With identify fraud posing a serious challenge to online bankers and merchants, technology vendors are starting to respond with hardware- and software-based solutions offering so-called strong authentication, which adds a second factor of identity to the standard user-name/password pair. Now Corillian Corp. has launched a product it says is the …

EBay Inc.'s PayPal payment service continued its diversification effort beyond the eBay online auction community this week by adding computer giant Dell Inc. to its growing fold of mainstream merchants. PayPal also unveiled an online gift-certificate program for merchants that expands upon an eBay gift-certificate plan launched two years ago. …

CheckFree Corp. is leveraging its access to millions of electronic bill-payment transactions to offer a new anti-fraud tool that it says can stop fraud losses before they happen in consumer payment channels in and outside of electronic bill pay. The Norcross, Ga.-based processor, which serves about 1,700 financial institutions and …

PIN debit transactions are cheaper than debit card transactions secured by signature, incur lower fraud losses, and generate slightly higher average tickets, according to a survey of issuing banks. Taking into account processing costs as well as the cost of back-office fraud-management, chargebacks, settlement, customer service, and accounting functions, the …

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has begun accepting cards issued on the Debitman Card Inc. network, a 5-year-old system that allows merchants to issue and accept PIN-secured debit cards and clear transactions through the automated clearing house. Wal-Mart began taking the Debitman card Nov. 1 at all 3,600 U.S. Wal-Mart and Sam's …

Credit Union 24, an electronic funds transfer network based in Tallahassee, Fla. and the country's largest controlled by credit unions, is planning to move its switching service to a new processor in a conversion it says will start next March and will take about nine months. The move will bring …

Whether they like it or not, billers are accepting more credit and signature-based debit card transactions on their Web sites?at the expense of the share of less costly bill payments cleared through the automated clearing house. So-called biller-direct sites?Web sites set up by financial institutions, utility companies, telecommunications carriers and …

In a move that could lead First Data Corp. to sell its shrinking card-issuing operation, the Denver-based processor announced today it has hired investment banker Morgan Stanley to investigate options for the unit. The card-issuing business, one of three principal processing operations at First Data, has been rocked in recent …

Total losses from e-commerce fraud will hit $2.8 billion in 2005, up from $2.6 billion last year, with large and mid-sized merchants getting hit the hardest after several years of success in controlling the problem, according to a study released today. Although the overall rate of fraud loss will dip …

Quick-service outlets and e-commerce, both emerging channels for electronic transactions, grew at double-digit rates in activity on Visa USA credit and debit cards in the week ending Nov. 6, according to a report the card association released today. In the run-up to the critical holiday spending season, fast-food transactions jumped …