Payment processing

More than 97% of Visa credit and debit card issuers have accepted last month’s offer from Visa Inc., Heartland Payments Systems Inc. and Heartland’s acquirers to settle claims related to the payment processor’s 2008 network data breach, according to the companies.

Citing the continued clamp down on consumer spending caused by the recession, MasterCard today reported healthier global purchase volume for the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, while U.S. credit card volume fell.

Buoyed by improving economic trends around the world, Visa Inc. on Wednesday reported purchase-volume growth in all categories except U.S. credit for the quarter ended Dec. 31. Visa also for the first time reported its operational performance data and financial results simultaneously for the same quarter. It previously reported operational data a quarter later than its earnings.

North American Bancard’s decision to hire Deutsche Bank Securities is to “explore the opportunity to strategically align ourselves with financial partners to pursue any opportunities,” Marc Gardner, the independent sales organization’s president, tells PaymentsSource. North American Bancard earlier this week announced the Deutsche Bank hiring.

Six Pay S.A. plans to target merchant-processing opportunities in Eastern Europe as part of an effort to expand its operations, the Luxembourg-based payment-services company says.

Visa Inc.'s profits jumped by a third in its fiscal first quarter, which ended Dec. 31, and use of the company's debit and credit cards picked up in the U.S.

Western Union Co., the world's biggest money-transfer business, has reported that its fourth-quarter profit fell, and it forecast little or no revenue growth for 2010.

JetPay LLC, a Carrollton, Texas-based payment processor, says it has won a trademark-infringement issue involving its Web site address, www.jetpay.com.

Newtek Business Services Inc., a New York-based payments company, says it has refinanced a $15 million line of credit with Capital One N.A.

The world’s largest payment-terminal manufacturers expect to see a modest uptick in demand this year after a lengthy, recession-driven sales slump. France-based Ingenico, along with U.S.-based VeriFone Holdings Inc. and Hypercom Corp., all are cautiously optimistic about this year’s sales outlook, partly because of new data-security mandates that will require certain merchants to replace existing terminals.

American Payment Systems increased compliance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard among its roughly 1,200 merchant clients to 48% currently from roughly 10% Oct. 1 with a phone-call campaign, according to the Omaha, Neb.-based independent sales organization.

Merchant Data Systems Inc., a Miami Beach, Fla.-based independent sales organization, has bought ISO Merchant Services, an ISO with 1,300 merchants, Merchant Data Systems announced this week. Terms were not disclosed.

Some payments organizations want the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service to clarify aspects of a law that takes effect next January requiring acquirers to report merchant credit and debit card transactions to the IRS, and they want penalty fees mitigated in the early stages of enforcement, according to comments submitted to the government agencies.

JetPay LLC, a Carrollton, Texas-based payment processor, says it has won a trademark-infringement issue involving its Web site address, www.jetpay.com.

Payment Alliance International has acquired the ATM-processing business of WRG Services Inc., a Willoughby, Ohio-based ATM independent sales organization, Louisville, Ky.-based Payment Alliance announced Monday.

Not all marketing tactics merchant-service providers use are equally effective at piquing merchants’ interest, some observers note. Independent sales organizations often go through multiple marketing techniques to determine which ones are less effective.

Texas consumers wrote fewer checks for purchases in 2009 compared with the previous year, reaching instead for their debit or credit cards, according to survey results released by Swacha, a not-for-profit regional payments association.

Merchants that sell needs-based products, such as food, building materials or vehicle-repair supplies, have experienced less decline in transaction volumes during the recession than have merchants that sell less-necessary goods, such as luxury or entertainment items, observers note.

The Verified by Visa and MasterCard SecureCode online card-security protocols are relatively weak compared with other available options. And as fraud continues rising among card-not-present transactions, more-robust authentication methods will be needed to prevent online fraud from skyrocketing, two United Kingdom-based researchers contend in new research released this week.

NYCE Payments Network LLC Friday named Neil Marcous as president. Marcous replaces Steven A. Rathgaber, who is leaving to become CEO of Cardtronics Inc on Feb. 1.