deal that will expand its client base of billers by 50%, Online Resources Corp. on Thursday announced it is buying Internet Transaction Solutions Inc. for $45 million in cash and stock. The Chantilly, Va.-based bill-payment processor says ITS, which processes payments for some of the country's largest collections …
Read More »Early Signs Are Positive for Amtrak’s Wireless POS Devices
Wireless card-payment devices deployed systemwide this spring by Amtrak to sell food and beverage items are making a favorable impression on passengers and boosting sales while cutting chargebacks, an executive with the national railroad says. Amtrak is now planning to start using wireless terminals to sell tickets on trains, adds …
Read More »BofA’s Envelope-less ATMs Show Imaging Is Catching on with Users
Bank of America Corp.'s announcement this week that more than one-fifth of its deposit-taking ATMs now image checks?and thus don't require deposit envelopes?shows that so-called envelope-less ATMs are starting to catch on with consumers, says an expert observer. “The announcement is significant if only as a sort of marker showing …
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