POS and Retail

Ingenico SA has introduced a suite of mobile-commerce applications designed to work with most mobile devices merchants already own, thereby simplifying the sales process for independent sales organizations hoping to convince more merchants to accept payment cards, contends the France-based point-of-sale terminal maker.

As one of the first resellers of VeriFone Holdings Inc.’s PayWare Mobile service, Merchant 360 Inc. says some mobile merchants like that the service includes a card reader that enables them to get card-present transaction rates.

Lingering effects of a weakened U.S. economy continue to inhibit U.S. small businesses from making significant payment-systems upgrades, according to VeriFone Holdings Inc.

A recent study that focuses on Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard compliance among large merchants also is helpful for educating independent sales organizations and the smaller merchants with which they typically work, observers note. ISOs should educate themselves not only about their specific markets but also about all aspects of data security and compliance in the payments industry to better serve their clients and ensure all merchants protect card data, they say.

First National Bank of Omaha plans to relinquish controlling interest in its First National Merchant Solutions merchant-acquiring arm to Total System Services Inc. in a joint venture announced this week.

Monoprix Group, a France-based retailer with more than 300 locations and approximately 4,000 point-of-sale devices, is using Hypercom Corp.’s Wynid payment server to process its transactions, the Scottsdale, Ariz.-based terminal maker says.

Nxgen International is opening operations in the United Kingdom and Italy as part of a European expansion strategy the Whitefish, Mont.-based merchant-service provider announced this week. Diversifying geographically can help Nxgen grow and differentiate itself further, says Giuseppe Caltabiano, Nxgen president.

Point-of-sale terminal maker Hypercom Corp. this week reported a $624,000 fourth quarter profit, marking the Scottsdale, Ariz.-based company’s third consecutive profitable quarter. Hypercom reported a $74.8 million loss for the fourth quarter of 2008.

A recent study that focuses on Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard compliance among large merchants also is helpful for educating ISOs and the smaller merchants with which they typically work, observers note. ISOs should educate themselves not only about their specific markets but also about all aspects of data security and compliance in the payments industry to better serve their clients and ensure all merchants protect card data, they say.

Point-of-sale terminal maker Hypercom Corp. yesterday reported a $624,000 fourth quarter profit, marking the Scottsdale, Ariz.-based company’s third consecutive profitable quarter. Hypercom reported a $74.8 million loss for the fourth quarter of 2008.

No official movement is afoot to switch to EMV in the U.S., which is becoming increasingly Balkanized as the only major global region not moving to the more-secure chip-and-PIN technology. But a Visa Inc. executive is among experts suggesting that, though issuers, acquirers and merchants may be resisting the shift for a variety of reasons, EMV technology itself is not the biggest obstacle preventing the U.S. from adopting the standard.

First National Bank of Omaha plans to relinquish controlling interest in its First National Merchant Solutions merchant-acquiring arm to Total System Services Inc. in a joint venture the companies announced today.

Though a few large merchants fail to achieve compliance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, many rely on alternative compensating controls to comply, according to a report released today by Thales Group and the Ponemon Institute. Many large merchants also are paying an average of $225,000 per year for PCI audits, according to the report.

Five years ago, biometric payments seemed ready for the American mainstream. Backers predicted that financial institutions and retailers soon would use fingerprint, palm, vein, iris or facial scans to verify consumers’ identities for ATM and point-of-sale transactions.

Despite a fourth quarter net loss Heartland Payment Systems Inc. attributes largely to breach-related expenses, the Princeton, N.J.-based payment processor sees “encouraging progress” in small and midsize merchant transaction-processing volume and same-store sales, Robert Carr, Heartland chairman and CEO, told analysts during a conference call last week.

Sales agents for ISOs increasingly are seeking additional industry training to improve their abilities to better compete for scarce business during the difficult economy, observers note.

Attendees of the ATM Industry Association show in Miami last week crowded around an ATM some believe could revitalize ISOs that sell ATMs and are suffering from shrinking margins and a lack of new ideas to generate revenue.

Many organizations, such as banks, local business associations, Web-site designers and software developers, refer their customers to independent sales organizations and acquirers for merchant-processing services. The ISO or acquirer then shares with those organizations a percentage of its processing revenue. Or it may provide the referring organization a one-time finder’s fee when the merchant begins processing transactions.

VeriFone Holdings Inc. is supplying 130,000 payment products to Russian bank Sberbank in a multimillion-dollar deal announced today, according to the San Jose, Calif.-based payment-terminal manufacturer. Sberbank is Russia’s largest bank.

Merchant-portfolio sellers that harbored visions of selling their portfolios at 36 times their monthly residual revenue finally have acquiesced to buyers’ demand to pay less, say observers of the acquiring market. Residual revenue is the recurring transaction revenue acquirers collect from merchants.