Payment processing

ATM manufacturers and operators saw a modest bump in their stock prices Dec. 16 following the Federal Reserve Board’s release of proposed rules that would dramatically restrict the interchange fees issuers receive for most debit card purchases.

Russian credit cardholders will spend 10% more this month on their holiday spending compared with what they spent last December, ZAO Citibank predicts in a Dec. 13 report.

The 258 McDonald’s restaurants in Russia now accept bankcards, the fast-food provider’s acquirer Russian Standard Bank announced Dec. 13.

Merchant cash-advance company AmeriMerchant LLC says the hundreds of merchant-services sales offices working with transaction processor First Data Corp. will have an easier time selling AmeriMerchant’s services through an agreement announced Dec. 14.

Consumers again are spending with their credit cards to purchase discounted goods early in the holiday season, suggests First Data Corp.’s November SpendTrend payment card transaction analysis of all store sales activity that First Data processes.

WASHINGTON – The Federal Reserve this afternoon proposed rules aimed at lowering interchange fees on debit transactions that could cap fees at 12 cents per transaction, about what the current median cost of authorization, clearance and settlement is (see proposal).

Google Inc. is collecting the pieces for a major mobile payments system — but it is a long way from assembling them.

FICO announced Dec. 15 it has been awarded eight new patents by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for advances in credit scoring, credit account management, credit fraud management, insurance fraud management and other areas, bringing its portfolio of U.S. patents to more than 100.

A mobile-commerce company in Berkeley, Calif., says it has devised a means to enable mobile phones to communicate with chips in attached stickers to support true Near Field Communication payments and two-way communications between NFC chips.

William Smith relies on prepaid debit cards as he travels the country tattooing musicians in vans, trailers, hotel rooms and houses. The 32-year-old Ocala, Fla., tattooer (see photo) says he has no bank account, just a low-cost MoneyCard obtained from Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

EMC Corp. has launched a consulting service designed to help prepare merchants to manage their payment-security needs, the Hopkington, Mass.-based security-technology company announced Dec. 15.

Russian Standard Bank has become the first European bank to offer person-to-person funds transfers through MasterCard Worldwide’s MoneySend platform, the companies announced Dec. 6.

Voltage Security Inc. said that the online payment provider ClickandBuy International Ltd. would use its system to protect payment data.

Canadian consumers historically wait until two days before Christmas to make key holiday purchases, according to data from the Interac PIN-debit network and Acxsys Corp.

Total System Services Inc., or TSYS, announced Dec. 14 several executive promotions.

Visa Inc. has launched a mobile shopping application for Apple Inc.’s iPhone to enable holders of Visa cards to access various merchant discounts using their mobile phones, the card company reported on Dec. 14.

PKO Bank Polski SA has selected Gemalto NA to support the transfer of the bank’s entire portfolio of Visa Inc. magnetic stripe debit cards to EMV smart cards that support Visa’s payWave contactless functionality, France-based chipmaker Gemalto announced earlier this month.

Some 90% of U.S. consumers are not familiar with ATM skimming, new survey data suggest.

Consumer shopping in November reversed a five-month decrease in the average transaction size, transaction processor First Data Corp. notes in its November SpendTrend report.

S1 Corp. has signed 10 clients to use the payment service it offers from PayPal Inc., the software provider announced Dec. 14.