Headlines:
Direct Web Payment Gets Test in Canada U.S. Bancorp Touts Speedier Bill Pay Conn. Bankers' Bank Switching to Fidelity NCHA Set to Enroll Des Moines Group
Direct Web Payment Gets Test in Canada
Acxsys Corp., which helped build Canada's Interac national PIN network, is testing a service that routes consumers' online purchases through their banks' online bill payment systems.
Credit cards dominate online shopping payments, but Interac Online lets banks issue credits directly to the merchant from a consumer's bank account. The service is similar to an automated clearing house credit-push service being pilot tested in the U.S.
Kevin Tait, a spokesman for the Toronto payment processor Moneris Solutions Corp., said Monday that it had recently settled the first Interac Online transaction.
Users of participating merchants' Web sites click on the Interac Online link, which takes them to a page where they select their bank. Clicking on a bank link opens a new browser window, where users can then log in to their bank's site and authorize a payment.
Mr. Tait said the service would appeal to people who are wary of giving merchants their credit card information.
"The merchant at no time is involved with that banking transaction," he said. "No information is shared with them, which is great for the consumers."
Moneris, which is co-owned by Royal Bank of Canada and Bank of Montreal, said the first Interac Online transaction was for a purchase at DVDsoon.com. Compu-Smart and Circuit City Stores Inc. have also said they plan to start accepting the payments soon.
The service is expected to be widely available in Canada by late August, in time for the back-to-school season, Mr. Tait said.
U.S. Bancorp Touts Speedier Bill Pay
U.S. Bancorp is offering its online banking customers faster bill payment services.
The Minneapolis company said Monday that its updated system allows it to process many consumer bill payments the day they are initiated or the next day.
Steve SaLoutos, U.S. Bancorp's senior vice president of consumer products and services, said in a press release that "these enhancements are part of our continued effort to make Internet banking and bill pay faster, easier, and safer."
U.S. Bank is a longtime customer of CheckFree Corp., which has said that it can provide faster settlement by creating direct electronic connections between its own payment systems and those of some billers.
Conn. Bankers' Bank Switching to Fidelity
Bankers' Bank Northeast of Glastonbury, Conn., plans to shift its core processing to a system offered by Fidelity National Financial Inc.
The Jacksonville, Fla., banking technology provider said Tuesday that the conversion is scheduled to begin in the third quarter and that once it is completed four of the country's 21 bankers' banks would be using Fidelity's core software.
Bankers' Bank Northeast will use Fidelity's BancLine package, which Fidelity said it had modified specifically for this niche. Bankers' banks offer banking services to community banks, usually allowing them to provide products that they may not be able to offer on their own.
"The bankers' bank concept is unique," said Peter J. Sposito, the president of Bankers' Bank Northeast, in Fidelity's press release. "Fidelity understands that our needs are different than those of a retail bank, and they are willing to address those unique demands."
NCHA Set to Enroll Des Moines Group
The National Clearing House Association said Monday that the Des Moines Clearing House Association plans to convert to the NCHA National Settlement System in July or August for settling check payments among its 11 member banks.
The NCHA, of Dallas, said the Iowa organization would be the 22nd clearing house to choose it to provide settlement services, and would join more than 550 current bank and credit union participants.
The Dallas-based group says it settles 6.6 billion items a year, about 55% of all checks cleared that do not pass through the Federal Reserve banks.
