Payment processing

VeriFone Systems Inc. is planning major investments in payment terminals with contactless readers built in as wireless carriers, card networks and banks proceed with mobile-payments initiatives.

Singapore’s telecommunication regulator, the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore, has issued a “call for collaboration” seeking participation in the deployment of an interoperable Near Field Communication payments infrastructure in the country.

Advent International and Bain Capital have completed their acquisition of a majority interest in RBS WorldPay, the payment-processing arm of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC, the two private equity firms announced Dec. 1.

Visa Europe is implementing ValidSoft Ltd.’s fraud-prevention technology, which uses the location of a consumer’s mobile phone to help prevent credit and debit card fraud, the card brand announced late last month.

Starbucks Corp. has begun a national rollout of the mobile-payment system it began testing more than a year ago, the company announced Dec. 1.

Independent sales organizations and merchant acquirers wondering what steps they should take as VeriFone Systems Inc. prepares to buy Hypercom Corp., its chief U.S. rival in the point-of-sale terminal market, should remain patient, observers suggest.

The Dutch Central Bank has granted international payments provider GlobalCollect a Payment Services Directive license, making the company a certified payment institute, Amsterdam-based GlobalCollect reported on Nov. 29.

Transaction processor First Data Corp. and online-payment service PayPal Inc. are reporting double-digit increases in consumer Black Friday spending this year compared with the same day in 2009, with First Data saying same-store sales returned to prerecession levels.

Roam Data is making available a Roampay Swipe card reader that plugs into the audio jack of BlackBerry smartphones, the Boston-based firm announced Nov. 30.

After piloting an online payment network that it says guards against potential identity theft, JetPay LLC will be providing that same platform, Secure Vault Payments, to its own clients.

Michigan State University FCU said yesterday it renewed its contract with Card Services for CUs to process its 86,000 credit and 116,000 signature debit accounts.

Consumers in the northern part of the state of Haryana in India soon may begin paying their electricity bills online, according to Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam, a state-owned power utility.

Two major retail chains in Australia recently announced deals to accept contactless cards by the end of this year.

The man who developed the concept for what is now the most popular social-networking website has created a mobile-payments application that relies on facial recognition to confirm a user’s identity at the point of sale.

Bank of America Corp. is planning to issue contactless payment stickers to at least some of its card customers, a source familiar with the plans said.

PIN-debit payments initiated online slowly, but steadily, are gaining traction in the marketplace as several companies have introduced products intended to bring more security to online transactions.

Electronic Payment Systems LLC, a Denver-based independent sales organization, says a federal judge has ruled that it owns a toll-free number now used by approximately 515,000 merchants processing with TSYS Acquiring Solutions.

Blackboard Inc. and PE Systems LLC have formed a partnership to help colleges and universities seeks ways to reduce their costs to accept credit and debit card payments, Washington, D.C.-based Blackboard announced Nov. 15.

Several cases of credit card fraud in the United Arab Emirates have resulted in losses of more than 200,000 dirham (US$54,443 or 39,000 euros), a top police official in the country told a local newspaper recently.

The Federal Reserve's forthcoming regulations on debit interchange may settle a long-running debate over whether fraud costs and risks are high enough to justify banks' current fees.