Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
10 Tipping Points for the Payments Industry Part 5 The demise of the bold plan by the big players in electronic check conversion and truncation to combine image capture of all checks at inception with ACH distribution to all financial-institution endpoints for payment provides the payments industry with some critical …
News
February, 2007
January, 2007
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31 January
Data Security Vendors Unite for Voice in PCI Implementation
At a time when the security of personal financial information is in the news thanks to the recently disclosed computer breach at off-price retailer The TJX Cos. Inc., vendors that sell technology and services so merchants can meet the Payment Card Industry (PCI) data security standard have formed a group …
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30 January
Check-ACH Coalition Gives up on Ambitious Plan for Check Processing
A sweepingly ambitious, nearly year-long effort to speed up end-to-end electronic processing of checks has been shut down by its organizers, the victim of multiple operational complications that proved in the end too hard to overcome. The Check-ACH Coalition, a group of some 65 financial institutions, trade groups, and vendors, …
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30 January
Microsoft: Any Micropayments System Is Highly Theoretical
Microsoft Corp. is denying reports that have appeared since the weekend that the computing giant is working on an electronic payment system that could handle micropayments for online content and undercut the merchant pricing for such transactions when handled with bank cards. According to widespread press accounts, William H. Gates, …
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29 January
Security Issues Are Eroding Trust in Online Banking, Survey Shows
Security fears created by such trends as the rise of phishing frauds are eroding consumer confidence in online banking, a recent survey reveals. Consumers also say banks should offer some form of strong authentication going beyond standard user name and password, though they are somewhat split on the specific technology …
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29 January
Under Fire, TJX Defends Its Handling of Card Data Breach
Off-price retailer The TJX Cos. Inc. is defending its month-long delay in the disclosure of an intrusion into its network that handles customer payment card data, saying it may have prevented the data breach from becoming worse. TJX discovered the breach in mid-December, but didn't reveal it until Jan. 17. …
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25 January
The Disruptive Shift to Pay-As-You-Go Payments And Lifestyles
10 Tipping Points for the Payments Industry Part 4 Although the payments business has historically evolved at a glacial pace, the massive shift in consumer payments from physical to electronic forms is moving at light speed by comparison, making debit accounts the preferred means of funding transactions in every conceivable …
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25 January
Acquiring Operation Helps Boost Results at a Restructured First Data
Leading payment processor First Data Corp., restructured and without its huge Western Union wire-transfer business, late on Wednesday reported fourth-quarter income from continuing operations of $240 million, up 12% from $214.4 million for the year-earlier period. Greenwood Village, Colo.-based First Data's merchant and international divisions posted strong gains, while the …
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24 January
PayPal’s off-eBay Push Hits a Wall After Months of Steady Progress
Despite strong results in its off-eBay merchant-processing business, PayPal Inc.'s efforts to lessen its dependence on the online marketplace of its parent eBay Inc. hit a wall in the fourth quarter of 2006. The San Jose, Calif.-based online processor saw 36% of the $11 billion in transactions it handled in …
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23 January
Wells’s New Imaging ATMs May Signal More to Come for the Technology
Banks' efforts to rid ATM deposits of pesky?and costly?envelopes took a step forward on Tuesday with Wells Fargo & Co.'s announcement that it plans to add 825 new machines by year's end that will accept deposits without envelopes. Wells will deploy some 150 of the new ATMs, which allow customers …