Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
After five years of development, Boca Raton, Fla.-based startup ECOM Financial Corp. is planning to introduce an anonymous, disposable prepaid card that will clear transactions through the MasterCard network and be usable for purchases on the Internet as well as at the point of sale. The company, which says it …
Read More »HSBC Joins the Ranks of Issuers of Contactless Debit Cards
HSBC Bank USA N.A. has become the third U.S. bank to add contactless payment technology to its debit cards. The bank said today it has begun issuing MasterCard-branded debit cards equipped with MasterCard's PayPass system, and plans to issue 1 million of the cards by the end of the year. …
Read More »Cardtronics’ ATM Network Doubles While Surcharge Margin Sags
Second-quarter financial results from Houston-based Cardtronics Inc. show the country's largest non-bank ATM operator has more than doubled the number of ATMs it runs, to 26,241, in the year from June 30, 2004, primarily owing to its $106-million acquisition in June last year of E*Trade Financial Services' portfolio of 15,000 …
Read More »Peppercoin Processes Cell-Phone Parking Payments in Las Vegas
Reino Enforcement Technology on Wednesday will begin processing parking fees on 15 meters in downtown Las Vegas through Peppercoin Inc.'s micropayment platform. The meters, which control 150 parking spaces in the city's business district, allow drivers to charge initial parking fees, as well as additional time, to credit and debit …
Read More »ORC Looks to Three PIN-less Debit Pilots This Year, Eyes Stored Value
Electronic bill-payment processor Online Resources Corp. plans to have three PIN-less debit pilots live by year's end, says Matthew P. Lawlor, chief executive of the Chantilly, Va.-based company. He sees high potential for the product in the stored-value and debt-collections markets, and hints the pilots will be aimed at these …
Read More »Citi Plans to Roll out 2.5 Million PayPass Key Fobs for RFID Debit
Citigroup Inc. plans to roll out 2.5 million key fobs for contactless debit card payment following a launch of the technology this fall in the New York area, the banking giant announced today. The so-called tap-and-go transaction devices will fit on consumer's keychains, and will be based on MasterCard International's …
Read More »C-Sam Touts ‘Wallet’ Software to Spark Mobile Payments in the U.S.
A small, privately held company based in the outskirts of Chicago figures it has the platform on which mobile payments will take off in the U.S., a market that up to now has not been favorable for handheld-based transactions. By the end of the year, C-Sam Inc. plans to have …
Read More »Losses to Phishing Less Than 1% of All Fraud on PIN Debit, Report Says
Concerns about fraud losses owing to the rapidly growing phishing trend may be overblown, at least when it comes to PIN debit at ATMs and the point of sale, according to new research from TowerGroup, a Needham, Mass.-based research firm owned by MasterCard International. While the number of reported phishing …
Read More »The Dark Side of Stored Value: Bad Debt for Web Retailers
The booming business in gift and other stored-value cards, which represent an increasing share of sales for merchants of all sizes, is beginning to have an ominous side effect for online merchants: a hike in bad debt. The prepaid plastic, which carries a fixed value in cash and can benefit …
Read More »Some Experts Question Gartner’s $2.75 Billion Debit Fraud Estimate
A major research firm's estimate this week that fraud losses on debit cards in the U.S. hit an estimated $2.75 billion for the 12 months ending in May might have struck a nerve, especially in the absence of hard data on the problem, but it also has experts raising questions …
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