ISOs

Fees this year will surpass interest as the payment card industry’s largest income component for the first time, representing 52.7% of total revenue, according to R.K. Hammer, a Thousand Oaks, Calif.-based consultancy.

A startup tokenization-services vendor is seeking independent sales organizations to sell its security measure to merchants.

International Bancard Corp. is looking for ISOs and agents throughout the country to call on and close deals for card-acceptance services with “warm” prospects referred by its new nationwide referral network.

Euronet Worldwide Inc. and financial services software partner Wipit Inc. are hoping to convert cash-paying consumers into “wipit” accountholders with a free mobile-payment application they plan to launch in the fourth quarter.

Fraud-prevention technology provider Kount Inc. is integrating with Zoovy Inc., a vendor of e-commerce software, to protect online merchants from fraud, the companies announced Sept. 30.

Bank of America Corp., the nation’s largest issuer of debit cards, plans to start charging its checking customers $5 per month, or $60 annually, if they use their debit cards to make purchases.

Banks and technology companies betting on mobile payments have to overcome a basic hurdle: most Americans still do not have smartphones.

The vast majority of companies continue to fall short of complying with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard during their initial audit, with 79% failing and 21% getting a passing grade, contends a report Verizon Communications Inc. released Sept. 28.

Isis announced on Sept. 27 that several companies will launch mobile devices that use its NFC and technology standards.

Each merchant seeking to comply with Payment Card Industry data-security standards faces specific challenges based on its business processes, but this year a few common themes are emerging globally, Jeremy King, European director of the PCI Security Standards Council, tells PaymentsSource.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.–Merchants generally welcome new industry guidance and requirements for the security of payment card data through advanced data encryption, but now a host of questions surrounds prospective products and their use, attendees said here last week at the PCI Security Standards Council's annual meeting.

SAN FRANCISCO–To turn online social media into business tools, independent sales organizations should give their communications a personal spin on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+, according to panelists speaking here Sept. 22 at the Eighth Annual Western States Acquirers Association Conference.

SAN FRANCISCO–ISOs and agents no longer have to turn down business from merchants that also want point-of-sale systems with card-acceptance services, a presenter here at the Western States Acquirers Association Eighth Annual Conference told attendees Sept. 21.

SAN FRANCISO–Owning a merchant-services independent sales organization can bring financial and personal independence. But starting one up requires hard work, long hours and a significant amount of cash.

As part of a campaign to protect retailers and restaurant operators from robbers, an independent sales organization is offering a voucher for an AK-47 assault rifle to merchants that sign up for its payment services.

Payments processor and technology provider Jack Henry & Associates Inc. has expanded the processing relationship between its iPay Technologies division and MasterCard Worldwide’s RPPS electronic bill-payment network, the companies announced Sept. 20.

Mocapay Inc. is testing a mobile loyalty and prepaid gift card platform that it intends to make widely available to small merchants in the first quarter of next year, the company’s president tells ISO&Agent Weekly.

Google Inc. may launch its Google Wallet as early as this week, according to reports that suggest the Near Field Communication-based mobile-payment effort officially is getting off the ground.

As cuts in debit card interchange and changes in credit card regulations have threatened to reduce issuer-provided card rewards, some merchants have responded by working with issuers to bolster their rewards offerings. In doing so, those retailers receive a direct line to card-spending consumers and give financial institutions a way to cover their card-rewards costs.

The Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council has issued guidelines for merchants that plan to use advanced data encryption as a credit card data security measure. The guidelines, the council emphasizes, do not constitute standards.