News

August, 2010

• 23 August

  Blackhawk Makes a Big Jump into Reloadable Prepaid Cards

  Blackhawk Network, the supermarket-based prepaid card specialist firmly rooted in gift cards, announced on Monday its first major foray into general-purpose reloadable (GPR) prepaid cards. The move puts Blackhawk into direct competition with powerhouses Green Dot Corp. and NetSpend Inc., but that’s okay, according to chief marketing officer Teri Llach. …
• 20 August

  Latest ACH Stats Reflect Consumer Shift to Electronic Bill Pay

  Overall automated clearing house transaction volumes grew only 1.5% in the second quarter versus the year-earlier period, but most of the electronic-check ACH applications grew faster. The notable exception was ARC, for accounts-receivable conversion of bill payments sent to lockboxes. Continuing a trend that started two years ago and likely …
• 19 August

  Elavon’s New Boss Aims to Strengthen Processor’s Game Plan

  Merchant processing is one of the bright stars in U.S. Bancorp’s firmament, and Mike Passilla, the new boss of the Minneapolis-based banking firm’s Elavon merchant-acquiring subsidiary, aims to keep payments shining. Passilla on Monday became president and chief executive of Atlanta-based Elavon, which serves 1.2 million merchants in North America …
• 19 August

  Mobile Deposit Capture Takes Strides with PayPal And a Mitek Patent

  Mobile remote deposit capture took a couple of steps forward over the past week, though how big those steps are won’t be known for a while. First, alternative payments leader PayPal Inc. indicated that it was configuring its application for Apple Inc.’s iPhone to handle mobile remote deposit. And mobile …
• 17 August

  Two Years in Coming, an IRS Reporting Rule Takes Effect

  While the payment card industry is bracing for debit card interchange and other regulations that will come next year from the Federal Reserve as a result of the new financial-reform law, merchant acquirers on Monday got a long-anticipated reporting rule. Beginning with the 2011 tax year, acquirers must report how …
• 17 August

  A Survey Reveals a Rising Volume of Disputed ACH Debits

  Transaction volumes are rising on the automated clearing house, but a recently released survey shows a nasty side effect of this growth is a rise in the volume of disputed transactions. Some 63% of processors and financial institutions reported they handled more disputed, or unauthorized, payments last year than in …
• 16 August

  Eye on M-Commerce: Google Talks to eBay; Apple Hires NFC Expert

  In a move that could generate significant incremental sales on its Android Market, Google Inc. is reportedly in talks with eBay Inc. about using PayPal as a payment method for applications that run on its hugely popular Android operating system for smart phones. But the talks aren’t likely to open …
• 12 August

  PCI Council Tweaks Rules to Clarify Issues Like Scope of Assessment

  The PCI Security Standards Council on Thursday gave a sneak peek at planned changes in the Payment Card Industry data-security standard, or PCI. While a Council document outlines 15 planned changes, the proposals are “relatively minor,” according to a news release. “The No. 1 thing again is greater clarity on …
• 12 August

  Instant Debit Card Issuance On the Rise, But Have Rewards Peaked?

  With interchange and overdraft-fee revenues under withering political and regulatory attack, debit card issuers can point to one bright spot in their quest for growth—instance issuance of cards in bank and credit-union branches. Some 35% of financial institutions offered the service in 2009, up from 28% in 2008, according to …
• 11 August

  A New U.S. Treasury Rule Would Add Millions to Prepaid Ranks

  A proposed rule from the U.S. Treasury Department could add millions of users to a prepaid card program sponsored by the federal government to distribute Social Security benefits. The new rule, which would eliminate virtually all paper checks for various federal benefits, would expand the range of benefits that can …