ISOs

The Target Corp. data breach just before the holiday shopping season triggered another round of rhetoric on the merits and shortcomings of chip-based cards. But the breach's direct effect on merchant EMV plans is largely up in the air.

Acquirers say they’re signing up new merchants and retaining established customers with the help of software that “bundles” payment services.

ISOs and agents can lose established clients and miss out on new business if they fail to offer a full complement of loans and merchant cash advances, a vendor warns.

As a new year dawns, ISOs and agents are still wondering whether to regard the industry's new entrants and offerings as competitors, potential allies or a little of both.

In the past few years, the payments industry has experienced a flood of new offerings, from consumer-facing giants like PayPal and Google to Silicon Valley startups such as Square.

One thing appears unlikely to change for ISOs in the year ahead: the rapid rate of change itself. Innovation, competition, disruption and adaptation will continue to characterize the industry

"Operation Choke Point," the federal government's campaign against online payday lenders and collections agencies, is unjustly attacking third-party payment processors, an association official says.

A federal judge has approved the multi-billion dollar settlement of a lawsuit over credit card swipe fees, resolving an eight-year long battle between banks and retailers.

Intrix Technology Inc.,a company that got its start 20 years ago as a supplier of accounting software, made its mark in the acquiring business this year by buying all or part of five merchant portfolios.

The Electronic Transactions Association is rebranding its ETA Annual Meeting and Expo with the new name “TRANSACT 14: Powered by ETA.”

Pivotal Payments, a Montreal-based ISO, announced today that it plans to white-label its merchant reporting tool.

“Operation Choke Point,” the federal government’s campaign against online payday lenders and collections agencies, is unjustly attacking third-party payment processors, an association official says.

If stores seem a little less crowded this holiday season, tablets and smartphones are likely to blame. The volume of e-commerce payments made via mobile devices is surging.

The ATM Industry Association, or ATMIA, is urging payment networks to work with ATM deployers to help keep routing choices flexible.

The FTC's goal of compensating victims of merchant fraud is laudable. But effectuating that goal through a "crackdown" on processors and ISOs, which effectively makes them insurers of merchant fraud, seems misguided.

While Diane Vogt Faro was “growing up” in the payments business, she helped the entire industry mature.

While Diane Vogt Faro was "growing up" in the payments business, she helped the entire industry mature.

Small and medium-sized merchants plan to adopt multichannel retailing in a big way in the next 12 to 24 months, says an executive at SecureNet, an Austin, Texas-based payments processor and acquirer.

Schemes that rely on social engineering and other attacks to steal consumers’ sensitive information are especially dangerous when Americans let down their guard during the holiday season.

As treasurer of the Northeast Acquirers Association, Jacques Breton handles logistics for the regional trade group’s events. He's used that role to help shape the industry.