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'Tis the Season to be Speedy

Patience is less necessary a virtue this holiday season for credit-card clients looking to use their plastic. Consumers spend an average of 1.24 seconds waiting for authorization for a transaction, says Visa International. In 1972, before Visa introduced its base I technology, it averaged a full five minutes. This holiday season, Visa expects 5,200 transactions to be processed during the busiest single second of the season.

First Data Deal in Jeopardy

The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit to block First Data Corp.'s $7 billion acquisition of Concord EFS, arguing the merger would reduce competition in the …