ISOs

PALM BEACH, Fla.—Handling transactions seems secondary for the tech giants now entering the payments industry, says Diane Offereins, Discover Financial Services executive vice president—payments.

The House Oversight Committee has turned its focus to the role of the Federal Trade Commission in the Operation Choke Point.

ISOs and agents are perpetually seeking new value-added products and services that can generate profit and foster differentiation, and three possibilities have come to light recently.

PayItSimple, a credit card installment provider, is seeking ISOs and agents to promote its no-interest scheme service to merchants.

Ingenico Group is using its experience in EMV-chip terminal upgrades and new momentum from Apple Pay to position itself for the U.S. conversion to smart-card technology.

Apple Pay is poised to foment a technology revolution that could force acquirers to rewrite the job descriptions of their salespeople, says a prominent ISO chief executive.

Apriva has added data analytics and business management tools to its payments software for bank and merchant services clients, along with a Web portal where merchants can review consumer behavior.

It’s no coincidence that Visa Inc. launched its new Visa Token Services the same day Apple unveiled its mobile wallet, according to Matthew Dill, the card brand's senior vice president and head of innovation and strategic partnerships.

It’s time for the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council to work with acquirers to provide merchants with “PCI in a box,” says Stephen Orfei, the council’s new general manager

Apple Inc. has officially unveiled Apple Pay, a mobile payment system in its upcoming line of smartphones and its smartwatch, using a model that involves legacy payment companies but adds a new spin.

Apriva says it has “future-proofed” its services for ISOs by connecting to a digital currency gateway and developing a universal POS application.

Merchant acquirers and processors are looking at a far different payments landscape in light of recent and anticipated developments from the Merchant Customer Exchange, Apple, Amazon.com and other companies.

As the acquiring business becomes increasingly complex, it’s more important than ever for ISOs to recruit, nurture and retain the best independent sales agents, a new study shows.

The Backoff malware that has attacked point of sale systems at hundreds of businesses may accelerate adoption of EMV "chip and PIN" cards and two-factor authentication.

There’s a consensus in the acquiring industry that long-awaited changes in payments technology are bound to take place. But how and when will those changes will occur?

Merchants are still using pedestrian passwords that crooks can easily break, security company Trustwave has found.

Now’s the time for ISOs and agents to convince mom-and-pop merchants to adopt loyalty schemes, experts say.

Global Payments has agreed to enable its clients to accept digital currency in a move that may attract international shoppers to brick-and-mortar merchants.

ISOs and agents can create a profit center by getting the word out to merchants about the need for tokenization.

Brick-and-mortar merchants want POS systems packed with software that helps manage the entire business on the same device they use to accept payments.