ISOs

The Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council plans to begin training and certifying integrators and resellers of payments-security software to address data security gaps software installers may cause, the council announced May 10.

When Square Inc. launched its mobile card reader in 2009, VeriFone Systems Inc. was on its heels with PayWare Mobile. Now the terminal maker’s ready to roll out another rival to Square with a product it calls Sail.

ControlScan Inc. has acquired a company with a product designed to help merchants comply with Payment Card Industry data security standards.

MasterCard Worldwide on May 7 announced PayPass Wallet Services, which when launched later this year will enable bank and merchant customers to make purchases in stores or online by paying with a tap of a smartphone, click of a computer mouse or touch of a tablet screen.

These are still the early days of mobile payments, and so far Singapore leads the world in readiness to use the technology.

Merchants are pleased–but not entirely surprised–to hear that the U.S. Department of Justice's antitrust division is taking a close look at Visa Inc.'s unpopular fixed merchant acquirer fee.

The United States Department of Justice antitrust division opened an investigation March 13 into Visa Inc.'s PIN-debit strategies, including the fixed acquirer fee the network put into effect April 1, Joe Saunders, Visa chairman and CEO, said during a May 2 conference call to discuss earnings with analysts.

The software that ISOs use to run their businesses–sometimes called customer relationship management tools–is coming of age as vendors make their products easier to customize for individual businesses.

It’s official. A study released May 1 by the Federal Reserve Board indicates the so-called Durbin amendment to the Dodd-Frank law has accomplished its mission of essentially halving the average debit card interchange fee acquirers pay card issuers to 23 cents from 43 cents.

A consulting firm that helps companies reduce their transaction costs is now flipping the model upside down to maximize acquirers’ pricing.

First Data Corp. is promoting Dynamic Currency Conversion on two fronts, hoping to place the service with large and small North American retailers.

In its first earnings release as a public company, Vantiv Inc. posted a 23% increase in first quarter net revenue, thanks mainly to merchant services.

Using smartphones to make financial transactions will seem like a normal part of everyday life by 2020, new research suggests.

Citing a number of “unusual items” in Fifth Third Bancorp’s first-quarter earnings report, Dan Poston, the bank’s chief financial officer, assured industry analysts the quarter was “not as noisy as it might seem.”

LAS VEGAS–ISOs face internal and external threats that could put most of them out of business in the next few years, speakers said here April 18 at the Electronic Transactions Association Annual Meeting & Expo.

Established acquirers apparently aren’t content to stand by and let the big tech companies dominate the new market for micromerchant electronic payments.

The reality of Visa Inc.’s new Fixed Acquirer Network Fee will begin to sink in with merchants when they receive their next monthly statements, and most will not greet the new levy warmly, observers say.

In the wake of last month’s announcement of the Global Payments Inc. data breach, the timing seems right for processors to tighten security and accept any risk involved with hacking and fraud, a vendor tells ISO&Agent Weekly.

PayPal Inc. has corralled a deal that brings its PayPal Payments options to the forefront and may pose a threat to ISOs and agents.

ISOs and agents will play a key role in teaching America how to use EMV cards, an executive at a payment-terminal provider says.