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Three months after biometrics-technology provider and payment processor Pay By Touch sought protection in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Los Angeles, the dismantling of the firm’s sprawling empire is largely over. Judge Thomas B. Donovan recently approved the sale of the core assets of Solidus Networks Inc.—the formal name of Pay …
Read More »Discover Triples Its Acceptance Network with Diners Club Deal
Seemingly trapped in North America after shedding its money-losing British credit card operation in March, Discover Financial Services LLC suddenly is a global payments player with its pending deal to buy Diners Club International from Citigroup Inc.'s Citibank N.A. for $165 million in cash. The deal adds 8 million merchant …
Read More »ATM Direct’s New Bosses Say They Will ‘Own’ PIN Debit Online
PIN debit on the Internet may become a commercial reality in 2008 if the small Atlanta company that bought ATM Direct from the bankrupt Pay By Touch Inc. fulfills ambitious plans it has laid out for the processor. Over the course of the next 90 to 120 days, ATM Direct …
Read More »Obopay Moves to Allow Direct Payments from User Checking Accounts
In a move that it hopes will attract more users to its mobile-payments product, Obopay Inc. is allowing account holders to send money to other persons directly out of their checking accounts. In a further change, recipients of these transfers no longer need to have Obopay accounts and may have …
Read More »Plunging Check Volumes Spur Fed to Speed up Downsizing Efforts
With check volumes rapidly declining, the Federal Reserve on Monday said it would speed up its previously announced plans to downsize its paper-check processing system. Four full-service processing centers will remain, as under the earlier plan. But the closure or downsizing of other facilities will move up by anywhere from …
Read More »New P-to-P Service for Underbanked Looks to Launch M-Wallets
A handset-based service announced on Tuesday and aimed at allowing underbanked consumers to send money to individuals both in and outside the U.S. through Western Union locations could incorporate mobile wallets by the end of the year. That development would allow users of Trumpet Mobile, a reseller of prepaid wireless …
Read More »Pay By Touch Selling Merchant Business to Merrick for $2 Million
After first trying to sell its merchant-processing business as a single unit, bankrupt Solidus Networks Inc., which does business as Pay By Touch, is expected to sell half of it to a big Utah-based merchant acquirer, Merrick Bank Corp., for $2 million, according to documents filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court …
Read More »Banks, Processors Struggle with Proposed Regs for Web Gambling
Nearly 18 months after President Bush signed into law the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIGEA), regulators are still struggling to come up with rules to guide financial institutions and payment processors in blocking payments to online gaming sites. And if comments from the financial industry are any …
Read More »For One Day, Cash Is King at Visa As Its IPO Soars
Visa Inc.'s current slogan is “Life Takes Visa,” but now it's “Wall Street Takes Visa.” After raising a record $17.3 billion late Tuesday by pricing its initial public offering of stock at $44 per share, above its target range of $37 to $42 per share, Visa's stock opened on the …
Read More »Pay By Touch Abruptly Shuts Down All Biometric Operations
Bankrupt Solidus Networks Inc., which does business under the Pay By Touch name, is ending all of its fingerprint-based biometrics operations effective late Wednesday, the company announced Wednesday afternoon. In a news release, the San Francisco-based firm said that at 11:59 p.m. Pacific time March 19, one second before midnight, …
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