News

September, 2006

• 12 September

  July Phishing Numbers Bring Mixed News on the Online Fraud

  July was a month of mixed news on the online-fraud front, as the number of unique reports of phishing attacks dropped 17% from June, to 23,670, but the population of Web sites hosting attacks ballooned 41%, to a record 14,191, according to the latest numbers from the Anti-Phishing Working Group, …
• 11 September

  The New PCI Council: Does It Have Enough Teeth?

  The creation of the new PCI Security Standards Council LLC by the five leading payment card brands represents a big step forward in enhancing credit and debit card security, but it doesn't go far enough, one analyst tells Digital Transactions News. The council, a creation of American Express Co., Visa …
• 11 September

  Discover Signs up Global Payments, Is Talking to Other Top 10 Acquirers

  In a deal on which the two parties spent the weekend hammering out final details, Discover Financial Services LLC and Global Payments Inc. on Monday said Global would take over processing and other acquiring functions on Discover transactions with merchants for which Global processes Visa USA and MasterCard Worldwide transactions. …
• 8 September

  Positive Results of Atlanta NFC Pilot Could Spur More U.S. Tests

  A nine-month trial of contactless payments using near-field communication (NFC) technology in Atlanta ended this week with what its participants are calling positive results, including an apparently enthusiastic reception from the pilot's 150 users. Meanwhile, the results of the Atlanta pilot may be spurring banks, the bank card networks, handset …
• 7 September

  Valista Sees New Hosted Gateway As Key to U.S. M-Payments Market

  Looking to make inroads in the U.S. mobile-commerce market, Valista Ltd. has launched a hosted version of its payments-gateway product and has aimed it squarely at mobile operators hoping to cash in on the trend toward so-called off-deck transactions. The payments-software vendor, based in Dublin, Ireland, and in San Mateo, …
• 7 September

  New Council Updates PCI, Looks to Foster Closer Industry Cooperation

  The new organization set up by the leading payment card networks to administer the Payment Card Industry (PCI) data-security rules should lead to closer coordination on security matters among card networks, merchants, and vendors, according to one of the organization's spokesmen. Announced Thursday, the organization has already issued an update …
• 5 September

  BankServ Enters P2P, Mobile Payments Business with Magex Deal

  The U.S. person-to-person payments business, including P2P payments on cell phones, attracted yet another entrant with the announcement Tuesday by BankServ Inc. that it had acquired the managed-payments platform of Magex Holdings Ltd., a U.K. company, for an undisclosed sum. In the deal, San Francisco-based BankServ, a 10-year-old private company …
• 5 September

  MasterCard Will Post Interchange Rates, Cap Fees for Gas Retailers

  Bowing to merchant pressure, MasterCard Inc. said Tuesday it will publish its U.S. interchange rates on its Web site and cap interchange fees on certain gasoline purchases. The moves, which will include the first time either of the two major bank card associations has published its interchange rates publicly, follow …
• 4 September

  Will Old Risk to Credit Cards Threaten New ACH Web Proposal?

  As an e-commerce payment system being developed for the automated clearing house nears a pilot scheduled for early next year, it may confront an old issue that sank an earlier such project: the potential for lost credit card sales online. That's according to an in-depth story on the ACH and …
• 1 September

  VeriFone Banks on a Looming Upgrade Market in the U.S. And Canada

  China, India, and other high-growth payments markets get a lot of attention nowadays, but leading U.S.-based payment-terminal marketer VeriFone Holdings Inc. still sees plenty of opportunity close to home. San Jose, Calif.-based VeriFone's aggressive focus on North America comes even as its pending acquisition of Israel-based rival Lipman Electronic Engineering …