Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
Fraudsters have started using computer files that allow them to instantly create a phishing site on a compromised computer, a move that could make their activities harder to detect, a report from RSA Security Inc. says. The Bedford, Mass.-based security firm's Anti-Fraud Command Center has discovered what it calls a …
Read More »Theft of 2.3 Million Certegy Records Triggers Debate over Inside Jobs
Payment companies devote countless hours and millions of dollars to protecting sensitive customer and payment data from outside computer hackers, but the theft of 2.3 million customer records announced today by check and card processor Fidelity National Information Services Inc. (FIS) shows that employee theft remains a serious?and difficult?problem to …
Read More »With an Eye on EFT, Fidelity Picks up eFunds with a $1.8 Billion Bid
The strategic review that payment processor eFunds Corp. disclosed May 9 ended today with the announcement that another processor, Jacksonville, Fla.-based Fidelity National Information Services Inc. (FIS), will buy e-Funds for $1.8 billion in cash. The purchase price of $36.50 per share represents a 5.5% premium over eFunds' Tuesday closing …
Read More »The Fed Says Just Four Check Sites Will Handle Paper by 2011
After years of steadily reducing the number of offices processing checks, the Federal Reserve Banks announced on Tuesday they plan to have just four regional centers providing paper check processing services by March 2011. Since the Fed system began restructuring its check-processing operations in 2003, it has already cut the …
Read More »Litigation, Divergent Europe Among Risks Visa IPO Faces
Like MasterCard Inc. last year and Discover Financial Services LLC later this week, Visa Inc. is preparing to become the third standalone, publicly traded payment network. But a registration statement Visa filed Friday raises plenty of questions about the risks the world's largest card network faces in a litigious and …
Read More »Another Rival for NACHA?with an International Flair
Internet payments company Saf-T-Pay Corp. is about to roll out a system that taps consumers' demand-deposit accounts and bears similarities to those being promoted by NACHA?The Electronic Payments Association and tech company MODASolutions Inc. But Miami Beach, Fla.-based Saf-T-Pay says it has an easy-to-use solution that already is gaining credibility …
Read More »How TransFirst’s New Boss Sizes up the Processor’s Opportunities
Former First Data Corp. executive John Shlonsky, who took over this week as president and chief executive of TransFirst LLC, says he plans to lead the Dallas-based transaction processor into a wide array of new markets with backing from the company's new owner, private-equity firm Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe. …
Read More »TJX Confronts Another Big Bill Linked to Card-Data Breach
The bills from the computer hacking at off-price retailer The TJX Cos. that compromised at least 45.7 million credit and debit cards keep rolling in. The Framingham, Mass.-based operator of the T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, and other chains took a pre-tax charge of $20 million ($12 million after-tax) to cover investigative, …
Read More »As Account-Level Processing Takes Shape, Acquirer Impact Unclear
More than three years in the making, so-called account-level processing is moving closer to reality at Visa USA. The new process affecting Visa-branded consumer cards will allow a credit cardholder to keep the same account number even if his issuer upgrades his card. Visa claims ALP will allow smoother transitions …
Read More »Mobile Web Surfers Soar As Payments Players Rev up M-Commerce
Just as U.S. banks and merchants rev up plans for mobile commerce, U.S. mobile phone users are accessing the mobile Web more than ever, with a particularly strong spurt of growth in usage over the past year. Some 21% of worldwide links to the mobile Internet through a platform operated …
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