Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
• Chip card standards body EMVCo issued 3-D Secure 2.0, its update of the 3-D Secure technology for protecting e-commerce transactions. The new specification supports app-based purchases on mobile and other devices and will streamline the checkout process in order to reduce transaction abandonment, EMVCo says.
• MasterCard Inc. announced plans to launch artificial-intelligence “chatbots” that will allow consumers to transact, manage finances, and shop using messaging platforms that can carry on a conversation; the new Mastercard Bot for Banks will first be available on Facebook Inc.’s Facebook Messenger.
• In related news, MasterCard announced agreements with Microsoft, Google, and Samsung that will enable MasterCard cardholders who use Microsoft Wallet, Android Pay, or Samsung Pay to shop online at hundreds of thousands of merchants that accept the Masterpass online-payments service.
• Visa Inc. said that it is opening its Visa Token Service to third-party software developers, a move the network says will allow it to offer more digital payment services on any device. Giesecke and Devrient, Gemalto, and Inside Secure are the first companies to participate in the program.
• In separate announcements, processor First Data Corp. and payments hardware and software provider VeriFone Systems Inc. said they are working with Ant Financial Services Group to enable payments by Chinese consumers with Ant’s popular Alipay app in the U.S.
• Bank of America Merchant Services, a joint venture of Bank of America Corp. and First Data Corp., says it will process payments for Karhoo, an app-based ride-comparison and hailing service for licensed transportation providers in London and other British cities, when Karhoo launches in the U.S.
• The Western Union Co. said consumers in the U.S. and United Kingdom can now send cash by using the Western Union mobile app to access in-app payment choices of bank account, card, or use of cash at an agent location.
• Card manufacturer CPI Card Group Inc. announced enhancements that extend to prepaid card program managers the ability to offer consumers a channel to order physical and digital gift cards.
• Developer SimplyTapp released Gane, a mobile-payments app that enables instant funds access, near-field communication (NFC) on both Android and iOS phones, and loyalty offers in a single transaction.
• The percentage of U.S. households without a bank account fell to 7% in 2015 from 7.7% in 2013 and 8.2% in 2011, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. reported in its latest National Survey of Unbanked and Underbanked Households. Households using a prepaid card within the previous 12 months increased to 9.8% from 7.9% in the 2013 survey. Prepaid card usage was higher among lower-income, less educated, and younger households, as well as African-American and households with a disabled working-age members.
• The Ventra mobile app for payments on Chicago Transit Authority buses and trains and the CTA’s two sister transit agencies in the Chicago area has been downloaded more than 1 million times and used to pay $110 million in fares, fare-payment technology provider Cubic Transportation Systems reported.
