Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals

The PCI Security Standards Council and Retail & Hospitality ISAC issued a joint bulletin about a growing threat to e-commerce Web sites that the cybersecurity organizations say requires “urgent awareness and attention.” The threat, sometimes dubbed Magecart, involves sites infected with difficult-to-detect malware that skims payment card information during a transaction without …

A new report about online security finds that 50% of phishing domains that researchers tracked mimicked the Web sites of financial-services companies. The findings come from the “State of the Internet/Security” report released Wednesday by Cambridge, Mass.-based Web-services provider Akamai Technologies. Forever a favorite of criminals, banks and other financial …

Fidelity National Information Services Inc. (FIS) said it has closed on its $43-billion cash-and-stock acquisition of processor Worldpay Inc. The deal was announced in March. Wednesday’s announcement follows approval of the merger by Worldpay shareholders last week and by the Federal Trade Commission in April.Apple Inc. CEO Tim Cook reported the Apple Pay mobile-payments service is now completing nearly …

The Kroger Co. and Visa Inc. have settled a 2016 federal lawsuit in which Kroger alleged Visa interfered with its transaction-routing plans for EMV debit cards, Digital Transactions News has learned. In a separate dispute, however, the leading stand-alone supermarket chain is still boycotting Visa credit cards in some of …

Big merchants like Amazon.com Inc. are celebrated for virtually friction-free transaction flows, and now that’s putting pressure on the point-of-sale vendors that serve small businesses. That’s because clients want the same kind of experience for their customers, but don’t know how to go about it, a panel of experts said …

The end of Bank of America Merchant Services, a merchant-acquiring joint venture between Bank of America Corp. and First Data Corp., is at hand.  Charlotte, N.C.-based BofA said Monday it will pursue an independent merchant-acquiring strategy beginning in June 2020, though First Data, which that same day became part of …

Mastercard Inc. saw strong growth in its core business in the second quarter, a time when the network continued its push for contactless cards and development of the new Secure Remote Commerce system for online payments. Mastercard said it switched 21.4 billion transactions globally in the three months ending June …

Major credit card issuer Capital One Financial Corp. said it detected a data breach this month in which an intruder gained access to records affecting 100 million persons in the United States and 6 million in Canada. Affected data included such information as names, addresses, Zip Codes, and dates of birth, though …

Two payments players separately have added partner programs to boost their presence among merchants. Shift4 Payments LLC debuted its third-party point-of-sale marketplace with the DoorDash delivery service as a strategic participant. The Shift4 program enables companies like DoorDash to offer their applications to merchants within the Shift4 POS marketplace.  For …

Mastercard Inc. has become the first payment card network to join the NoMoreRansom initiative sponsored by Europol, a support-services organization for law-enforcement agencies in the European Union. Europol says the 3-year-old NoMoreRansom public-private partnership project has helped 200,000 ransomware victims recover their computer files free of charge and has prevented …

Fiserv Inc. formally announced the closing of its $22-billion, all-stock acquisition of processing giant First Data Corp.MagTek Inc. said its DynaPro Go PIN pad now offers Bluetooth LE connectivity. The company also launched its iDynamo 6 mobile card reader that works with iOS, Android, and Windows operating systems.Utah’s Deer Valley Resort said it detected malware on May …

Shareholders of payment processor Worldpay Inc. this week voted overwhelmingly in favor of the company’s planned merger with Fidelity National Information Services Inc., which is expected to close in the third quarter.The Bancorp Inc., owner of The Bancorp Bank, a major prepaid card issuer, reported gross dollar volume on the bank’s prepaid cards …

In what may be the biggest anticlimax in their careers, employees at First Data Corp. will walk into their offices Monday morning as employees of Fiserv Inc. And if Fiserv chief executive Jeffery Yabuki’s ambitions prove fruitful, the combined company will play a leading role in fending off nonbanks like …

Cloud-based point-of-sale system provider Revel Systems Inc. launched the Revel Solution Partner program in an effort to get more merchants using its POS systems. Announced Thursday, the program sees qualified resellers managing the complete sales process for Revel Essentials, the San Francisco-based company’s POS system for small and mid-size businesses. …

First Data Corp. and Fiserv Inc. expect to close Monday on Fiserv’s $22-billion acquisition of First Data. The deal, announced in January, has received final required regulatory approvals and non-objections, First Data said. First Data announced $2.49 billion in revenue for the second quarter, up 2% year-over-year.A group of Congressional Democrats, including presidential …

PayPal Holdings Inc.’s payments juggernaut shows no signs of weakening, but the company has found its latest product integrations bedeviled by slowdowns, forcing it to postpone some expected revenue. One such integration with bill-payment specialist Paymentus Corp. is a crucial one because it will allow PayPal to enter an enormous, …

Facebook Inc. chief executive Mark Zuckerberg says his massive social-networking company is using an open process to get its proposed Libra cryptocurrency into the market and won’t roll it out until all concerns are addressed. Zuckerberg fielded questions about the controversial Libra project at the company’s second-quarter earnings conference call …

Discover Financial Services’ Payment Services unit reported its transaction volume grew 8% year-over-year to $61.8 billion, a result that included 7% growth for its Pulse electronic funds transfer network. Overall, total Discover revenue net of interest expense increased 10% to $2.85 billion, while net income jumped 13% to $753 million.In related …

Visa Inc.’s net income jumped by a third in the quarter ended June 30, a period when the leading payment card network’s global transaction volume rose nearly 12% and the company completed or announced several acquisitions to broaden its franchise. Visa chairman and chief executive Alfred F. Kelly Jr. told …

The Zelle peer-to-peer payments network is starting to click for the smaller, everyday transfers it was designed to handle. Early Warning Services LLC, the Scottsdale, Ariz.-based banking-technology company that runs the 2-year-old network, reported on Tuesday that Zelle handled $44 billion in volume in the second quarter on 171 million …