Payment processing

Independent sales organizations contribute about 35% of Global Payments Inc.’s annual revenue, but the revenue they generate has a lower profit margin for the Atlanta-based payments processor than that of some of its other business, suggests a recent analyst report.

Six casinos in Idaho, Washington and California have signed up to use Global Payments Inc.’s VIP LightSpeed cash-access service, the Atlanta-based payment processor announced Aug. 26.

A long-planned payments pilot program allowing banks to convert low-value checks to automated clearing house transactions is moving forward, but some industry experts say the initiative may be past its prime.

Hypercom Corp. said Wednesday that it is bringing to the United States a version of its end-to-end encryption software that is currently available in Asia.

Companies that install or manage payment-application software, such as that used in integrated point-of-sale terminals, can best protect their information by following a list of best practices Visa Inc. issued today, the payments company contends.

The merchant-processing unit of Barclaycard UK in July experienced an almost double-digit increase in spending by its merchant clients’ credit and debit card customers in the United Kingdom compared with the same month last year, challenging the notion that consumer confidence has declined, Barclaycard announced recently.

China’s Union Mobile Pay service’s transaction sales volume exceeded 30 billion yuan (US$4.4 billion or 3.1 billion euros) in 2009, a spokesperson for the mobile payment service provider tells PaymentsSource.

Growth in automated clearing house transactions slowed in the second quarter, but the dollar value of those transactions increased slightly.

Mobile banking is gaining more popularity with the underbanked than it is with conventional bank customers.

CommunityAmerica CU said yesterday it signed a five-year credit, signature/PIN debit, and ATM processing contract with PSCU Financial Services.

Many PCI compliance programs that independent sales organizations and acquirers offer their merchants are beginning to prove their value, says Deana Rich, president of Van Nuys, Calif.-based Rich Consulting.

Two of Japan’s major contactless mass-transit payment card systems will become interoperable next year, significantly expanding the systems’ reach, Central Japan Railway Co. said on August 11.

Payment processor RBS WorldPay Inc. has class A certified Way Systems Inc.’s way5000 mobile point-of-sale device for use on its network.

Credit unions are expanding beyond Apple's iPhone to develop mobile banking applications for other devices, in particular those running the Google Android operating system.

Transaction Network Services Inc. said last week that it will supply gateway services for Continental Airlines Inc. to process payments for reservations made online.

MasterCard Inc. Thursday fired what analysts say is the next shot in the payments industry’s battle to gain ground in the burgeoning e-commerce market with its planned $520 million purchase of DataCash Group PLC.

Visa Inc.’s most recent statistics of merchant compliance with the PCI Data Security Standard shows that 100% of the largest U.S. merchants—those processing more than 1 million annual Visa transactions—have validated their point-of-sale systems as not storing prohibited data.

Checks may be getting an extended life now that financial institutions are developing and rolling out mobile remote-deposit capture technology as part of their mobile-banking applications, observers say.

MasterCard Inc. on Thursday said it agreed to buy London payments technology developer DataCash Group PLC for $520 million in a move aimed at growing its e-commerce presence.

Banks' budgets for technology spending are loosening, but the overall sales environment is a "mixed bag," Jack Henry & Associates Inc.'s top executive said Wednesday on an earnings conference call.