ATM & Debit News articles from March 2002

ATM & Debit News archives from March 2002

Pricing Structures Create Difficulties For Acquirers.
March 7, 2002... As the PIN-based point-of-sale debit market matured over the years, the scale gradually shifted so that acquirers began paying issuers interchange. Still, few issuers today promote POS debit, preferring instead to support signature- based, or...

Economy, Failed ISO Facilitate A Drop In Annual Shipments.
March 7, 2002... The off-premise ATM market has thrived since 1996, when electronic funds transfer networks began to allow ATM owners to impose transaction surcharges. But the failure of a major independent sales organization and an economic slump contributed...

A Saturated U.S. ATM Market Produces Lower Financial Yields For Deployers.
March 7, 2002... The results of a new study of ATM-program costs and profitability confirm what many in the industry have suspected-that ATM surcharging is wearing out its economic welcome. The study found that declining transactions per ATM are making ATM...

News Briefs.
March 7, 2002... Timex Tests Speedpass Watch Middlebury, Conn.-based Timex Corp. is testing a wristwatch embedded with an ExxonMobil Corp. SpeedPass chip that allows the wearer to make purchases via a designated credit or offline debit card. Several...

Visa Set For Slow Rise In Electronic Check Processing.
March 7, 2002... About a year ago, Visa U.S.A.'s Debit Processing Service took over Visa's nonbranded check-electronification program, which routes check transactions through the same processing "highway" as Visa check cards. Some 46 merchant locations are...

ATM Manufacturer Shipments.
March 7, 2002... Company 2001 2000 Change Diebold* 14,440 13,886 4.0% Triton 9,621 9,613** 0% NCR* 8,800 10,160 -13.4% Tranax*** 7,572 8,280 -8.6% Tidel...

Changing Interchange Rates.
March 7, 2002... New Old Network Rate Rate Increase Interlink* Standard 38? 20? 90% Supermarkets 22? 15? 47% Star** Standard 34? 17? 100% ...

Vendor News.
March 7, 2002... Concord Strikes Processor Deals Memphis, Tenn.-based Concord EFS Inc. has acquired Logix Cos. LLC, a Longmont, Colo.-based transaction processor. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Officials say Logix's technology will help Concord to...

ACH Debit Volumes Dropping.
March 14, 2002... Though Concord EFS Inc. and the Food Marketing Institute in May 2000 began jointly promoting preauthorized ACH debit cards to supermarkets, the number of yearly ACH debit card transactions continues to fall. See page 3 Copyright c 2002...

News Briefs.
March 14, 2002... MasterCard Raises Rates New interchange rates for some MasterCard Debit and credit card transactions will take effect April 5 in the U.S. A MasterCard executive confirms the association has approved revised rates, but refuses to divulge...

New POS Network Lets Merchants Issue Cards, Receive Fees.
March 14, 2002... An alternative point-of-sale debit network is forming in California that will enable merchants to control pricing. Unlike with other debit networks, where card-issuing financial institutions are paid transaction fees by merchant banks,...

Deployers Rethink Surcharge Fees As Income Drivers.
March 14, 2002... Most large bank ATM deployers charge noncustomers to make their fleets stand on their own economically. Now, many deployers are rethinking the value of surcharge revenue. Several large bank ATM deployers are promoting programs that, if...

ATM Makers Counter A Flat U.S. Market By Targeting Sales In Other Countries.
March 14, 2002... The U.S. ATM market last year may have fallen into a shipment slump, but that does not necessarily mean that major U.S. ATM makers have fewer customers. Indeed, the international ATM market appears to be more than making up for lost ATM sales...

Monthly ATM Costs.
March 14, 2002... Deployer On-Premise Off-Premise* Large Bank $1,349 $1,534 Small Bank $1,140 $1,111 Large Credit Union $1,688 $1,624 Small Credit Union $1,336 $1,165...

ACH Debit Card Use Continues To Drop.
March 14, 2002... Debit Man Card Inc. may be using the automated clearinghouse system in an unusual way, but merchant-issued ACH debit cards are not new. Their use, though, has waned in recent years, even though Concord EFS Inc. and the Food Marketing Institute...

Star Adopts Tiered Interchange.
March 14, 2002... Concord EFS Inc.'s Star electronic funds transfer network will adopt a three-tiered system effective April 1 for assessing acquirer- paid point-of-sale debit interchange. Acquirers typically pass on interchange to their merchant clients in...

BofA's Star Return Gives Plus Marks To Regionals.
March 21, 2002... The nation's largest debit card issuer appears to have blinked in a high-stakes showdown with the nation's largest PIN-based electronic funds transfer network. And as a result, the value of participating in PIN-based EFT networks, especially...

Network Eliminates Surcharge Ban For Shared Deposits.
March 21, 2002... ATM surcharges for cash withdrawals are widely viewed as a fact of life today in the U.S. But most electronic funds transfer networks have yet to explore the potential of allowing ATM owners to charge noncustomers who use their machines to...

While Merchants Gain, Issuers Lose Out With New Pricing, Network Exec Says.
March 21, 2002... Some merchants may be upset about recent decisions by point-of-sale debit networks to increase interchange rates for PIN-based debit purchase transactions. At least one electronic funds transfer network executive, though, believes it is the...

News Briefs.
March 21, 2002... Iowa Gives Up Surcharge Fight The last state with a blanket ban on ATM surcharges will not appeal a March 7 U.S. District Court ruling striking down the ban as a usurpation of federal regulatory authority. Iowa Solicitor General Dennis...

MasterCard Throws Its Support Toward I-Gen Prepaid Card.
March 21, 2002... Prepaid MasterCard-branded debit cards soon may become as ubiquitous as phone cards at store checkout lanes. Already two large retailers are selling the MasterCard i-Gen card at their counters, and more merchants are expected to do so in the...

Network Shared-Deposit Pricing.
March 21, 2002... ATM Deposit Interchange Network Surcharging On Deposits Off-Premise On-Premise Star* Banned $2.25 $2 NYCE** Allowed Starting Sept. 1 $2.25 ...

Vendor News.
March 21, 2002... Concord Flies With Falcon Concord EFS Inc. says it plans to use San Diego-based HNC Software Inc.'s Falcon Fraud Manager software as it integrates the signature-based debit processing platforms of its three electronic funds transfer...

Networks Prepare Products For P2P Funds Transfers.
March 28, 2002... As the person-to-person money-transfer market grows, electronic funds transfer networks are working to take advantage of their access to consumer accounts and the speed in which their switches can accommodate funds transfers. Thus far, the...

Iowa Ruling Allows Surcharges; Shazam Control In Jeopardy.
March 28, 2002... A recent court decision in Iowa seems to have permanently undermined the legal foundations of any state efforts to regulate ATMs owned by national banks. The ruling also likely will loosen the Johnston, Iowa-based Shazam electronic funds...

BP Suit Says Visa 'Singled Out' ARCO By Not Giving It Lower Interlink Rates.
March 28, 2002... When Visa U.S.A. on March 14 adopted a tiered pricing structure for assessing interchange rates for its Interlink PIN-based point-of-sale debit network, more was behind the move than just offering high-volume merchants lower rates, one retail...

News Briefs.
March 28, 2002... Citibank Joins Prepaid Fray Citibank will issue a prepaid Citi Cash Card targeted to teen-agers, company officials announced March 27. Cardholders can load funds onto the MasterCard-branded card using any bank card or checking or savings...

Key Iowa ATM Facts.
March 28, 2002... Total ATMs 4,000 Largest Deployer U.S. Bancorp 240 ATMs Switch Network Shazam Interchange Rate 45? Surcharging ATMs None* Source: ATM&Debit News. *The Shazam network currently is...

EFunds Restates Third-Quarter Earnings And Prompts A Probe By The SEC.
March 28, 2002... The news is both good and bad for eFunds Corp. The bad news is that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating the Scottsdale, Ariz.-based company over an accounting snafu involving the acquisition last year of the Access...

Restated eFunds Finances*.
March 28, 2002... Reported Restated Drop Revenue $388.1 $383.5 -1.2% Net Income $26.0 $25.4 -2.3% Diluted Earnings Per Share 55? 54? -1.8% Source: U.S. Securities &...

Bank Accepts Matricula ID Cards.
March 28, 2002... Citibank announced March 18 that it will accept so-called matricula identity cards as identification for undocumented Mexican immigrants that want to open a bank account. The cards are issued by Mexican consulates in the U.S. The cards verify...