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PayPal Inc. is planning to launch a flexible-payments application programming interface that will allow merchants and others to build their own payment systems, but the company denies that the Adaptive Payments API is a response to Amazon.com Inc.'s Flexible Payments Service, which has been available as a commercial product for …
Read More »MPX, Payments Central Merge in Latest ACH Consolidation Move
The slow but steady pace of consolidation of regional automated clearing house associations continued this week when Kansas City, Mo.-based Mid-America Payment Exchange (MPX) merged with Columbus, Ohio-based Payments Central. The new entity, dubbed Epcor, serves more than 2,300 financial institutions in all or parts of 12 states stretching from …
Read More »Acquiring Deal with BofA Lets First Data Renew Its Alliance Model
Bank of America Corp. and processor First Data Corp. launched a merchant-acquiring joint venture Monday, a move that marks the third major change in BofA's acquiring business in five years. First Data will own 48.5% of the new Atlanta-based Banc of America Merchant Services LLC. BofA will own 46.5%, and …
Read More »One to Many: Visa Gets a Single Connection to Multiple Carriers
Visa Inc. has a struck an agreement with NeuStar Inc., a key player in the wireless telecommunications industry, that could enable financial institutions to develop more payment services for mobile devices. Created in 1998, Sterling, Va.-based NeuStar plays a unique role in the phone business. It acts as a neutral …
Read More »Beyond Stickers: Contactless ‘Skins’ for Payments with Handsets
The trend toward using adhesive tags to give mobile phones contactless-payment capability is going one step farther?now at least one startup is marketing a small sheet of vinyl that wraps around the entire mobile device and contains a contactless chip-and-antenna inlay. Mobile Payment Skins LLC launched last week to offer …
Read More »CashEdge Unveils a P2P Service To Be Controlled by Banks
The person-to-person payment business, which has attracted a number of new players already this year, grew more crowded on Tuesday with the announcement by CashEdge Inc. that it will launch a service later this year. Executives with New York City-based CashEdge, which specializes in supporting online account opening and account-to-account …
Read More »Consolidators To Take Greater Share of Slower-Growing Bill-Pay Market
Electronic bill-payment consolidators?notably banks?could finally claim at least half the market, but to hold on to their gains, banks will need to pay special attention to affluent young adults. That's a key conclusion in a new forecast for the growing bill-pay market by Cambridge, Mass.-based Forrester Research Inc. Forrester predicts …
Read More »Boku Debuts to Exploit Markets in Social Networks And Games
Micropayments may have failed in previous attempts, but the idea of processing tiny transactions is enjoying new life in mobile payments. The latest example lies in the announcements made on Tuesday by Boku Inc. that it has acquired two rivals and is launching its worldwide service to allow handset users …
Read More »Carrier-Based Mobile P2P Gets Under Way in Canada
A new service debuted on Monday in Canada for which there is no equivalent in the U.S.: a single mobile person-to-person payments offering from the nation's three major wireless telecommunications companies. The service, called Zoompass, also is linked to a prepaid MasterCard PayPass contactless card that gives it utility at …
Read More »A Designed-for-ISOs Remote Capture Product Begins to Win Business
Wausau Financial Systems Inc., which late last year introduced a version of its remote deposit capture product specifically designed for independent sales organizations, has signed one ISO and will have three more on board by the end of the month, according to a company executive and company reports. Wausau, a …
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