Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
Michael D. Capellas, a tech executive from outside the payments industry, will head First Data Corp. as the No. 1 payment processor begins its new life as a privately held company. Capellas, who held top posts at MCI Inc. and Compaq Computer Corp., will take over as chief executive from …
Read More »Patent Office Validates a DataTreasury Image Exchange Patent
The U.S Patent and Trademark Office has upheld substantially all of the claims contained in a key patent held by DataTreasury Corp. that covers processes related to check image exchange. The USPTO decision, reached in May but not made public until recently, follows a formal process in which Plano, Texas-based …
Read More »‘Day of Reckoning’ Beckons As Image Volume Peaks in ’08
Image-exchange networks and the financial institutions that use them to process checks electronically may have to contend with a dwindling supply of checks sooner than they expected. For the time being, the networks are doing a robust business, with the volume of items expected to more than quadruple this year, …
Read More »Northwest Deal Lets PayPal Gain Altitude in Online Travel Sales
Alternative payments have penetrated the market for airline tickets with Northwest Airlines Inc.'s decision to accept PayPal on its Web site. The move by the major air carrier, which executes about 1,400 daily departures around the world, makes it the first airline to accept PayPal and gives the San Jose, …
Read More »With an Eye on EFT, Fidelity Picks up eFunds with a $1.8 Billion Bid
The strategic review that payment processor eFunds Corp. disclosed May 9 ended today with the announcement that another processor, Jacksonville, Fla.-based Fidelity National Information Services Inc. (FIS), will buy e-Funds for $1.8 billion in cash. The purchase price of $36.50 per share represents a 5.5% premium over eFunds' Tuesday closing …
Read More »Litigation, Divergent Europe Among Risks Visa IPO Faces
Like MasterCard Inc. last year and Discover Financial Services LLC later this week, Visa Inc. is preparing to become the third standalone, publicly traded payment network. But a registration statement Visa filed Friday raises plenty of questions about the risks the world's largest card network faces in a litigious and …
Read More »Another Rival for NACHA?with an International Flair
Internet payments company Saf-T-Pay Corp. is about to roll out a system that taps consumers' demand-deposit accounts and bears similarities to those being promoted by NACHA?The Electronic Payments Association and tech company MODASolutions Inc. But Miami Beach, Fla.-based Saf-T-Pay says it has an easy-to-use solution that already is gaining credibility …
Read More »How TransFirst’s New Boss Sizes up the Processor’s Opportunities
Former First Data Corp. executive John Shlonsky, who took over this week as president and chief executive of TransFirst LLC, says he plans to lead the Dallas-based transaction processor into a wide array of new markets with backing from the company's new owner, private-equity firm Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe. …
Read More »Seeking More Revenue, Big Banks Get Set to Roll out 11th-Hour Bill Pay
Financial institutions seem likely to give expedited bill payments a big boost in the coming two years, according to survey results released today by Boston-based Aite Group LLC. In a March survey of 22 of the nation's top 100 banks, credit unions, and thrifts ranked by number of checking accounts, …
Read More »Google Checkout Scrubs Its Boston Party After Talks with eBay
The party's off. Google Inc., which had planned to sell its Google Checkout online payment system Thursday night at a party in Boston during a convention of eBay Inc. buyers and sellers (Digital Transactions News, June 12), has abruptly canceled the event after talks with eBay. Mountain View, Calif.-based Google …
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