Payment processing

Merchants have warmed up to the idea of banding together to fight fraud in recent years, and First Data Corp.’s improved fraud-detection system that anonymously shares information about the online purchases of client retailers’ customers could help to accomplish their fraud-detection needs.

FreedomPay Inc. is opening up its payment and transaction gateway to third-party developers, the company announced April 8.

The top banks once uniformly processed large payments before small ones. Now they're processing high to low, low to high and everything in between.

Isis, the mobile payment venture founded by AT&T Inc., Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile USA, said it is opening up its network and preparing for a pilot next year.

Transaction processor First Data Corp. has launched Fraud FlexDetect, an e-commerce fraud-detection and prevention service, in collaboration with Accertify Inc., the companies announced April 4.

Consumers in Taiwan soon might not be able to pay for gas using their credit cards because the state-owned gas retailer later this year may be without a credit card processor.

The French terminal maker Ingenico SA said Monday that it is buying Hypercom Corp.'s U.S. payment systems business for $54 million.

Global Payments Inc. is trying to offset weak margins on its ISO-driven United States business by building strength abroad, an analyst says. In the short run, that leaves the Atlanta-based merchant processor with strong revenue growth and flat income.

Vivotech Inc.’s attempt to acquire a piece of Hypercom Corp. could be a move to resist the effects of consolidation among larger terminal makers.

MoneyGram International has hired former DolEx Dollar Express Inc. head George Zelinski as its vice president for Central America, South America and the Caribbean regions, the company announced March 31.

Merchant processor Global Payments Inc. on March 31 reported net income of $47.8 million for its fiscal third quarter ended Feb. 28, down 1% from $48.5 million during the same period last year. Revenues, however, increased by 15%, to $456.4 million from $398.5 million.

Western Union Co. is expanding an initiative to enable Kenyan migrants to send funds to recipients in their home country who subscribe to Safaricon’s M-Pesa mobile wallet, the companies announced March 31.

Global Collect B.V. has signed an agreement to process credit card payments for Royal Jordanian Airlines, the companies announced March 28.

A San Francisco-based company on March 30 announced its introduction of a modular set of software frameworks and applications designed to facilitate deployment of Near Field Communication payments and other contactless services by resolving fragmentation and interoperability issues affecting NFC software and hardware installations.

A coalition representing consumers this week is urging lawmakers to oppose legislation that would put the brakes on proposed debit-interchange rate reductions, while a group of 7-Eleven Inc. franchisees similarly is vowing to keep lobbying Congress to oppose such a delay.

Google Inc. is joining the NFC Forum, a nonprofit association that sets technical specifications for how businesses use Near Field Communication technology for payments applications and other services.

Gemalto NV is offering a software package for MasterCard Worldwide’s PayPass contactless payment system, the chip maker announced March 30.

Besides making the process easier for merchants, a good payment-security vendor can ease the burden of Payment Card Industry data-security standards compliance for independent sales organizations, a growing number of ISOs are finding.

The Smart Card Alliance’s transportation council this year plans to continue its focus in support of open-loop contactless transit payment card systems as more cities realize the potential benefits over closed-loop systems, according to an organization executive.

The Federal Reserve Board’s decision this week to take more time to analyze comments before finalizing its proposed debit-interchange rules could mean the final rules might not take as big a bite out of issuer revenue, some analysts believe.