Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
While Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc. are shelling out big bucks for the loyalties of card issuers and merchants (Digital Transactions News, April 29), they’re also adding technological muscle to attract more transaction volume to their networks. In the latest example, MasterCard on Monday announced a host of upgrades to …
Read More »A Bundled Approach to PCI Compliance for Small Merchants
As smaller merchants struggle with data-security requirements set by the bank card networks, some security firms are working on ways to simplify compliance. An example is Panoptic Security Inc., a Salt Lake City, Utah-based company that distributes its software through independent sales organizations and acquiring banks. It has started talking …
Read More »Eye on E-Commerce: Acculynk Courts ISOs; eBillme’s Walk-in Survey
Acculynk Inc., a processor of PIN debit transactions that take place on merchant Web sites, announced this week it is adding the capability of processing credit and signature-debit transactions as well. The new service, called PaySecure Plus, will rely on processor Elavon, a unit of U.S. Bancorp, to handle credit …
Read More »ISOs Lukewarm About Sponsor Banks, Other Vendors, Survey Finds
More than a fifth of independent sales organizations claim to be ready to change their sponsor merchant-acquiring bank, according to a new Aite Group LLC report about ISOs' relationships with their vendors. A smaller but still substantial number also are likely to change some of their other vendors. From July …
Read More »Gonzalez Sentence Is No Deterrent to Hackers, Security Expert Warns
The 20-year sentence imposed last week on Albert Gonzalez of Miami, the computer hacker who led the attack on Heartland Payment Systems, TJX Cos., and other major retailers, won't deter future data breaches, a security expert says. Gonzalez, leader of the largest hacking and identity-theft ring ever prosecuted by the …
Read More »After a Dip in ’09, Prepaid Card Usage Is Back on the Rise, Expert Says
Consumer usage of prepaid and gift cards declined last year, according to a new report from Javelin Strategy & Research. Javelin estimates that the percentage of U.S. adults who had used a prepaid or gift card in the preceding 12 months fell from 66% in 2008 to 61% in 2009. …
Read More »Heartland Preps for Its Big End-to-End Encryption Rollout
Merchant acquirer Heartland Payment Systems Inc.'s sales force will begin selling the company's new end-to-end encryption system in the second quarter following testing that began last June, the company says. Heartland also says several terminal manufacturers are integrating the technological protocols of its system, which was developed by Voltage Security …
Read More »On the Rise, Friendly Fraud Is Getting Online Merchants’ Attention
More online shoppers are repudiating transactions even after they've received their merchandise, much to the chagrin of online merchants, which are focusing on the problem as they seldom have in the past. That's according to Robert W. Botelle, executive vice president for merchant services and chief customer officer at Litle …
Read More »E-Commerce Merchants Take on More Risk in Search of More Sales
With the economy still shaky, some established online merchants are branching into new product lines in search of incremental revenue, and that can create problems if the merchants don't work closely with their acquirers, Bob Nadeau, group executive at Chase Paymentech Solutions LLC, tells Digital Transactions News. In a wide-ranging …
Read More »The NRF Wants Dodd To Carry the Interchange-Regulation Torch
Interchange regulation of the kind being advocated by national merchant groups just isn't getting much traction on Capitol Hill. In the latest example, the National Retail Federation on Monday issued a statement saying it was disappointed that U.S. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd's much-awaited proposal for regulatory reform in …
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