Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
An offer from Gregory S. Daily, chief executive of Nashville, Tenn.-based processor iPayment Inc., to buy the company has been rejected by the company as too low. A special committee of iPayment's board of directors announced Friday that Daily's offer to buy all outstanding stock for $38 per share, which …
Read More »CyberSource Volume Jumps 47%, While Acquiring Expands Fast
CyberSource Corp., a publicly held Internet gateway for online merchants, reports it processed 147.2 million transactions in the second quarter, up 47% over the year-ago period and 7% over the first quarter. The Mountain View, Calif.-based company, which reported the transaction figures as part of its second-quarter earnings release last …
Read More »Rivals Look to Gain New Merchants in Fallout from CardSystems Case
The fallout from the largest data-security breach yet in the electronic payments business continues, with rival processors looking to pick up new merchants now that both Visa U.S.A. and American Express Co. have said they are terminating CardSystems Solutions Inc. as a processor on their networks. CardSystems' list of clients …
Read More »Visa Terminates CardSystems, Move Could Kill Processor
In a move that apparently took troubled processor CardSystems Solutions Inc. by surprise and is likely to cripple the company, Visa U.S.A. has terminated CardSystems as a processor and agent on its network, effective Oct. 31. In a statement issued yesterday, Visa says it is taking the action because the …
Read More »Iron Triangle’s Wimsett Succeeds Higgins at Retriever
Retriever Payment Systems Inc., a Houston-based independent sales organization, announced today its longtime president and chief executive, William H. Higgins, is stepping down and will be replaced by Thomas A. Wimsett, chief executive of Iron Triangle Payment Systems. Iron Triangle, Louisville, Ky., acquired Retriever earlier this year. Higgins will remain …
Read More »MasterCard, Banks May Not Be off Hook in Latest Interchange Case
Though they are not named as defendants in the antitrust case filed today by Kroger Co. and six other retail chains against Visa International and Visa U.S.A., MasterCard International and individual member banks of both bank card networks could find themselves named in separate actions later, according to one of …
Read More »Visa Chief, Top Merchant Official Could Meet As Early As September
The new chief executive of Visa U.S.A. could meet with a top official of the National Retail Federation and the Merchants Payments Coalition as early as September to discuss interchange and other issues, according to a spokesman for both merchant organizations. John Philip Coghlan, the former Charles Schwab & Co. …
Read More »Coghlan’s Olive Branch Not Likely to Bring Retailer-Friendly Change
Despite an apparent willingness by the new chief executive of Visa U.S.A. to meet with merchant representatives on such thorny issues as interchange pricing, some observers say the bank card association's basic position toward the retailer community is unlikely to change. John Philip Coghlan, who took over yesterday as president …
Read More »Merchants Misunderstand How Interchange Works, Former Visa Exec Says
Merchant complaints about credit card interchange pricing, which culminated last week in a class-action antitrust suit against the bank card associations and major banks, rest on a fundamental misunderstanding of how the interchange mechanism works, says a former Visa U.S.A. executive and payments-industry expert. The pricing system, indeed, allows for …
Read More »Merchants Suing on Interchange Seek Major Reform of Fee System
The merchants that last week filed a class-action antitrust suit against major banks and the bank card associations seek more than to collect damages for what they regard as anticompetitive behavior. Indeed, according to the lead attorney representing them, they hope their case will lead to sweeping reform of the …
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