Retailers

Total System Services Inc. this afternoon reported net income of $52.5 million for the second quarter ended June 30, down 2.8% from $54 million during the same period last year. The Columbus, Ga.-based transaction processor’s revenues were up 5.3%, to $433.8 million from $412 million.

Merchant Warehouse Inc., a Boston-based ISO that offers software designed to help small retailers find the lowest-cost processing for card transactions, could benefit from Congress’ approval July 15 of the Dodd-Frank Act, says Henry Helgeson, the company’s co-CEO.

U.S. Bankcard Services Inc., an Industry, Calif.-based ISO, has added China UnionPay card acceptance to its list of merchant services.

Merchants unsure about which type of merchant account would be cheaper have another tool to use when deciding between a traditional merchant account, a Square Inc. mobile account and an online PayPal account.

Merchants do not need to retain a full 16-digit card number to resolve a transaction dispute, despite demands from some acquirers and processors, according to Visa Inc.

TransFirst In NBT Bank Deal

Merchants that struggle to pay for breach-related costs may find some help from their merchant acquirers.

Merchants unsure about which type of merchant account would be cheaper have another tool to use when deciding between a traditional merchant account, a Square Inc. mobile account and an online PayPal account.

U.S. Bankcard Services Inc., an Industry, Calif.-based independent sales organization, has added China UnionPay card acceptance to its list of merchant services.

The prepaid card market has come a long way over the past two decades, and T. Jack Williams has been there since virtually the beginning. As director of membership services at Blockbuster Entertainment, Williams played a key role in creating the world’s first merchant gift card program in the spring of 1994. He later went on to help launch the Kmart Cash Card in 1997 while at Stored Value Systems, at the time a division of National City Bank (see bio). This was the first merchant gift card that also included AT&T long-distance minutes.

The allure of mobile payments, which Generator Research, a United Kingdom-based research firm, estimates will grow to an estimated $600 billion worldwide by 2014, has drawn AT&T Inc. into the fray, as have the merchants accepting payments via their phones. The telecommunication giant announced July 7 it will work with Apriva to sell the wireless-payments company’s AprivaPay and AprivaPay Professional mobile-payment services.

Merchants may pay recurring bills using a portion of their payment card settlement funds through PayFast, a service Integrity Payment Systems LLC launched earlier this month.

Paul A. Rianda is an attorney who has specialized in providing legal advice to the bankcard industry for more than 10 years. His e-mail is paul@riandalaw.com.

ISOs looking to compete against free-terminal programs and to boost their profit margins may turn to Asia-made point-of-sale terminals.

New debit card interchange rules that are likely to go into effect next year if the Senate passes the financial services reform bill could take a bite out of ISOs’ profit margins, observers say.

Merchants do not need to retain a full 16-digit card number to resolve a transaction dispute, despite demands from some acquirers and processors, according to Visa Inc.

Merchants may pay recurring bills using a portion of their payment card settlement funds through PayFast, a service Integrity Payment Systems LLC launched earlier this month.

Consumers remained cautious in June, using their payments cards to spend just 6.8% more than they did during the same month last year. The growth in their spending activity also was down from the 9.2% rise in May compared with the same month in 2009, according to First Data’s SpendTrend report.

China Unionpay recently signed an acceptance agreement with Dubai-based Network International LLC, the largest payment acquirer in the United Arab Emirates.

Vietnam Eximbank has begun acquiring merchants in Vietnam for acceptance of cards issued by Japan-based JCB International under an agreement the two companies signed last fall, according to JCB.