News

February, 2006

• 16 February

  Inconsistency Threatens Contactless-Payment Rollouts, Expert Warns

  For all the progress banks and merchants have made so far with contactless payments, further success is threatened by inconsistent approval criteria for components ranging from chips to readers, an expert in radio-frequency-based payment warns. That inconsistency, he says, is driving up costs and breeding frustration among vendors. “It's just …
• 15 February

  Interchange Caps Not Wanted, C-Stores Chief Tells Congress

  The battle over interchange, which has already spawned some 47 antitrust suits against the bank card networks and major banks, reached the U.S. Congress today as advocates for both retailers and banks traded sometimes barbed arguments before a panel holding a one-day hearing to look into the networks' pricing mechanism. …
• 14 February

  December Brought No Holiday Cheer to Those Fretting over Phishing

  December was an ominous month for banks, retailers, processors, and other service providers concerned about the safety of the Internet commerce channel. Although the reported number of phishing incidents declined in the last month of last year, that drop masked alarming increases in the number of malicious Web sites launching …
• 13 February

  Discover Unveils a Signature Debit Card, Though No Issuers Yet

  Morgan Stanley's Discover Financial Services LLC today launched a signature-based debit card, dubbed Discover Debit, as the second major prong in its debit card offensive. Because signature-based debit delivers higher income to issuers than PIN debit, observers have looked for such a product from Discover ever since the Riverwoods, Ill.-based …
• 13 February

  Heartland Buys Debitek, Pushes Deeper into Small-Value Payments

  Heartland Payment Systems Inc., a publicly held acquiring processor based in Princeton, N.J., announced today it has acquired Debitek, a provider of closed-loop stored-value systems based in Chattanooga, Tenn., from terminal maker Ingenico Corp. Terms of the transaction, which was structured as a stock purchase, were not disclosed. The deal …
• 10 February

  Could Merchants Use POS Readers, M-Wallet to Skirt Interchange?

  In building out a network of point-of-sale readers to accept their contactless cards and tokens, banks and their card associations could be creating an infrastructure that will also support payments based on new mobile-payment technologies like Motorola Corp.'s M-Wallet software that could bypass the lucrative credit card interchange system, one …
• 9 February

  Motorola Looks to Start Commercial M-Wallet Service by Summer

  Motorola Inc.'s new payment software for mobile phones, called M-Wallet, will begin commercial rollout within three to six months with wireless carriers, the Schaumburg, Ill.-based technology company tells Digital Transactions News. A test of M-Wallet is already in progress, officials say, though they can't give details. The company is in …
• 9 February

  SVPCO: Costly IRDs Are Now Just 20% of Image-Exchange Volume

  When the Check Clearing Act for the 21st Century (Check 21) went into effect in October 2004, experts predicted it would be years before banks weaned themselves from the so-called image-replacement documents provided for in the law. These IRDs are paper printouts of check images that travel the last mile …
• 8 February

  A Processing Exec Outlines Practical Steps to Save on Interchange

  Merchants upset about interchange pricing may or may not ultimately prevail in their pending litigation against the bank card networks, but any outcome is likely to be years away. For now, there are practical steps retailers and service providers can take to cut acceptance costs, an executive with a major …
• 7 February

  SVPCO Reports Another Month of Steady Build in Image Volume

  The promise of Check 21 may be unfolding more slowly than enthusiasts would like, but the country's largest image-exchange network recorded another gain in volume in January. New York-based SVPCO, part of the The Clearing House Payments Co., which is owned by many of the nation's largest banks, handled 13.9 …