Competitive Strategies

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 …

A new trade group formed to fight phishing fraud argues it will work on approaches to the problem that will distinguish it from the efforts of another organization that emerged last year to combat the online fraud. The Trusted Electronic Communications Forum, whose formation was announced this week, is aimed …

Even though transactions from outside North America account for anywhere from 10% to 20% of sales for Web sites that accept international business, only 59% of large and mid-sized online merchants take orders from international customers. That's the main conclusion of a recent e-commerce payment survey sponsored by CyberSource Corp., …

When TNS Inc. announced late last month that it had bought U.S. Wireless Data's Synapse processing gateway, it said it was planning to use the gateway's non-wireline transaction capability to help open high-potential markets like fast food (Digital Transactions News, May 27). But equally important to the company's strategy is …

E*Trade Financial Corp. today announced it agreed to sell its ATM network to Cardtronics Inc., an ATM deployer based in Houston, for $106 million in cash. E*Trade, a New York-based online banking and brokerage company, operates a network of 15,000 ATMs in an operating unit called E*Trade Access Inc. The …

Woodside, Calif.-based PassMark Security LLC, which incorporated only in February to attack phishing and other online transaction fraud, says it has attracted interest in its solution from banking and retailer Web sites. The company is now in serious discussions with “eight to ten major sites,” says Bill Harris, chief executive, …

Pay By Touch, a San Francisco-based company that has been marketing a point-of-sale payment system that relies on fingerprint scans rather than cards or other devices to authenticate transactions, scored a sweeping victory today in litigation over the central patents to its technology. Judge Maxine Chesney of the U.S. District …

Demand from corporate clients?combined with a deadline that's only five months away–is a major factor pushing banks into check imaging, according to a top executive with one major supplier of check-processing software. Although many banks are poised to begin accepting so-called image replacement documents when the Check Clearing for the …

Deploring the extent to which banks have turned over key functions in consumer payments to non-bank companies, a leading figure in the payments industry on Thursday called on banks to “seize back” leadership in the industry. In a keynote address delivered at the Bank Administration Institute's TransPay trade show in …