Jim Daly   Merchant acquirers are keeping a watchful eye on the bank card networks as the publicly held companies seemingly move onto turf acquirers regard as their own. Are acquirers’ fears about network ambitions justified?       Moving transactions from merchant locations to cardholder accounts and back …

  John Stewart and Jim Daly   The Fed’s Durbin-inspired debit regulation is already radically reshaping the business for merchants, issuers, acquirers, and networks. Here’s how.       Well, it’s all over but the shouting. And, with the ink dry now for more than two months, there isn’t even …

  By Karen Epper Hoffman   A fixture in online gaming, virtual currencies are moving into other digital markets and may break into the physical world. But will acceptance costs and regulatory concerns stymie their growth?       Virtual currency has long been seen as little more than the …

  Linda Punch   Increasingly sophisticated fraud schemes show that personal identification numbers are more vulnerable than once thought. Bring in the reinforcements.       For the past 40 years, personal identification numbers have built an enviable reputation as a nearly inviolable security feature. They’re much more secure than …

  By Peter Lucas   The ACH hasn’t had a substantial change to its settlement windows in years. With the Fed offering same-day clearing and NACHA starting a rule-making process, that’s changing. But is it changing fast enough?       Same-day clearing and settlement of transactions through the automated …

ACI Worldwide Inc. on Thursday sweetened its offer for rival payments-software vendor S1 Corp. Facing stiff resistance from S1’s management, ACI added 50 cents a share to the cash portion of its bid, increasing it from the $5.70 it first offered July 26 to $6.20. It is also offering about …

It won’t be long until payment card acceptance applications and card readers for smart phones are as easy to get in stores as cornflakes or socks. The latest example: Intuit Inc. and Verizon Wireless on Thursday announced that Intuit’s GoPayment mobile application and reader are now available in Verizon Wireless’s …

  n n n n n n n n n n

The heated rivalry between payment-software firms S1 Corp. and ACI Worldwide Inc. for the loyalty of S1’s shareholders took on yet more urgency on Monday as S1 urged owners of its shares to reject an offer from ACI. In a letter to shareholders seeking proxies in support of a proposed …

  Bank ATM managers have slain one dragon, a transition to better data protection with the widespread rollout of the Triple Digital Encryption Standard. Some 99% of ATMs now use Triple DES, according to Aite Group LLC. But according to new survey results, ATM managers are still fighting several others, …