Retailers

Certain definitions within new Internal Revenue Service rules requiring payment processors and merchant acquirers to track merchants’ transactions and report them to the IRS beginning next year are creating additional hassles, some industry observers say.

Legions of potential investors are clamoring to buy a piece of the merchant-acquiring business, but most ISOs would prefer not to sell. Both camps appear to believe the industry represents a safe haven in hard times and a promising prospect during a recovery.

Vivotech Adding Encryption To Contactless Transactions

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.

Certain definitions within new Internal Revenue Service rules requiring payment processors and merchant acquirers to track merchants’ transactions and report them to the IRS beginning next year are creating additional hassles, some industry observers say.

Legions of potential investors want to buy a piece of the merchant-acquiring business, but most independent sales organizations would prefer not to sell. Both camps appear to believe the industry represents a safe haven in hard times and promising opportunities during a recovery.

The Internal Revenue Service on Aug. 13 released its rules for how acquirers and processors should report their merchants’ credit, debit and gift card transactions to the agency beginning next year.

The newest updates to the PCI Data Security Standard and the Payment Application Data Security Standard consist mostly of clarifications and additional guidance, says Bob Russo, general manager of the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council that oversees the standards.

Enough is enough. Sales agents sometimes decide to sever their relationships with merchants who break rules, ask clueless questions, make unjustified demands, register wrong-headed complaints or bicker endlessly over prices and fees.

A unique merchant-funded cardholder rewards program just got a powerful new marketing channel — and, thanks to regulatory reform, a stronger pitch to make to banks.

The Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC on Aug. 6 agreed to sell a majority stake in its lucrative processing business, RBS WorldPay, to two private equity firms for more than $3 billion.

Pivotal Payments says its integration with Pinnacle Cart, Desert Dog Marketing LLC’s e-commerce software designed for merchants to use on their websites, could help its sales agents increase their revenue by attracting more merchants.

Guest column

First Data Corp.’s formation of the Banc of America Merchant Services LLC alliance with Bank of America Corp. in June of last year is paying dividends for the transaction processor.

Pivotal Payments says its integration with Pinnacle Cart, e-commerce software Desert Dog Marketing LLC designed for merchants to use on their websites, could help its sales agents increase their revenue by attracting more merchants.

First Data Corp. on Aug. 10 reported a net loss attributable to the company of $171.2 million for the second quarter ended June 30, down from the $195.9 million loss the transaction processor reported during the same period last year. Revenues totaled $2.61 billion, up 18.1% from $2.21 billion, driven by the formation of the Banc of America Merchant Services LLC alliance.

Mall Networks, a manager of merchant-funded rewards programs, reported Monday that its fiscal 2010 revenue grew by more than 100%, and announced its renaming as Cartera Commerce Inc.

PayPal Inc. is planning to turn off its PayPal Plug-In service, which lets users fund purchases at merchants that do not typically accept PayPal.

The $3 billion price Advent International Corp. and Bain Capital LLC will pay for an 80% stake in RBS WorldPay, the payment-processing arm of the Royal Bank of Scotland PLC, may point to an imbalance in value between privately held and publicly held payment processors, suggests David J. Koning, a senior research analyst at Milwaukee-based Robert W. Baird & Co.

Arizona state government officials are stepping up efforts to thwart criminals from skimming consumers’ credit and debit card information at gasoline stations in response to a recent uptick of such incidents.