Retailers

Visa Inc. has adapted the fraud scoring tool that it uses to vet card-not-present transactions to aid government agencies and private businesses with corporate card accounts.

Wells Fargo & Co. is planning to issue 15,000 EMV cards to U.S. residents in a test this year, making it by far the largest bank to offer the smart cards to domestic customers.

he breach last month at Epsilon, the email marketing arm of Alliance Data Systems Corp. of Plano, Texas, was probably four months in the making, according to an April 9 story in CNet, and it could have started with a phishing attack against an email services partner that Epsilon used, called Return Path Inc., of New York.

A consortium of technology companies with banking-industry connections is urging lawmakers to delay implementation of the Federal Reserve Board’s proposed new debit-interchange rules, warning they could heighten risk by forcing banks to reduce their investments in security and fraud-protection services.

Direct carrier billing is becoming more popular as consumers see the convenience and merchants are more willing to accept higher transaction fees to increase sales, contends Zong Inc., a mobile-payments platform provider.

The ATM Industry Association has published a best-practices guide for decommissioning ATMs at the end of their seven- to 10-year lifespan.

SIMalliance is opening its software to third-party developers in its effort to discourage hackers’ attacks against wireless devices.

WASHINGTON – Jaws were dropping around Capitol Hill last week as CUNA President Bill Cheney began a tour of Senate offices with Camden Fine, head of the credit unions’ most virulent enemy, the Independent Community Bankers Association, to lobby for delay of the interchange rule.

A federal court in Dallas has granted motions made by Heartland Bank and KeyBank to dismiss civil suits brought against them by credit unions and banks for their involvement in the 2009 Heartland Payments Systems breach.

A federal judge last week denied American Express Co.'s bid to have an antitrust case against it dismissed.

FreedomPay Inc. is opening up its payment and transaction gateway to third-party developers, the company announced April 8.

Independent sales organizations are using value-added services as profit centers, differentiators, or both, observers say.

Retirement suited Larry Petru, but going back to work in the acquiring business suits him even better. As soon as his two-year noncompete clause expired earlier this year, Petru, 65, started another independent sales organization.

In response to increasing ATM thefts and rising insurance rates, Cash Connect has published a best-practices guide for armored cash carriers.

Independent sales organizations are using social media, including Twitter and Facebook, to communicate daily with their agents, observers say. In their “tweets” and other messages, they share information on new products, contests and sales results.

Isis, the mobile payment venture founded by AT&T Inc., Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile USA, said it is opening up its network and preparing for a pilot next year.

French terminal maker Ingenico SA announced April 4 that it is buying Hypercom Corp.’s U.S. payments systems business for $54 million.

Merchant processor Global Payments Inc. on March 31 reported net income of $47.8 million for its fiscal third quarter ended Feb. 28, down 1% from $48.5 million during the same period last year. Revenues, however, increased by 15%, to $456.4 million from $398.5 million.

This article was revised after Vivotech distributed a follow-up press release containing various "corrections."

A coalition representing consumers this week is urging lawmakers to oppose legislation that would put the brakes on proposed debit-interchange rate reductions, while a group of 7-Eleven Inc. franchisees similarly is vowing to keep lobbying Congress to oppose such a delay.