Payment processing

In a strained economy, with increased regulation and heightened financial pressure from shareholders, banks are examining more deeply their financial supply chain offerings and increasing the use of automated, electronic payments for corporate transactions.

First Data Corp. is entering the fray of technology vendors offering merchants and retail banks the ability to issue digital deals.

Until the mid 1980s, most fraud went undiagnosed or misreported. The debate today seems to be whether the increasing digital landscape ends up increasing or decreasing fraud overall.

To stay relevant in the hypercompetitive personal financial management space, tech companies like Strands Inc. are trying to distance themselves from the person financial management standard of a one-size-fits-all approach to online budgeting.

Discover Financial Services is partnering with the National Payments Corp. of India, part of the company’s ongoing effort to increase card acceptance abroad by teaming with local networks.

WASHINGTON–The American Bankers Association on March 5 unveiled a task force to develop strategies to ensure an efficient payments market.

LAS VEGAS–The number of EMV payment smart cards shipped worldwide passed the 1 billion mark in 2011, the Smart Payment Association announced here March 5 at the inaugural Cartes in North America Expo & Conference.

Plastic cards likely aren’t going away anytime soon, so some card networks and issuers are creating ways to make cards more valuable to consumers, such as by enabling them to provide access to multiple accounts.

Given the relative lack of cash-management innovation for businesses, there’s a burgeoning tech war among payments firms selling automated views of current and future cash positions in an attempt to win white-label partnerships with banks or contracts with new business clients.

More winners and losers are beginning to emerge from new debit card network-routing rules that go into effect April 1.

Credit unions and community banks served by The Members Group now have access to a fraud-prevention tool that adds flexibility for them and a more hassle-free experience for their cardholders.

Overcoming what Euronet Worldwide Inc. executives called regulatory, competitive and economic pressures, the international electronic funds transfer company on Feb. 20 reported strong fourth-quarter transaction growth and revenue increases.

Ongoing economic turmoil in Europe has hit the card networks unevenly so far.

The front-end authorization and capture and the back-end clearing and settlement platforms at Total System Services Inc., or TSYS, are now enabled to process American Express OnePoint transactions, the processor announced Feb. 16.

ACI Worldwide Inc. reported Feb. 14 that income for the fourth-quarter totaled $23.9 million, down 11.8% from a year earlier, as revenue declined.

Gift card exchange firm Plastic Jungle Inc. hopes to boost transaction speed and available options through a partnership with prepaid products marketer InComm Inc.

InComm Inc. has acquired health care benefits services company Medagate Corp., the prepaid card distributor announced Feb. 13.

Dramatic growth in transaction volume fueled by various new partnerships helped Monitise PLC to report significant gains in revenue and a profit for the second half of 2011, the London-based mobile-money services company reported Feb. 13.

Corporate One Federal Credit Union has signed with Fundtech to offer credit unions automated clearinghouse through Fundtech’s CASHplus and PAYplus-ACH payment systems.

Several billion consumers and 35 million merchants worldwide take the enormous convenience and security of branded payment cards for granted.