• Nearly half—48%—of ATM operators did not have EMV acceptance enabled on their machines at the end of 2015, finds the 2016 ATM Channel EMV Readiness Survey released by the ATM Industry Association. Fourteen months ago, the survey predicted that figure would be 12%. Continuing uncertainty and confusion, routing issues, and high chargeback rates are likely at fault, the ATMIA says.
• Facebook Inc.’s Messenger app may soon allow users to make in-store payments, according to a Business Insider news report citing The Information, a tech-news site that analyzed new code in the iPhone version of the app. In June, Messenger began supporting peer-to-peer payments nationwide, following introduction of the service on a limited basis a year ago.
• Payment card maker CPI Card Group Inc. says Visa Inc. has certified CPI products as having a maximum market life of 12 years.
• The International Card Manufacturers Association, which represents payment card makers, personalization companies, issuers, and suppliers, says 37% of all cards made in 2015 had a chip, representing 87% of the value of cards manufactured. The overall value of cards and related services made in 2015 came to $26.5 billion. Financial cards, after SIM cards used for wireless connectivity, comprised the second-largest unit market.
• Some 73% of all U.S. businesses experienced actual or attempted payments fraud last year, up dramatically from 62% in 2014 and 60% in 2013, according to research by the Association for Financial Professionals.
• Merchant processor iPayment Inc. will offer payment processing to eye-care centers through a deal with Opti-Port, a group-purchasing organization.
• EBay Inc. has joined the Fast IDentity Online (FIDO) Alliance as the first e-commerce marketplace to directly achieve certification in the organization, which promotes interoperability between strong-authentication technologies.
• Processor Global Payments Inc. says it supports Samsung Pay in China.
• NACHA, the rules-setting organization for the automated clearing house network, appointed Colleen P. Lindow, a vice president at Bill.com, and Kim Sipes, director of treasury at Duke Energy, to its Board Advisory Group, which it established in 2014 to give non-financial organizations that use the ACH a more direct voice in ACH governance. The board now includes nine members.