ATM & Debit News articles from January 2006

ATM & Debit News archives from January 2006

Biggest Visa Debit Day.
January 12, 2006... A couple of days before Christmas, Visa USA's VisaNet processing arm recorded the most Visa-branded card transactions ever on a single day. Visa reports a record 179 million transactions through VisaNet on Dec. 23, up 22% from the same...

Labry Moves Up, Betts Out.
January 12, 2006... First Data Corp.'s Edward A. Labry III, president of the company's prepaid services unit, also will become chief of the transaction processor's domestic merchant services unit. As a result of the move, Scott Betts, president of domestic...

Discover Set To Debut Debit Cards For Health Bank.
January 12, 2006... Discover Financial Service's own Discover Network is known mostly as a switch for Discover-branded credit card transactions. Discover, however, is lining up the use of its brand and the Discover Network as a signature-based debit product...

Speer: Function Eclipses Fees In ATM Programs.
January 12, 2006... Banks and independent sales organizations are facing increasing obstacles over making a profit from their ATMs. Transaction volumes dropped 4.6% from 2004 to 2005, according to ATM&Debit News' EFT Data Book 2006 Edition. Meanwhile, costly...

MasterCard Expects Losses In The First Year Of Initial Public Offering.
January 12, 2006... The future business prospects for MasterCard International are coming into sharper focus as it prepares for an Initial Public Offering of stock. In the short term, MasterCard is projecting "a significant net loss" this year in connection...

Financial Institutions Comfortable Only With Their Own ATM Ad Programs.
January 12, 2006... Advertising is popping up just about everywhere. Most sports stadiums, for example, now carry corporate names and logos instead of the names of the teams that play in them. Not so for ATMs. Third-party ad pilots on ATMs have gone away,...

Efmark Claims Top Spot.
January 12, 2006... Westmont, Ill.-based Efmark Premium Armored and Denver-based Bantek West Inc. are merging to create a $235 million ATM servicing company, which it says will be the largest in the nation. Efmark currently services 50,000 ATMs, while Bantek...

Diebold Sells Chase 1,300 ATMs.
January 12, 2006... Diebold Inc. last week announced a deal to sell more than 1,300 Opteva ATMs to J.P Morgan Chase & Co. for deployment both at bank branches and off-premise locations. The value of the deal was not disclosed. (c) 2006 ATM&Debit News and...

Fulton Bank Selects Star.
January 19, 2006... First Data Corp.'s Star electronic funds transfer network has signed a network-use agreement with Lancaster, Pa.-based Fulton Financial Corp. Under the agreement, Star will be the primary EFT network on Fulton debit cards and First Data will...

Alliance One Will Waive Fees.
January 19, 2006... Alliance One, a selective-surcharge ATM group, will reward its 1,000 credit union members for referring other credit unions to the network by waiving its $250 annual membership fee for 2006. Additionally, if a credit union refers three or more...

Celent: Imaging Boosts Use Of ATM Deposits.
January 19, 2006... While banks have been notoriously timid about imaging at ATMs, a study by Boston-based consultancy Celent Communications Inc. advises financial institutions to take a closer look at the advantages in both imaging and traditional deposit...

Shoppers Dig Out Their Debit Cards For Holiday Gifts.
January 19, 2006... Consumers did not take a holiday from using their debit cards during December. Several electronic funds transfer networks report that debit cards continue replacing checks and cash as payment methods during December, a key sales month for...

Efmark, Bantek Merger Adds A Third Major Player To ATM Servicing Market.
January 19, 2006... The merger between Efmark Premium Armored and Bantek West Inc. may put the newly formed ATM servicing firm in a cozy spot. If successful, the union will transform the two smaller firms into one with the ability to compete nationally in both the...

Prepaid Debit May Fuel Laundering.
January 19, 2006... Those network-branded, prepaid debit cards that excite many debit industry executives as a burgeoning debit product are not exactly drawing raves from federal officials. The cards are under attack as making it easier for crooks and terrorists...

NCR Ups Earnings Forecast.
January 19, 2006... ATM manufacturer NCR Corp. predicts fourth-quarter earnings to be $.67 per share, compared to the firm's initial forecast of $.52 to $.57 per share. NCR says its financial self-service unit will meet expectations. NCR expects fourth-quarter...

ATM Exchange Sues Visa.
January 19, 2006... Cincinnati-based ATM Exchange Inc. in November filed a lawsuit against Visa International in Ohio to recover $16.8 million in alleged damages from Visa's deferment of Triple DES deadlines. (c) 2006 ATM&Debit News and SourceMedia, Inc. All...

Clarification.(Correction Notice)
January 19, 2006... An article in the Jan. 12 issue of ATM&Debit News incorrectly stated that J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. has a seat on MasterCard International's board of directors. Nor current Chase executive serves on the board. A former Chase executive is on the...

BofA: Earnings Flat, Debit Up.
January 26, 2006... Charlotte, N.C.-based Bank of America did not have a banner year, according to its recent financial report. Bankruptcy filings and credit card issues caused profits to fall. But BofA's debit program is a bright spot. Debit card revenue, via...

Relief Cards Here To Stay.
January 26, 2006... Prepaid cards are here to stay as a way to deliver aid to disaster victims. But the distribution of hundreds of thousands of EBT and network-branded cards last fall after Hurricane Katrina highlighted some regulatory changes needed to expedite...

No Silver Lining Yet From Katrina For ATM Vendors.
January 26, 2006... Five months after Hurricane Katrina's touchdown, Johnny Hales, marketing director for Jackson, Miss.-based independent sales organization NetBank Payment Systems says merchants are more concerned about rebuilding their stores than whether or...

Credit Card Offers Limit Debit Travel Rewards.
January 26, 2006... Hawaiians are separated from the U.S. mainland by thousands of miles and lesser distances from each other as residents of an island chain. As such, the Bank of Hawaii has dabbled in offering travel rewards on their debit cards, despite the...

TRM Announcement Has Analysts Sniffing A Potential Portfolio Sale.
January 26, 2006... ATM operator TRM Corp.'s hiring of an investment bank to explore ways to increase shareholder value spurred a surge in the firm's stock last week and speculation that it may sell off some of its ATM portfolio. Many on Wall Street took the move...

Multiple Accounts Present Problems For Health Card Use.
January 26, 2006... There are still some bugs to shake out on debit card use attached to tax-deferred health accounts. These accounts are not typical demand-deposit accounts. Some have unique regulatory and technical limitations. For example, providers of multiple...

Steven Van Fleet Named CEO.
January 26, 2006... Steven Van Fleet, a payments industry veteran, has been named CEO of RewardsNow, a Dover, N.H.-based company best known for its card rewards marketing services. Van Fleet has held executive posts with Diebold Inc., First Data Corp. and...

NetBank Buys ATM Contracts.
January 26, 2006... NetBank Payment Systems Inc., a Jackson, Miss.-based independent sales organization has acquired most of an undisclosed ISO's ATM portfolio. The acquisition of 1,100 machines will up the firm's portfolio to 9,737 ATMs. Tim Sloane, director of...