Competitive Strategies

JPMorgan Chase & Co., the largest issuer of contactless credit cards in the country with 7 million in circulation, is now adding contactless payment technology to its debit cards. The banking giant, which brands its contactless cards “blink,” has plans to re-issue 1.8 million debit cards with the Visa mark …

Armed with $15 million in new venture capital, San Francisco-based Xoom Corp. is embarking on the next phase of its growth plan: selling Internet-based money-transfer services to banks, retailers and smaller money-transfer operators (MTOs) that can put their own brands on them and sell them to consumers. Founded in 2002, …

With online search giant Google Inc. reportedly a week away from launching its long-expected payment service, observers differ on the question of whether the service will allow merchants to accept electronic payments on their own sites or be limited to Google's own platforms, especially the rapidly growing Google Base online …

Another indication of the increased trafficking of electronic check images through image-exchange networks has emerged with a report from SVPCO that its Image Payments Network handled 50.8 million items in May, up 44.4% from April's volume. Average daily traffic hit 2.3 million images, a 31.2% jump from the previous month. …

In a bid to meet what appears to be a clear market demand for services to help online merchants satisfy card-data security rules, CyberSource Corp. Tuesday launched a product that removes merchants from the business of handling and storing payment data. The move comes as merchants and processors increasingly find …

At a time when image exchanges are reporting dramatic jumps in volume but are struggling to get members to receive as well as send check images, Endpoint Exchange in Oklahoma City is reporting double-digit monthly growth rates as well as a base of 3,000 receiving financial institutions. “The name of …

Mobile gambling, which doesn't now exist as a market in North America, will grow to $3.34 billion in revenue by 2011, accounting for 14% of a $23.2 billion world market, according to research released this week. Driving this growth, says Juniper Research Ltd., which published the research, are the rapid …

National City Corp., Cleveland, has begun selling a so-called non-personalized version of Visa USA's TravelMoney prepaid card, which replaces traveler's checks. National City, which is the sole major bank issuing either personalized or non-personalized versions of Visa's plastic for travelers, is offering instant issue of the new card, embossed with …

A multi-faceted marketing partnership between giant Internet portal Yahoo! Inc. and PayPal Inc., announced last week, seems likely to drive a significant flow of transaction volume to online auction provider eBay Inc.'s payment service. According to Nielsen//NetRatings, Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Yahoo! is the No. 2 parent company in terms of visited …

A proposal to merge electronic check images with automated clearing house records, which first came to the fore at an industry trade show earlier this month, could become a reality?at least in a limited way–relatively soon. Backers of the plan, which include executives with at least two of the nation's …