Ed McKinley

The Electronic Transactions Association has wrapped up the first year of testing for its Certified Payments Professional credential, a designation intended to indicate knowledge of the acquiring industry.

The Electronic Transactions Association is remaining true to its original constituents in the acquiring business, even as it opens the doors to other types of companies, according to the trade group’s CEO.

Irish-based Monex Financial Systems Ltd. is looking for American independent sales organizations interested in profiting from card transactions made here by visitors from abroad.

Total System Services Inc., or TSYS, has signed a long-term agreement to provide point of sale services, authorization, settlement, reporting, managed services and risk mitigation for independent sales organizations that work with Merrick Bank, a subsidiary of CardWorks Inc.

Typical acquirers — including banks, processors and independent sales organizations — stand to lose up to 5% of their business next month because of problems with Internal Revenue Service 1099K reporting, a tax expert says.

Capital Access Network, Inc., a small-business finance provider, has named an advisory board to guide the launch and growth of its latest offering to small businesses, CapTap.

Merchant Warehouse, a Boston-based ISO, has certified Combase USA as an integrated partner on the Merchant Warehouse Genius ITX Customer Engagement Platform.

Payment Alliance International, a Louisville, Ky.-based ISO and independent ATM supplier, is working with Cash Connect, a supplier of cash vault services, to offer vault cash and cash forecasting.

Clearent's new application status report gives ISOs and agents insight into the status of merchant applications.

Financial Transaction Services has acquired Dependable Payment Processing and Discount Payment Processing two affiliated, Pittsburgh-based companies collectively known as DPP that provide electronic payment processing services.

Better ATM Services offers open-loop Visa prepaid cards through ATMs, but such one-size-fits-all cards don't appeal to all consumers. To appeal to shoppers who prefer closed-loop gift cards, Better ATM is testing cards that work at nine merchants.

Six or so interrelated events have aligned to help a U.S.-based independent sales organization expand into a global processor operating in 41 countries.

An online yellow pages company is offering independent sales organizations and sales agents a bundle of marketing tools to promote to merchants.

The vast majority of small merchants are still storing unencrypted card data and most don't even know it, according to statistics compiled by a security vendor.

It’s time for the acquiring industry to think about security in broader terms, a compliance and breach reporting vendor says.

First Data and Fexco Merchant Services, an Irish-based transaction processor, have expanded First Data's GlobalChoice dynamic currency conversion into Canada.

Network Merchants Inc. has launched the iProcess Mobile Gateway Service, a standalone mobile service for merchants that want to process credit cards through mobile devices.

Global eTelecom Inc. and transmodus have integrated GETl’s check and ACH processing into the linked2pay payment gateway.

Small retailers still aren’t catching on to the Payment Card Industry data security standards, according to recent survey results.

Taking a cue from the insurance business, Priority Payment Systems is lending its name, prestige and marketing power to its independent sales organizations and sales agents.