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With its first top executive in place, an industry consortium formed last year to promote the Payment Card Industry data-security standard (PCI) is getting set to elect a board of advisors, launch educational programs for merchants, and conduct a meeting aimed at updating the security rules. The announcements come in …
Read More »Visa Hikes Overall Interchange 0.6%, Effective April 14
In a terse announcement released on Thursday, Visa USA said its overall effective interchange rate for the coming year will be 1.77%, up 0.6% from the 2006 systemwide rate. Without giving further details about its new rates, Visa said it will post a rate card laying out its entire schedule …
Read More »Having Snagged 2Checkout, ATM Direct Aims at More Merchants
A processor that allows consumers to pay online with their PIN debit cards signed its second merchant this week and expects 18 more by the end of the year, including two more this quarter. “I feel good about the conversations we're having now with top online merchants,” says Robert Ziegler, …
Read More »HSBC’s New Rewards Program Could Spark Growth for Tempo
Tempo Payments Inc.'s alliance with HSBC Retail Services appears to be bearing fruit. HSBC's new OptiPay loyalty-rewards PIN-payment program, announced earlier this week, will be the first outside card program to run on Tempo's network. Positioned as a low-cost alternative to the major payment card networks, San Mateo, Calif.-based Tempo …
Read More »Recent Breaches Could Be a Bonanza for a Startup Security Vendor
Recent cases of card-data theft from retailers?and the publicity surrounding them?are apparently generating opportunity for startup security-software companies. “More and more retailers are looking for ways to prevent breaches,” says Mark Buczynski, vice president of marketing at BitArmor Systems Inc., a 4-year-old, Pittsburgh-based company that markets encryption software it has …
Read More »Consumers Blame Merchants Most for Card-Data Security Lapses
As card data breaches continue to garner headlines, retailers may suffer the most in the eyes of U.S. consumers. Some 63% of consumers say merchants do the least to protect credit and debit card information, compared with 16% who say this about transaction processors and 5% who say Visa and …
Read More »Adding QuikTrip, Tempo Payments Pumps Up Its Issuing Ranks
Tempo Payments Inc., the PIN-debit alternative network for retailers, has signed another large gas-station/convenience-store chain to its issuing ranks. Tulsa, Okla.-based QuikTrip Corp. will offer a rewards card program in a phased rollout beginning in the second quarter involving 50 stores in an unspecified market, Tempo announced this week. Privately …
Read More »Survey: Mass Reissuance May Be Overkill in Merchant Breach Cases
A recent survey indicates debit card issuers may be overreacting to database breaches that compromise card data held by merchants. Nine out of 10 debit card issuers have received notice in the last few years that their cards could have been compromised in a breach, and of these, some 87% …
Read More »Visa Chief Lays out Prepaid Plan, Calls for Outreach to Regulators
Visa USA's chief executive on Wednesday outlined a multimarket strategy for prepaid cards, while announcing that convenience-store titan 7-Eleven Inc. has joined Visa's fledgling prepaid reload network and calling for greater efforts to educate regulators about the unique characteristics of prepaid plastic. “There's an incredible opportunity [in the prepaid market],” …
Read More »Police Arrest Four in Stop & Shop Breach As Legislation Looms
Hackers frequently go free, but Coventry, R.I., police late Monday night arrested four California men suspected in the recent theft of debit and credit card data from PIN pads at grocery-store chain Stop & Shop Supermarket Cos. While the arrests are certainly good news to Stop & Shop and banks, …
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