Fiserv announced today that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire BillMatrix Corp., a provider of electronic bill payment services.

BillMatrix is expected to generate revenue of approximately $90 million in 2006. The purchase price is approximately $350 million, and the transaction is expected to close in the third quarter. The transaction is expected to be neutral to earnings in 2005 and slightly accretive to earnings in 2006.

The UK's Office of Fair Trading has announced it has written to "eight major credit card companies regarding its provisional conclusion that the levels of default charges they impose (e.g. for late payments) are excessive." Jill Treanor reports on the story for the Guardian.   » Continue Reading

Robin Sidel reports for the Wall St. Journal on Monday's decision by a federal judge in California dismissing one of several recent lawsuits brought by merchants against the credit card industry.

In his decision issued Monday, Judge Jeffrey S. White of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, said the plaintiffs in the case lacked legal standing to challenge the fees, in part because they aren't "direct purchasers" of Visa and MasterCard's services. Under federal antitrust law, only direct purchasers can sue on antitrust grounds.

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