Payment processing

Global Payments Inc. this summer hopes to begin processing renminbi payment card transactions in China after securing approval to do so from China UnionPay and the People’s Bank of China, the company announced yesterday afternoon during its third-quarter earnings conference call. It has a few hoops to jump through first, however.

VeriFone Holdings Inc. on Thursday named Chase Paymentech Solutions LLC as one of its preferred merchant processors for users of its mobile phone card reader.

Transaction Network Services Inc. and Blue Bamboo have entered into an agreement that enables independent sales organizations, acquirers and processors to sell a mobile-payment system, according to the companies.

A majority of ISO and merchant-acquiring salespeople say the nation’s latest recession had an impact on their compensation, the results of the ISO&Agent 2010 Compensation Survey show.

Speakers at a recent Internal Revenue Service hearing on proposed transaction-reporting requirements that take effect next January largely focused on the potentially detrimental effects their companies may experience from a foreign-merchant rule contained within the law.

Cardtronics Inc. plans to sell 7 million shares of common stock for $12 per share, the ATM independent sales organization announced March 31.

PayPal users in Japan as of March 31 no longer may send noncommercial transactions to individuals until the further notice, PayPal announced in a statement.

Global Payments Inc. has named Jeffrey S. Sloan, a former managing director at Goldman Sachs & Co., as the Atlanta-based payment processor’s new president.

Visa Inc. has promoted Elizabeth Buse to group executive, international from global head of product. Jim McCarthy, previously senior sales executive for North America, succeeds Buse. Rupert Keeley, previously group president for several international regions, is leaving the company.

Speakers at a recent Internal Revenue Service hearing on proposed transaction-reporting requirements that take effect next January largely focused on the potentially detrimental effects their companies may experience from a foreign-merchant rule contained within the law, according to comments from the hearing.

DataTreasury Corp.'s courtroom victory over three major payments companies is expected to give the check-imaging technology provider more ammunition in its ongoing patent battle with some of the country's largest financial companies.

Discover Financial Services said Monday that it has extended its network agreement with Wal-Mart Stores Inc. through 2015.

Flagstar Bank in Troy, Mich., has agreed to use NYCE Payments Network LLC as its exclusive carrier for point of sale debit purchases and automated teller machine transactions.

Hoping to cut its payment card acceptance costs, Royal Dutch Shell PLC in January last year launched its own debit card after learning a $20 purchase settled over the automated clearinghouse system would cost the petroleum company about 60% less to accept than traditional credit cards. Thus far, the company says, the product has exceeded expectations.

ACH Payments is expanding its payment-processing services to Canada to satisfy its U.S. merchants that have Canadian customers, marking the company’s initial foray into Canada.

The Obama administration reportedly is weighing complaints from U.S. payments companies that China is violating trade rules by shutting them out of its $723 billion payment-processing market, trade representative Ron Kirk said Friday.

About 20% of approximately 15,000 merchants in the Solveras Payment Solutions portfolio thus far have been notified as part of a program designed to bring them into compliance with Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, the Arlington, Va.-based independent sales organization says. The initiative began in late February.

First National Bank in Johannesburg has announced an alliance with PayPal Inc. to make it easier to use the eBay Inc. unit's system in South Africa.

BOSTON – A 28-year-old college dropout who became the world’s biggest credit card hacker on Thursday was sentenced to 20 years in prison for stealing millions of credit union and bank account records from TJX Cos., BJ’s Wholesale Club, Office Max, Dave & Busters, Barnes & Noble and a string of other companies – even as he was working as a $75,000-a-year undercover informant for the U.S. government in identity theft cases.

WorldNet TPS plans to use First Atlantic Commerce’s fraud-prevention services to further protect its online merchants from card-not-present fraud in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Europe, the companies announced this week. First Atlantic Commerce, a payment gateway and risk-management services provider, offers 3-D Secure and other customized consumer risk services in Europe and in the Asia Pacific and Latin American regions.