Competitive Strategies

Carl F. Pascarella's decision to retire in September 2005 as chief executive of Visa USA is being greeted in the payments industry with expressions of praise for his leadership in transforming the San Francisco-based bank card network from a one-dimensional credit card company into a force to be reckoned with …

Severe price compression in the merchant acquiring market drove together two major players and led to further consolidation in the merchant-processing business as Bank of America Corp. today announced it has acquired National Processing Inc.for $1.4 billion in cash. BofA says it will combine its Merchant Services unit with NPC …

After emerging in the 1990s as specialists in the business of connecting Internet merchants to acquirers and merchant processors, gateway processors are now wrestling with aggressive competition that will retard their growth relative to other e-commerce players, predicts a recent research report on online commerce. Gateways like CyberSource Corp., Authorize.Net …

New processing technologies for so-called micropayments–transactions carrying a value under $5–have received a lot of attention in recent months as the number of sellers of online digital content expands and as the market for song downloads explodes, but some observers now question how far the market can grow. Startups like …

A Cincinnati-based company that specializes in the repair and refurbishment of ATMs has won a comprehensive class of approval from Visa International for a device it invented to bring installed ATMs into compliance with new card-network security protocols. The approval from Visa means any older ATM incorporating the device will …

Acies Inc., an independent sales organization based in New York, today announced it has entered into an agreement with Fort Pierce, Fla.-based Atlantic Synergy Inc., under which the ISO will become a subsidiary of Atlantic Synergy and hold a controlling interest in the company. As part the acquisition, Atlantic Synergy, …

Official Payments Corp., a Stamford, Conn.-based processor that specializes in payments to government entities, has announced it is now processing electronic checks on the Internet, with settlement through the automated clearing house. The company, which quietly began the service in December and is now trafficking e-checks for 34 government agencies, …

Six New York-based payments businesses, including The Clearing House, a check-settlement processor, and Small Value Payments Co. (SVPCo.), an electronic transaction processor, will be merging over the next 12 months into a single company, The Clearing House announced today. The merger, which has been in the planning process for the …

Keycorp, Cleveland, announced today it has signed the 100th contract in its agent-bank program for its ATM network. The contract, with Workman's Circle Credit Union, Cheektowaga, New York, calls for the institution's customers to have access to 289 Key ATMs in the state of New York. Under Key's agent-bank program, …

Today's announcement by Wal-Mart Stores Inc. that the chain will begin accepting MasterCard International's signature-based debit card again, effective immediately, could spark more interest in non-bank debit networks among small and mid-size retailers, according to some expert observers. Although Wal-Mart and MasterCard refused to disclose terms of their agreement, it …