Payment processing

A new payment-authentication company has developed technology that uses any phone to help verify Internet PIN-debit transactions conducted at participating merchant websites.

VeriFone Systems Inc. announced Wednesday an unsolicited bid to buy rival Hypercom Corp. at $5.25 per share, which it described in a letter to Hypercom's board.

Online payment gateway GoToBilling Inc. has a new reseller program that it hopes will attract more independent sales organizations and, subsequently, more merchants, the Bozeman, Mont.-based company says.

Sales representatives for TransFirst will sell merchant services to business customers of MainSource Bank, the Hauppauge, N.Y.-based merchant-services company announced Sept. 28.

ICICI Merchant Services Pvt. Ltd.’s Internet payment gateway soon will begin enabling India’s online merchants to accept MasterCard Worldwide’s Maestro PIN-debit cards, the India-based company announced on Sept. 27.

Fifth Third Processing Solutions LLC has signed processing contracts with four Texas-based financial institutions, the Cincinnati-based company announced Sept. 29.

Masabi Ltd. has secured $2 million from m8 Capital, a United Kingdom-based mobile-technology investment company, to aid in the global rollout of a barcode-based mobile application designed to enable consumers to purchase train tickets using their mobile phones from any location, London-based Masabi announced on Sept. 28.

Improving product delivery in the face of new payments regulations is among the top priorities for First Data Corp.’s new chief executive.

Cynergy Data LLC has a new processor. TSYS Acquiring Solutions, a unit of Total System Services Inc., will handle authorization, settlement and charge-back matters for the Long Island City, N.Y.-based independent sales organization, TSYS says.

UAE Exchange Inc. has signed an agreement with MasterCard Worldwide to offer MasterCard’s MoneySend service in the United Arab Emirates for outbound remittances to the Philippines, according to the Dubai-based remittance and foreign exchange provider.

Obopay Inc. is trying to simplify its payments system with text messages.

Suppose your bank's retail customer wants to use a mobile phone to accept credit cards at a garage sale she's planning. MasterCard Inc. has an app for that.

U.S. law-enforcement officials are investigating a security breach involving “a limited number” of PIN-debit terminals deployed at Aldi grocery stores, a spokesperson for the Batavia, Ill.-based company tells PaymentsSource. Aldi stores accept only PIN-debit transactions and cash for payment at the point of sale.

More consumers are using mobile phones to pay bills, but specifically how they are doing so requires more study, according Fiserv Inc., which identified the gap in information earlier this year when it polled 2,000 households as part of the technology company’s 2010 Billing Household online survey (see story).

The six-month deadline extension for Canada’s merchants to convert to EMV chip-and-PIN technology points to certain technical difficulties some have encountered during the lengthy process, observers say.

CardinalCommerce Corp. says it has developed technology to enable online merchants to offer consumers a PIN-debit payment option at the checkout screen or through a mobile phone, while Acculynk Inc. separately is building its Web-based PIN-debit payment service.

The PCI Security Standards Council this fall plans to launch a website dedicated to small merchants, which have asked the council for help in understanding how data-security measures affect them.

Qatar National Bank Ltd. has launched the first mobile-to-mobile funds-transfer service in Qatar, the Doha-based bank announced Sept. 22.

MasterCard Worldwide is “tailoring strategies” around specific foreign-market situations to expand its global card-business opportunities, Walter Macnee, the card brand’s president of international markets, told attendees at the company’s symposium for media and analysts held Sept. 23 at MasterCard’s headquarters in Purchase, N.Y.

Bharti Airtel Ltd. has become the first mobile operator in India to receive a license from the Reserve Bank of India to offer mobile-payment services, the New Delhi-based company announced Sept. 22.