Retailers

Point-of-sale terminal maker VeriFone Systems Inc. says it will continue to try to buy Hypercom Corp., its Scottsdale, Ariz.-based rival, even though VeriFone’s $5.25 per share offer is more than a $1 shy of the $6.40 price of Hypercom shares Friday morning.

Merchants accepting payments via mobile phones experienced the highest card-not-present fraud volume in 2009, facing on average 3,385 attempts to commit fraudulent transactions each month, new research shows, suggesting the need for higher security as more merchants accept mobile payments.

Hypercom Corp. has withdrawn its lawsuit filed Sept. 23 against VeriFone Systems Inc. over allegations of violating a confidentiality agreement. The Scottsdale, Ariz.-based terminal maker announced the withdrawal virtually seconds after PaymentsSource reported the lawsuit in a bulletin (see story).

Hypercom Corp. is suing VeriFone Systems Inc. for disclosing its $284 million bid for Hypercom, Bloomberg is reporting.

Trustwave, best known for testing and fixing payment-network vulnerabilities, believes the time is right to also offer a physical security-evaluation service.

CurveNorth Inc., a Silverado, Calif.-based company that makes operation-management software for independent sales organizations and acquirers, has added the merchant-screening service from CoreLogic Inc.’s CredCo division to its offerings, CoreLogic says Oct. 5.

It is no surprise that the maturing merchant-services industry constantly needs smart, well-trained sales agent. Agents leave the industry for a variety of reasons.

Bling Nation Ltd.’s deal with Fifth Third Processing Solutions LLC could give the company the entree they need to promote the company’s postage stamp-sized contactless payment sticker across the country.

By proposing to combine two of the world’s three largest makers of payment terminals, VeriFone Systems Inc.’s hostile bid for Hypercom Inc. appears to raise antitrust issues.

EZCheck Adds Gift, Loyalty Services

VeriFone Systems Inc. said Wednesday that it has begun installing passenger-activated payment and multimedia information systems in taxis in Atlanta.

An investor advocacy group is searching for Hypercom Corp. investors who feel jilted after the vendor's board last week turned down an unsolicited bid from rival VeriFone Inc. for more than $280 million (see story).

Bling Nation Ltd.’s deal with Fifth Third Processing Solutions LLC could give them the entree they need to promote the company’s postage-stamp-sized contactless payment sticker across the country.

Westpac Banking Corp. is deploying 15,000 Hypercom Corp. Optimum-branded point-of-sale terminals as part of a $50 million deal the two companies announced last year (see story), Hypercom announced Oct. 5.

A settlement involving the top two payments networks over their merchant acceptance policies gives retailers more clout to promote the use of cheaper cards, but an analyst doubts many businesses will change their practices.

First Data Corp. says its TransArmor data-security services will be made available to more than 350,000 merchants that process with Bank of America Merchant Services, a joint venture between the Atlanta-based payment processor and Bank of America Corp.

Akamai Technologies Inc. says its new Edge Tokenization service pushes sensitive transaction data away from vulnerable online merchants payment networks.

VeriFone Systems Inc. says today it has bought a majority stake in All Business Solutions, an Italy-based payment integrator and software developer, from the company’s founders and ACI Informatica, which will keep a minority ownership.

By proposing to combine two of the world's three largest makers of payment terminals, VeriFone Systems Inc.'s hostile bid for Hypercom Inc. appears to raise antitrust issues.

A new payment-authentication company has developed technology that uses any phone to help verify Internet PIN-debit transactions conducted at participating merchant websites.