Retailers

Independent sales organizations and acquirers will have work to do because of the Federal Reserve Board’s impending regulations that will set policy for establishing “reasonable and proportional” debit card interchange rates, panelists at the Western States Acquirers Association conference in San Diego told attendees this week.

Mobile payments settled over the automated clearinghouse system officially have entered the mobile-payments space, but not without sparking debate.

Card-skimming attacks are on the rise this year as crooks devise relatively simple, inexpensive new ways to compromise payment terminals, the Payment Council Industry Security Standards Council’s top technology executive told attendees last week at SourceMedia Inc.’s ATM, Debit & Prepaid Forum.

Point-of-sale terminal maker VeriFone Systems Inc. says it will continue its attempts 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 Hypercom’s $6.35 closing price Tuesday.

Merchant acquirers once again may offer retailers dynamic currency conversion on Visa Inc.’s network now that the card brand has ended a six-month moratorium on expanded use of such services.

Global Payments Inc. this week reported $440.1 million in revenue for its fiscal first quarter ended Aug. 31, up 7.4% from $409.9 million in revenue during the same period last year.

Discover Financial Services said Wednesday that it had signed a merchant acquirer agreement with First National Bank Alaska.

Merchant acquirers once again will be able to offer merchants dynamic currency conversion on Visa Inc.’s network now that the card brand has ended a six-month moratorium on expanded use of such services.

Merchants wanting to integrate their transaction data into other business-management software have a new option.

VeriFone Systems Inc. said it is pressing ahead with its hostile takeover bid for Hypercom Corp., despite Hypercom's increasingly vocal rejection.

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.

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