Thriving on economies of scale, the United States merchant acquiring business is dominated by five powerhouse processors focused around three different business models: joint venture, acquisition and organic growth. Sharing over 90 percent of U.S. transaction volume, TowerGroup estimates that the volume driven by these merchant acquirers will approach 46 billion transactions in 2006.
    Given the concentration of large merchant acquirers in the United States, TowerGroup believes consolidation of key players is unlikely. Instead, growth opportunities are likely to come from competition either between U.S. acquirers or with those outside the United States. While the overall outlook is positive, TowerGroup feels the merchant acquiring industry must make some important changes to continue to succeed in the current operating environment - including improving security to control fraud at the point of sale and managing the implications of emerging technologies.

    MasterCard had expected to publish the rates on its site by the beginning of November.

    All parties to the litigation dismissed, withdrew or terminated with prejudice all pending litigation between them. Global Cash Access had initiated litigation in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada in which it alleged that the Fidelity National divisions and U.S. Bank and Ultron were infringing U.S. Patent 6,081,792, which generally relates to using an ATM as both an ATM and a point-of-sale terminal for some users.
    The defendants had counterclaimed, asserting that Global Cash Access had engaged in unfair trade practices and that its patents were not enforceable. All parties denied liability to one another. The parties have entered into a Settlement and Patent License Agreement and Release. Under the Agreement, no party is obligated to pay any money to any other party to resolve the claims or counterclaims against it. The other terms of the Agreement are confidential.

    Electronic check conversion is one of the fastest growing types of ACH transactions. NACHA believes that electronic business check conversion has the potential to add more efficiency to the nation’s payment system, as well as generate savings and improve cash flow for businesses. It also adds another layer of regulation and compliance concerns, and will certainly have a major impact on business operations.
    For businesses and organizations writing checks, NACHA said it’s important to understand how to opt out of having your checks electronically converted. For organizations accepting checks, it’s important to understand which checks received can and cannot be processed electronically, and the impact that electronic processing will have on cash flow.

    Managers can create and manage accounts and devices, purchase licenses and view channel pricing plans, commission/billing reports and all other documents. Regular employees can create and manage accounts and devices, but does not have access to view pricing plans and commission/ billing reports. Restricted employees have only access to training, marketing and sales material.

    AltaPoint provides software support solutions for the electronic medical records and practice management industry. CreditWare is the company’s automated credit card processing module that is fully integrated with AltaPoint Version 7.0, a multi-platform software program that combines billing, inventory, scheduling, reminders, clinical records, and many other features in one user-friendly system.
    Through PPI and CreditWare, AltaPoint customers now have a payment processing system that features end-to-end integrated credit card processing and unlimited, free technical support.

    According to a new Visa-sponsored survey of 1,154 payment cardholders, more than half (55 percent) of the respondents use payments cards for small ticket items less than $25, citing several reasons for the shift. Consumers are turning to cards for everyday purchases for the convenience (86 percent), ease of use (62 percent), speed (45 percent) and expense management (35 percent).

    The amendments to address payroll card accounts are being made to Regulation E, which implements the Electronic Fund Transfer Act, and to the official staff commentary, which interprets the requirements of Regulation E. The effective date is July 1, 2007.
    In a separate action, the Board requested public comment on an interim final rule to provide additional clarification regarding Regulation E’s coverage of the electronic collection of insufficient funds fees by merchants and other payees and consumer notice requirements for electronic check conversion transactions. The effective date for the interim final rule is January 1, 2007, consistent with a previously issued January 2006 final rule; however, certain provisions regarding the fee disclosures will have a delayed compliance date of January 1, 2008.

    CISP establishes a set of 12 industry-wide requirements designed to protect sensitive information from being compromised. These requirements, which also include numerous sub-requirements, are directed at all businesses that store, process or transmit cardholder information.

    The authentication guidance, which applies to both retail and commercial customers, specifically addresses the need for risk-based assessment, customer awareness and security measures to reliably authenticate customers remotely accessing their financial institutions’ Internet-based financial services. The FAQs are designed to assist financial institutions and their technology service providers in conforming to the guidance by providing information on the scope of the guidance, the timeframe for compliance, risk assessments and other issues.

    At the same time, the vast majority say they are happier now than they were at their previous employer, despite working as hard or harder.

    The acquisition includes a range of payment systems that will support and extend VeriFone’s existing offerings for merchants and financial institutions. VeriFone will take over distribution of those products and will provide existing customers with service and support. VeriFone also reported that it’s pending acquisition of Lipman Electronic Engineering, Ltd. received clearance from the U.S. Justice Department. The two companies were expecting to close the deal on Nov. 1, following the expiration of the 30-day waiting period required by Israeli laws following the Lipman shareholders’ meeting.

    Based upon the number of merchant locations served, the consolidated business operations resulting from the acquisition will rank as the sixth largest provider of merchant processing services in the United States, supporting over 260,000 merchant locations.
    Included in the transaction is the National Processing Company ("NPC") brand name and Best Payment Solution, Inc. ("BPS"), which operates as a separate wholly-owned subsidiary of BA Merchant Services. ITPS conducts its operations through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Retriever Payment Systems ("Retriever") The combined businesses will support over 700 independent sales offices and more than 650 community and regional banks, creating one of the leading merchant acquirers focused on marketing to ISOs.