Payment processing

Sage Group PLC plans to provide cardholder-present payments processing in the United Kingdom and Ireland through a £16.7 million (U.S. $26.3 million) purchase of Dublin-based Integral Computers Ltd., the software provider announced Feb. 7.

Navigant Credit Union has chosen Fiserv Inc.’s Acumen account processing service with ASP delivery.

MoneyGram International Inc. once again produced strong revenue growth during the fourth quarter fueled by introducing funds-transfer services to developing nations. But costs associated with retiring debt and restructuring the company to become more competitive cut deeply into its profits during the quarter.

Datacard Group has made an investment in DeviceFidelity Inc., the maker of instant card-issuance technology announced Feb. 6.

This story was updated Feb. 6 to clarify the status of Fiserv's relationship with Bank of America Corp.

The Department of Justice has closed its investigation into the proposed merger between ACI Worldwide Inc. and S1 Corp., the companies announced Feb. 3.

Buoyed by higher revenue from processing and services, Fiserv Inc. on Feb. 2 reported fourth-quarter net income of $143 million, up 23% from a year earlier.

Buoyed by the improving global economy and strong growth in processed transactions, MasterCard Worldwide on Feb. 2 reported fourth quarter net revenue of $1.73 billion, up 20.1% compared with $1.44 billion the same period a year earlier.

First Data Corp. expects to benefit this year when the last measure of the new debit-interchange legislation under the Durbin amendment takes hold on April 1, requiring financial institutions with more than $10 billion in assets to have at least two processing networks on their debit cards.

Core banking provider Jack Henry & Associates Inc. logged a strong fiscal second quarter, largely because revenue growth in its electronic payments unit is moving like a juggernaut.

Citing a $115 million decline in debit-network fees, First Data Corp. saw its fourth-quarter consolidated revenue decline by 1.5%, to $2.69 billion from $2.73 billion a year earlier, the Atlanta-based card processor reported Feb. 1.

MasterCard Worldwide didn’t come right out and say it, but the card brand is encouraging U.S. issuers and merchants to embrace chip-and-PIN technology as part of a migration to the EMV smart card security standard in the next three years.

WASHINGTON–The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. alerted its banks Jan. 31 of heightened risks from working with payment processors.

Identity security and mobile payments are driving merger-and-acquisition activity in the payments industry as large companies strive to keep up with each other and the latest technology.

Increased consumer spending on credit cards in North America and Europe was enough to have executives from Total System Services Inc. singing the praises of solid fourth-quarter earnings and, for the time being, soft-pedaling the potential future loss of Green Dot Corp.’s processing business.

Green Dot Corp. has purchased some assets of eCommLink, allowing it to move its processing in-house, the Prepaid card marketer said Jan. 24.

Bank of America Corp. is working with Cardlytics Inc. to test an online rewards system called BankAmeriDeals.

Client-transaction volume increases fueled card processing revenue, resulting in a 7.3% increase in fourth quarter revenue for Total Systems Services Inc., or TSYS, the company announced Jan. 24.

The Justice Department has again delayed its decision on the ACI Worldwide Inc. acquisition of S1 Corp., prompting ACI to extend the closing of the acquisition until Feb. 10.

It may be as close to a David versus Goliath story that the payments industry can muster in the United Kingdom.