Economy

The delay some lawmakers are seeking in implementing proposed new debit-interchange rules would represent a “huge handout” to large banks that do not deserve another bailout by consumers and businesses, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., told reporters March 24 during a teleconference outlining his opposition to a delay.

Hewlett-Packard Co. wants it known that its business interests extend beyond personal computers and printers. They also touch the payments industry in a significant way.

Payments-software company ACI Worldwide Inc. has acquired payments-software provider ISD Corp. for an undisclosed amount, a move that adds 140 retailers to ACI’s client base, Carolyn Homberger, ACI vice president of programs and operations, tells PaymentsSource.

Payments industry experts are volunteering to establish best-practice recommendations for integrated payments through ATMs in conjunction with the ATM Integrated Payments Standards Forum organized by the ATM Industry Association’s International Payments Forum, the association announced March 22.

IP Commerce Inc. will use Retail Decision Ltd.’s fraud-prevention service to help small merchants and application developers combat card-not-present fraud, the London-based card-fraud prevention and payment-processing company announced March 22.

WESTON, Fla.–Independent sales organizations, concerned about how proposed new debit-interchange rules may affect their operations, are gearing up for changes in the ISO landscape even as experts say it is too soon to know the shape those changes ultimately might take.

Accertify has launched Accertify Chargeback Service, a comprehensive charge-back management platform designed to help merchants save time, cut operational costs and retain revenue, the transaction-screening services provider announced March 23.

WESTON, Fla.–Certain details surrounding new Internal Revenue Service rules requiring payment processors and acquirers to track merchants’ transactions and report them to the IRS remain unclear, but help is on the way.

Responding to growing concerns about cardholder data being exposed when merchants process payments over the telephone, the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council on March 18 announced guidelines for handling and storing card data within audio recordings at call centers.

More ISOs and agents could begin mining an overlooked “merchant” category. The Girl Scouts of Ohio’s Heartland Council has begun using AppNinjas Inc.’s Swipe Credit Card Terminal for iPhone to accept credit and debit cards from consumers buying members’ cookies.

ISOs and agents are continuing to offer processing services for mobile acceptance devices despite the risk some say might arise from a lack of technical standards.

Dm-drogerie markt GmbH + Co. KG, one of the top two drugstore chains in Germany, is deploying more than 3,700 Hypercom Artema Hybrid payment terminals at its nearly 1,200 retail outlets nationwide, terminal maker Hypercom Corp. announced March 15.

Guest Column

Continued global expansion of EMV smart card programs helped drive revenue and profit growth last year for Gemalto NV’s Secure Transactions unit, which includes banking cards, the France-based smart card vendor announced March 11.

A federal judge has dismissed a shareholder class-action lawsuit brought against VeriFone Systems Inc. following a restatement of three quarters from its 2007 fiscal year caused by accounting errors, VeriFone announced March 9.

Hundreds of neighborhood businesses are calling on the Federal Reserve Board to proceed with the debit interchange provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act in hopes of passing on the savings back to their communities.

The expanding array of services offering merchants advanced encryption of sensitive payment card data is causing competition to heat up among purveyors already jockeying for dominance by touting each product’s specific advantages.

High-tech hackers capable of breaking into sophisticated networks may be what many small-business owners envision when hearing about data-security risks. In their minds, such breaches are more likely to plague a corporate retail giant than a small, family-run shop.

Heartland Payment Systems Inc.’s Steve Elefant readily admits software-based payment-acceptance products are less secure than those requiring hardware. But that did not prevent the payments processor from supporting Acculynk Inc.’s PaySecure checkout software, which enables merchants to accept PIN-debit cards online.