News

December, 2005

• 12 December

  Pay By Touch Closes in on ‘Biometric Proxy’ for PIN in Debit Payments

  Debit card transactions authenticated by a biometric scan rather than a PIN will likely start flowing through at least one electronic funds transfer network by the second quarter of 2006, according to Pay By Touch Solutions, a San Francisco-based supplier of fingerprint-authentication systems for point-of-sale electronic payment. Eric Bachman, chief …
• 9 December

  Velocita, TNS, Pepsi Aim at Profits Via Wireless-Vending Payments

  At $18 billion in annual sales, vending machines represent the biggest cash market in the country, and now card processors, networks, and wireless operators have it in their cross-hairs. The latest initiative involves a three-way venture in which Velocita Wireless LP, a a data-network spin-off of Cingular Wireless LLC, is …
• 8 December

  First Integrated Mobile Terminal for E-Check Acceptance Coming Soon

  An integrated device that would allow plumbers, maid services, pizza-delivery people, and other mobile merchants to perform electronic check conversion as well as accept cards will be commercially available by the end of the first quarter of 2006, according to Commerciant LP, the Houston-based company that makes the terminal. The …
• 8 December

  SVPCO Says 8.8 Million Images Make It No. 1 Private-Sector Network

  An image-exchange network controlled by some of the nation's largest banks says volume in the network reached 8.8 million items in November, up 38% over October and nearly 500 times greater than in January, when the system began commercial operation. SVPCO, a unit of New York-based The Clearing House Payments …
• 7 December

  PassMark: RSA-Cyota Deal Endorses Software-Based Authentication

  In the debate between advocates of software-based authentication and backers of hardware devices, the former are winning, and this week's acquisition of Cyota Inc. by RSA Security Inc. proves it, says PassMark Security LLC. “To have the largest token provider in the world recognize no-hardware, two-factor authentication, it clearly endorses …
• 6 December

  Feuding Rivals Pay By Touch, BioPay Merge to Spur Biometrics

  Two bitter rivals in the biometric-payments arena have merged to helped spur adoption of the technology among merchants. Tim Robinson, chief executive of BioPay LLC, which will shortly become part of its largest competitor, Pay By Touch Solutions, as the result of a deal announced today, says the longstanding rivalry …
• 5 December

  Survey: Interest in Micropayments Rising Fast Among Consumers

  The willingness of U.S. consumers to use credit or debit cards to buy things like cups of coffee or cans of soda is rising fast, according to a survey being released this week at a conference in New York on micropayments, or transactions for less than $5. Some 21% of …
• 2 December

  PayPal’s Small Bite of Physical Stored Value May Herald Bigger Things

  In a move that could herald a thrust into the rapidly growing point-of-sale stored-value payments market, PayPal Inc. is processing prepaid accounts behind cafeteria payments for its own employees as well as for those of two other technology companies in Silicon Valley. For the past year, the online-payments processor, a …
• 1 December

  Is the ‘Dirty Little Secret’ of NSF Revenue Hiking Signature-Debit Profits?

  Has the explosion in consumer usage of signature-based debit cards created a bonanza for banks in fees charged for insufficient funds? At least one analyst thinks so. “It's the dirty little secret in the industry,” says Steve Mott, a former MasterCard executive and principal at BetterBuyDesign, a Stamford, Conn., consultancy. …
• 1 December

  ATM-Owning Banks Earn $4.3 Billion As Surcharges Hit Record High

  ATM-owning banks are earning $4.3 billion annually on charges they levy on transactions cardholders perform on so-called foreign machines?ATMs owned by banks where the cardholder is not a customer, according to a semi-annual study released today by Bankrate Inc., North Palm Beach, Fla., an aggregator of financial data. The average …