Retailers

Online payment provider SafetyPay Inc. has inked a deal with the Brazil-based bank Banrisul to enable the bank’s 3 million customers to use its platform to make online purchases from international merchants, the firm announced Jan. 5.

U.S. online sales volume reached a record $32.6 billion during the 2010 holiday shopping season, up 12% from $29.1 million during the corresponding period a year earlier, according to data comScore Inc. released Jan. 5. ComScore’s data reflect e-commerce sales during the period from Nov. 1 to Dec. 31.

Taiwan on Jan. 1 began taking initial steps toward creating an integrated transit-payment system by introducing multicard readers on Taipei’s bus network, according to the Ministry of Transportation and Communications.

United Bank Card Inc. is making its Harbortouch point-of-sale system available for free to merchants that continue to use the company to process their payment card transactions, the Hampton, N.J.-based independent sales organization announced Jan. 3.

VeriFone Systems Inc. has completed its acquisition of Gemalto N.V.’s point-of-sale terminal business, VeriFone announced Jan. 3.

PayPal Inc. this year will set up its first foreign currency settlement platform in Chongqing, China, along with five international e-commerce centers under an agreement the unit of eBay Inc. signed with the Chongqing Municipal Government on Dec. 28.

The FBI has raided a Dallas server farm that housed computers used to launch Internet attacks against PayPal Inc., according to an affidavit posted by TheSmokingGun.com.

Commuters on the Delhi Metro rail network soon will be able to use their credit, debit and dual-function cards to make payments at the stations for various types of services, a spokesperson for the Delhi Metro Rail Corp. tells PaymentsSource.

Network International LLC has entered into a strategic partnership with Abraaj Capital, which announced the deal Dec. 22.

The Bank of the Philippine Islands has selected Hypercom Corp. to provide terminals for its card-payment systems, the Scottsdale, Ariz.-based terminal maker announced Dec. 21.

Many online merchants in the United Kingdom may experience downtime during the holiday shopping season because their systems used to detect fraud card-not-present fraud may not be reliable or current, new research suggests.

Think Computer Corp. has introduced a digital-coupon system integrated into its mobile-payments application that relies on facial recognition to confirm a user’s identity at the point of sale to help combat payment fraud.

Visa Inc. unveiled its new special offers mobile payment app, placing it in a crowded market for merchant perks that also includes a major push by rival MasterCard Worldwide.

Independent sales organizations and acquirers will have to wait a while longer to accurately assess the impact of the Federal Reserve Board’s recent proposal to limit debit card interchange rates at no more than 12 cents per transaction, suggests an analysis from The Strawhecker Group, an Omaha, Neb.-based payments consultancy.

Merchant acquirers might be breathing a sigh of relief following the Federal Reserve Board’s proposal to cap debit card interchange rates at 12 cents per transaction. But though the proposed rules would not directly affect them, issuer reaction might, observers say.

Various factors may have come into play regarding Ingenico S.A.’s Dec. 19 rejection of an unsolicited, nonbinding offer.

Discover Financial Services is banking on a mobile future. Executives at the Riverwoods, Ill.-based company said during a Dec. 16 conference call with analysts to discuss its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings that its deal with wireless carriers AT&T Inc., T-Mobile USA Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. will play heavily in its future.

Merchant cash-advance company AmeriMerchant LLC says the hundreds of merchant-services sales offices working with transaction processor First Data Corp. will have an easier time selling AmeriMerchant’s services through an agreement announced Dec. 14.

Merchant acquirers might be breathing a sigh of relief following the Federal Reserve Board’s proposal to cap debit card interchange rates at 12 cents per transaction (see story). But though the proposed rules would not directly affect them, issuer reaction might, observers say.

The board of directors of Ingenico SA earlier today rejected an unsolicited, nonbinding offer to acquire the company (see story).