Competitive Strategies

In a deal that continues a trend toward consolidation among tech companies in the payments industry, bill-payment services provider CheckFree Corp. on Wednesday announced that it plans to buy online-banking software maker Corillian Corp. for $245 million. The acquisition, which will produce a nice Valentine's Day windfall for Corillian shareholders, …

Discover Financial Services LLC on Tuesday reported that it would use Motorola Inc.'s M-Wallet technology for a test of contactless payments and account management using cellular phones. The pilot not only represents another step by Discover on its road to network-wide contactless payments, but it's also significant for Motorola, which …

Arguing that U.S. transaction processors face pressing needs for both capacity and faster rollout times for new payment methods, a San Mateo, Calif.-based software company specializing in so-called high-performance transaction-processing systems has begun courting merchant acquirers, processors, electronic funds transfer networks, and high-volume merchants for a recently released payments switch. …

Credit card industry veteran Joseph W, Saunders has resigned his position as president of card services at Washington Mutual Inc. to become executive chairman of Visa Inc., the entity Visa announced last fall as the planned publicly held company embodying all of its worldwide operating divisions except that for Europe …

Image clearing of check payments is nearing 60% of all image-exchange volume, while the total volume of paper substitute-check volume cleared is now falling for the first time, lending credence to arguments by industry observers that conversion to end-to-end image clearing is proceeding more quickly than some bankers had thought. …

Microsoft Corp. is denying reports that have appeared since the weekend that the computing giant is working on an electronic payment system that could handle micropayments for online content and undercut the merchant pricing for such transactions when handled with bank cards. According to widespread press accounts, William H. Gates, …

Despite strong results in its off-eBay merchant-processing business, PayPal Inc.'s efforts to lessen its dependence on the online marketplace of its parent eBay Inc. hit a wall in the fourth quarter of 2006. The San Jose, Calif.-based online processor saw 36% of the $11 billion in transactions it handled in …

Banks' efforts to rid ATM deposits of pesky?and costly?envelopes took a step forward on Tuesday with Wells Fargo & Co.'s announcement that it plans to add 825 new machines by year's end that will accept deposits without envelopes. Wells will deploy some 150 of the new ATMs, which allow customers …

In a move that may signal the limited utility of the digital-content market for micropayments processors, San Mateo, Calif-based processor Bitpass Inc. has announced it is shutting down. Users of the service, which allows consumers to pay for content online with prepaid accounts, have until Friday of this week to …

Google Inc. is paying new customers of its Google Checkout $10 to sign up for the service under a promotion launched this month and scheduled to run through Feb. 15. The promotion represents the latest in a number of marketing efforts for both merchants and consumers the Mountain View, Calif.-based …