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Nova Information Systems says it is acquiring Certegy Inc.'s the merchant portfolio. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The conversion of the Certegy portfolio, which consists of 14,000 merchants generating about $3 billion in annual credit and debit card volume, to Nova's platform is expected to be completed by …
Read More »Bad Web Sites Could Be Driving Card Customers to Costly Call Centers
Surprisingly sub-par performance by credit card issuers' Web sites may be channeling customers to more expensive alternatives for service, such as corporate call centers, reports a new study by Keynote Systems Inc. The San Mateo, Calif.-based company, which measures Web site performance in various industries, says in a summary of …
Read More »Did Investors’ Failure to Understand ISO Business Lead to iPayment Offer?
A failure by major investors to understand the business model of an independent sales organization may have prompted yesterday's offer by Gregory S. Daily, chairman and chief executive of iPayment Inc., to buy all outstanding shares of the Nashville, Tenn.-based processor. The company, which went public in March 2003, closed …
Read More »How US Bank’s Genpass Deal Could Expand No-Surcharge Networks
U.S. Bancorp's acquisition earlier this week of Genpass Inc., operator of MoneyPass, a surcharge-free ATM network, is expected to dramatically expand the reach of ATMs that don't levy surcharges to cardholders. Elan Financial Services, a subsidiary of U.S. Bancorp, already operates a network of 4,000 surcharge-free ATMs called FastBank Free, …
Read More »United Bank Card Will Use $44 Million from Optimal to Support Growth
United Bank Card Inc., which earlier this week announced it is selling a portfolio of 15,500 merchants to Optimal Payments Corp. for $44 million, said today it will use the cash to add new departments and hire more staff to help cope with rapid growth. Jared Isaacman, founder and chief …
Read More »New Study Decries Interchange Caps, Favors Merchant Networks
With card interchange rates becoming a subject that even central bankers are beginning to ponder, a long-time analyst of the electronic-transaction market has released a report arguing that overall acceptance costs are often more favorable to merchants in the U.S. than overseas and that merchants would be better off developing …
Read More »Why Ritz Camera Decided to Adopt PayPass Throughout Its Chain
Ritz Camera Centers Inc., which last week announced it would adopt MasterCard's PayPass contactless card program chainwide, says it hopes to use the technology to hasten photo-finishing customers through the checkout process. “They're in the stores two or three time a week, and they want the service to be kind …
Read More »New Merchant Group Forms to Win Regulatory Relief on Interchange
A Washington, D.C.-based organization formed early this year by retail-industry trade groups says it is beginning to work out a plan of attack that it hopes will lead to regulation of the fees card-accepting merchants pay issuing banks. After years of friction between banks and merchants over the subject, this …
Read More »Star Pilots Recurring PIN-less Payments, Explores Real-Time Web Debit
Star Networks Inc., which processes more PIN-less debit transactions than any other network, is launching a pilot to test PIN-less debit for recurring payments and is exploring a concept that could extend direct debit of checking accounts to online shopping. The latter concept, says Tom Gandre, senior vice president of …
Read More »VeriSign Will Start Offering 3-Year SSL Certificates Next Month
In a bid to make purchasing its Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificates more efficient for networks, VeriSign Inc. today said it will begin offering three-year certificates next month. The Mountain View, Calif.-based company said the new, longer-term certificates will save customers as much as 24% from the cost of currently …
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