Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
Frustration with electronic-transaction pricing may be reaching a boiling point in the supermarket industry, says one expert who keeps an eye on payments issues at the National Grocers Association, an Arlington, Va.-based trade group that includes independent supermarkets and wholesalers among its 12,000-plus members. Interchange and other costs for credit …
Read More »McDonald’s Expands Its Test of Self-Serve Kiosks
Having spread rapidly in the past year at airports, self-service transaction technology is starting to make inroads in the lodging and fast-food industries. McDonald's Corp., Oak Brook, Ill., has tested kiosks at a handful of its corporate-owned stores in Raleigh, N.C., and in Denver, and within the past few weeks …
Read More »PayPal Pays $150,000, Clarifies Terms to Settle New York Case
PayPal agreed today to pay the state of New York $150,000 and clarify its user agreement as part of a settlement of a case brought against the San Jose, Calif.-based online payments processor by the New York state attorney general's office. In the settlement, PayPal, a unit of online auction …
Read More »Visa Names Rodrigues to Succeed Williamson as CEO
Christopher J. Rodrigues, group chief executive of U.K.-based banking firm Bradford & Bingley, is the new president and chief executive of Visa International, the bank card network announced today. Rodrigues, 54, will take over June 1 from William Boardman, chairman of Visas International's board, who is serving as interim chief …
Read More »Visa USA’s Top Marketer Quits to Go to Schwab
On the same day that Visa International gained a new chief executive, Visa USA lost its top marketing officer. Rebecca Saeger, executive vice president for brand management, is leaving to take a senior marketing post at Charles Schwab & Co. Inc. in San Francisco, according to an internal announcement distributed …
Read More »Lightbridge Pays $82 Million to Buy Authorize.net
Lightbridge Inc., a Burlington, Mass.-based provider of software and transaction services to wireless telecommunications carriers, today announced it is buying Authorize.net for $82 million in cash in a deal expected to close by June 30. Eight-year-old Authorize.net is an American Fork, Utah-based subsidiary of InfoSpace Inc., Bellevue, Wash. It provides …
Read More »Information Architects Enters the Biometric Transaction Market
Information Architects Corp., a Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based provider of Web-based employee-screening technology, has announced it is entering the market for electronic point-of-sale transactions secured by cardholders' fingerprints. The company says it has acquired a U.S. patent (6,270,011 B1) that covers a fingerprint-scanning methodology for credit cards via scanners deployed at …
Read More »Visa Hikes Credit Card Fees to Blunt AmEx’s Thrust
Visa USA's increase in credit card interchange rates, announced today, are intended to help the giant bank card network keep its members' business in the face of recent efforts by American Express Co. to court banks as issuers of its cards, Visa says. As expected by many observers, Visa today …
Read More »Taco Bueno Signs up for Cards Throughout Its System
Carrollton, Tex.-based Taco Bueno Restaurants Inc. has become the latest quick-service restaurant chain to begin accepting credit and debit cards. Paymentech L.P., a Dallas-based transaction processor owned by First Data Corp. and Bank One, announced today it will provide processing services for card acceptance at all 124 Taco Bueno locations, …
Read More »MasterCard Buys TowerGroup to Beef Up Its Research Unit
MasterCard International today announced it is acquiring TowerGroup, the Needham, Mass.-based research firm, from Reuters PLC for an undisclosed price. The 11-year-old TowerGroup, which focuses on payments-technology and financial-services research, will become part of MasterCard Advisors, a subsidiary through which the bank card company operates an existing research and advisory …
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