Pricing

The average ATM surcharge assessed by banks has risen 4 cents in the past six months, to $1.64, but a drop in ATM foreign fees means banks will collect $4.2 billion in total ATM charges this year, down slightly from the $4.3 billion they took in in 2005. That's according …

The costs of air miles and other perks and rewards account for 44% of bank card interchange, while card issuers' cost of funds and profit margins take 35%, and network branding efforts account for 3%, according to a new report issued this week. Just 13% of the acquirer-paid fee goes …

The reorganization of the Visa bank card association will allow the resulting company to invest in new payments technologies and cultivate promising new acceptance markets, but the ultimate impact on the way the business sets interchange pricing is unknown, says a spokesperson for Visa International, the umbrella organization that has …

Debitman Card Inc., the PIN-debit alternative network to the major card brands, on Monday signed on another issuer, and one of its top executives says more issuer announcements are coming. Getting retailers to issue as well as accept Debitman has been a major initiative for the San Mateo, Calif.-based company, …

How much money financial institutions are making on their ATMs depends very much on where the machines are deployed, but in any case machine margins for banks and independent sales organizations alike are under pressure, forcing deployers to change how they view the technology. That's among findings contained in a …

Bowing to merchant pressure, MasterCard Inc. said Tuesday it will publish its U.S. interchange rates on its Web site and cap interchange fees on certain gasoline purchases. The moves, which will include the first time either of the two major bank card associations has published its interchange rates publicly, follow …

Pittsburgh-based PNC Bank said today it will reimburse its customers for ATM fees they incur when they use other banks' ATMs anywhere in the world. The program, which begins Sept. 1, means the bank's 2 million retail-banking customers will receive rebates for ATM surcharges as well as the so-called foreign …

When online auction giant eBay Inc. barred Google Checkout from its marketplace, the move led to widespread industry speculation that eBay, which owns rival online payment processor PayPal, was discriminating against the weeks-old Google Inc. payment product. But a PayPal executive tells Digital Transactions News eBay's action had nothing to …

Responding to the rapid build-up in popularity of gift cards, a federal banking regulator has issued guidelines telling banks what information they should disclose?and how they should disclose it?to both the buyers and ultimate users of the prepaid plastic. The new rules, which bear on matters such as expiration dates, …

While PIN debit transactions at the point of sale are growing at a torrid pace, the payment application faces major hurdles when it comes to future growth, according to a research report released this week. PIN debit has registered annual growth rates between 35% and 38% since 2003, outpacing the …