Bullish on the prospects of electronic wallets residing on smart phones equipped with near field communication (NFC) chips, leading point-of-sale terminal maker VeriFone Systems Inc. says that topline revenues from software, services, and equipment for NFC wallets could increase in the United States between $100 to $150 million, and …

P2P Books a Fast Ride on EFT Rails Thanks to new agreements involving two major electronic funds transfer networks, person-to-person (P2P) electronic payments are poised to get a whole lot faster. Under a deal announced in February, NYCE Payments Network LLC will offer CashEdge Inc.’s Popmoney person-to-person payments service to …

Congress heard conflicting testimony Thursday on whether implementation of new debit card restrictions should be delayed. The rules, which were proposed by the Federal Reserve in December as directed by the Durbin Amendment to the Dodd-Frank Act, came under attack in House of Representatives subcommittee testimony from financial-institution and network …

The bane of payment cards and to a lesser extent demand-deposit accounts, identity fraud took less of a toll by some measures in 2010 than it has in the seven preceding years, according to new findings from Javelin Strategy & Research. Javelin’s annual study found that 3.5% of U.S. adults …

Every corporate merger presents risks to the companies involved and their owners, employees, and customers. Leading U.S.-based point-of-sale terminal maker VeriFone Systems Inc.’s planned takeover of smaller rival Hypercom Corp. is no exception: a recent regulatory filing detailing VeriFone’s merger plans devotes 26 pages to a host of risks. Of …

Payments companies ranging from leading merchant processors to prepaid card and ATM managers reported transaction growth in the third quarter, but some also faced pricing pressures and other drags on the bottom line. –No. 1 payment processor First Data Corp. said transactions in its merchant-processing unit called Retail and Alliance …

Recognizing that sloppy payment-processing software installations can lead to data breaches, Visa Inc. on Tuesday issued what it calls the top 10 best practices for secure software management. Visa is aiming the guidance mostly at third-party software vendors, integrators, value-added resellers (VARs), and others that sell or license card-processing applications …

Talks under way between processor First Data Corp. and banking giant JPMorgan Chase & Co. indicate Chase Paymentech Solutions LLC, the world's largest merchant acquirer, might be split between its two owners, according to documents filed this week with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Greenwood Village, Colo.-based First Data, which …

As part of its efforts to rationalize its operations, First Data Corp. plans to consolidate its 12 U.S. data centers into three over a two-year period starting in the second quarter, according to a quarterly report the processing giant filed this week with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The total …

While First Data Corp. vows to contest action by the Department of Justice to stop its acquisition of Concord EFS, industry observers say the Denver-based processing giant may have good reason to fight for a stronger position in the market for debit transactions secured by personal identification numbers. The $7.3 …