Economy

MIAMI BEACH, Fla.--Merchant-funded loyalty is getting a great deal of buzz in the card-issuing community, but not all retailers are convinced the programs represent the next big trend.

Strong processing volume among small and midsize merchants and growth in noncard operations contributed to an 13.7% increase in Heartland Payment Systems Inc. first-quarter total revenue, to $467.7 million from $411.2 million during the same period last year. Net income was down 44.4%, to $7.9 million from $14.2 million.

Cardtronics Inc. on May 3 announced the election of Juli Spottiswood to the company’s board of directors. Spottiswood is president and CEO of rewards-program provider Parago Inc.

MasterCard this morning reported a 23.6% surge in first quarter profits, as the number and dollar amount of debit transactions continued to lead its growth.

New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority has developed a Concept of Operations for a contactless fare-payment system, the transit agency announced this week.

Visa Inc. is working with clothing retailer Gap Inc. to deliver discounts to cardholders via mobile phone SMS text messages.

Poor service from an ISO helped convince James McKelvey to co-found Square Inc., the exec told attendees of the 23rd annual Card Forum and Expo co-sponsored by ISO&Agent sister publications PaymentsSource and the American Banker in Miami Beach, Fla.

Visa has invested in Square, a mobile payments start-up founded by the Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey that turns phones and iPads into credit card readers.

Prepaid gift and loyalty cards remain popular value-added services for ISOs looking to enhance their offerings to merchants, but as the prepaid market matures, success at selling requires embracing a few caveats, experts say.

Improving economic conditions and organic growth helped processor Total System Services Inc., or TSYS, report a 3.8% rise in first quarter revenue, to $429.4 million from $413.5 million during the same period last year. Net income was $49.4 million, down 4.6% from $51.8 million.

Despite an ISO’s best efforts, merchants sometimes become disenchanted with value-added services, and that can lead to a shrinking client portfolio.

Where do ISOs look when they want to hire sales agents from outside the acquiring industry? Just about everywhere.

In a common ATM-theft scenario, a burglary ring steals a pickup truck and crashes through the plate-glass window of a convenience store. Once inside, the thieves loop one end of a chain around the ATM and attach the other end to the truck’s trailer hitch or bumper.

Precidia Technologies Inc., a provider of Internet payment and networking products, has announced that its POSLynx220 with TransNet integrated payment has achieved Level 2 certification from U.S. Bancorp’s Elavon Inc.

Central Payment now requires new members of the sales staff to pass their first training course before signing even a single client.

Oracle is throwing cold water on the supposed impending Near Field Communication-driven mobile payments revolution at the point of sale.

Payment-terminal software applications are poised to play a significant role in Near Field Communication payments.

In a common ATM-theft scenario, a burglary ring steals a pickup truck and crashes through the plate-glass window of a convenience store. Once inside, the thieves loop one end of a chain around the ATM and attach the other end to the truck’s trailer hitch or bumper.

ISOs face fierce competition when they try to woo mainstream merchants into signing up for card services, but the playing field becomes decidedly less crowded for ISOs that focus on specific industries and become experts at supplying what those merchants need, one ISO executive suggests.

With card-processing margins under pressure, many ISOs and agents have begun to regard value-added services as a necessity. But which ones should they sell?