Payment processing

A significant increase in purchase transactions Total System Services Inc. processed during the first three months of the year may be an indication consumer confidence in the economy is rising, the Columbus, Ga.-based payment processor suggested in its first-quarter earnings results yesterday afternoon.

Barclays Global Retail Bank India has linked its network of 12 ATMs with National Financial Switch, the country’s largest network of shared ATMs, an official at the National Payments Corp. of India tells PaymentsSource.

Fidelity National Information Services has agreed to pay the state almost $1 million and to implement data security for consumer records under a settlement of civil charges over the 2007 theft of consumer information by a former employee.

Heartland Payment Systems Inc. and Micros Systems Inc. have reached an amicable settlement in a 2007 antitrust and unlawful competition lawsuit the Princeton, N.J.-based processor filed against Micros. Other defendants included Chase Paymentech Solutions LLC and its subsidiary Merchant Link LLC.

U.S. Bancorp today reported credit and debit card revenue of $258 million for the first quarter ended March 31, up 0.8% from $256 million during the same period last year.

The potential to outfit 1.5 million vending machines with payment card readers has enticed Apriva, a wireless payment-services company, to start Apriva Vend, a cashless-payment service, the company announced today.

Convenience-store operators this month are launching a fresh campaign for interchange-rate reform with an interactive, animated Web video designed to explain to consumers how credit and debit card interchange fees hurt them economically.

Heartland Payment Systems Inc. has a new bank-sponsor agreement with Bancorp Bank of Wilmington, Del.

Say you are a marine deployed in Afghanistan and need to get funds to the U.S. double-time. Instead of mailing your paycheck out of a war-wracked country across the globe with no certainty when the deposit would arrive, you just take out your iPhone, snap a photo of both sides of the check, confirm the details, and the funds are in your account at home.

E-Commerce Association of Singapore has agreed to offer its online merchant clients payments services from PayPal Inc.

The Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council will update all three of its standards this year, and it eventually may place all on a three-year update cycle, says Bob Russo, the council’s general manager.

Aptys Solutions LLC this week introduced PayHub, a payment-processing system designed for community banks. The system supports multiple payment types, including automated clearinghouse transactions, mobile payments, wire funds transfers and check-image exchanges on a single platform.

Hypercom Corp. plans to use its new point-of-sale products for use with Apple Inc.’s iPhone not only to reach mobile merchants but also to target brick-and-mortar retailers that want to expedite client purchases and avoid long lines at sales registers, Stuart Taylor, Hypercom vice president of global solutions and marketing, told PaymentsSource this week at the Electronic Transactions Association Annual Meeting and Expo in Las Vega.

Aptys Solutions LLC this week introduced PayHub, a payment-processing system designed for community banks. The system supports multiple payment types, including automated clearinghouse transactions, mobile payments, wire funds transfers and check-image exchanges on a single platform.

Why are best practices so important to ISOs? For many, they are an effective means to ensure uniformity and help increase visibility into company operations to ease merchant concerns.

Acculynk Inc., which enables merchants to accept PIN-debit purchases online, is broadening its offerings to include online card processing and is making its products available for resale through ISOs, the company announced last week.

Apriva is offering training and educational tools to its independent sales organization resellers to help increase their knowledge of and ability to sell wireless smartphone-enabled point-of-sale products, according to the Scottsdale, Ariz.-based wireless-payments provider.

Fifth Third Processing Solutions LLC is weighing its next steps as the merchant processor nears its one-year anniversary as a joint venture between Fifth Third Bancorp and Advent International Corp., a Boston-based investment firm (see story).

Hypercom Corp. announced April 13 plans to sell two versions of a card reader that plugs into an iPhone and uses its wireless connection to handle card payments. The products, called SmartPayments Mobile, are designed for merchants that want to accept card payments but cannot be tied to an office location because of the nature of their business.

First Data Corp. has authorized Hypercom Corp. to manage the processor’s remote key-injection processes as an encrypting service organization, according to the companies. Tasq Technology Inc., a Rocklin, Calif.-based point-of-sale-equipment distributor and a subsidiary of Atlanta-based First Data, also will make available Hypercom’s remote key-injection system, known a HyperSafe.