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Capping a wave of recent acquisitions, non-bank ATM network owner and manager Cardtronics Inc. announced late Monday that it had struck a definitive agreement to buy Access to Money Inc., a retail ATM network operator with 10,350 U.S. machines under management. Houston-based Cardtronics will pay $21.2 million in cash …
Read More »ADA Rules, Skimming, And Windows Conversion Are Top ATM Priorities, Study Shows
Bank ATM managers have slain one dragon, a transition to better data protection with the widespread rollout of the Triple Digital Encryption Standard. Some 99% of ATMs now use Triple DES, according to Aite Group LLC. But according to new survey results, ATM managers are still fighting several others, …
Read More »ACI Announces a $540 Million Bid for S1, Casting a Shadow over S1’s Fundtech Deal
In a surprise development that has the potential to scuttle a merger agreement between payments-software firms S1 Corp. and Fundtech Ltd., ACI Worldwide Inc. on Tuesday announced a cash-and-stock bid valued at $540 million to acquire its Atlanta-based rival S1. If the deal is consummated, it will combine two …
Read More »How POS Cash Back on Debit Is Crimping ATM Transaction Growth
U.S. debit card holders received cash back on just over 1 billion point-of-sale purchases in 2009, according to new figures from the Federal Reserve. That statistical nugget and others in the Fed’s 2010 Payments Study help to explain why ATM operators are struggling to keep transaction volumes up. The Fed …
Read More »Interchange Cuts, Legislation, And Dwindling Volume Top ATM ISOs’ Concerns
ATM network changes and legislation rank as the top worries of ATM independent sales organizations, while declining transaction volumes also keep many ATM ISO executives up at night, according to newly released survey results. Kahuna ATM Solutions, a Bloomington, Ill.-based ATM ISO that services smaller ISOs, commissioned the survey, which …
Read More »The Scope of Debit Regulation Could Range Far Afield, Report Shows
Payments-industry executives and media reports have devoted most of their attention to the big debit card interchange cuts and network-routing aspects of the Federal Reserve Board’s proposed debit regulations that roiled the industry last week. But, given the Fed’s long list of requests for comment, the regulations in final form …
Read More »U.S. Treasury Issues Final Rule on Electronic Benefits Payments
In a move that could bring millions of new users to a popular prepaid card program, the U.S. Department of the Treasury on Tuesday issued a final rule mandating that Social Security and other government benefits be paid to beneficiaries electronically. Under the new rule, beneficiaries will receive direct deposits …
Read More »An ATM ISO Group Slams Network Surcharging Rules
A trade group of ATM independent sales organizations says its study of the major EFT networks’ surcharging rules favor banks at the expense of non-bank ATM owners. The Atlanta-based National Association of ATM ISOs and Operators, which represents ISOs that own or operate 70,000 ATMs, says it is negotiating with …
Read More »Eye on Earnings: First Data, Green Dot, Heartland, Cardtronics
Payments companies ranging from leading merchant processors to prepaid card and ATM managers reported transaction growth in the third quarter, but some also faced pricing pressures and other drags on the bottom line. –No. 1 payment processor First Data Corp. said transactions in its merchant-processing unit called Retail and Alliance …
Read More »It’s Back to a Service-Oriented Future for Bank ATMs
Banks are abandoning their dreams of ATMs generating profits and instead returning to their original focus of using the machines for customer service, according to new findings from First Annapolis Consulting Inc. Linthicum, Md.-based First Annapolis spoke with executives from the nation’s 10 largest banks by assets about their ATM …
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