Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals

Online-commerce analytics firm eMarketer Inc. is out with its 2018 holiday spending forecast, and it has some encouraging news for merchant acquirers, especially those in the e-commerce and mobile-commerce space. New York City-based eMarketer’s “Holiday Shopping 2018: A Strong Economy Sets the Stage for a Spending Surge” report predicts total …

Merchants using CardFlight Inc.’s mobile point-of-sale app can now use a service called SwipeSimple Customers to help manage their customer data, card-on-file data, and payments, CardFlight announced Tuesday. Among the new features are the ability to create and maintain a customer database with an option to store payment card details …

Merchant processor Elavon rolled out its self-test platform for providers of payment hardware and software developers to streamline needed certification processes from the card networks and for EMV chip card acceptance; Elavon says the platform can reduce previous four-week certification times to 24 to 48 hours and eliminate the need …

In the 2002 Oscar-nominated movie “Catch Me if You Can,” the audience meets one of the greatest con artists of the 1960s, Frank Abagnale (played by Leonardo DiCaprio). In addition to faking his identity and several professions (e.g., airline pilot, surgeon), Abagnale cashed over $2.5 million worth of forged checks …

Small merchants are generating more payment volume, and health-care providers handily outlive restaurants and bars in their relationships with merchant acquirers, according to a new analysis from The Strawhecker Group. Data from the Omaha, Neb.-based consulting and research firm’s Acquiring Industry Metrics service shows that the average small and mid-size …

Terminal maker Verifone Systems Inc. launched EX-Receipt, a cloud-based system that generates an electronic receipt at gas pumps via text or email for enrolled customers, replacing the customary paper receipt. NCR Corp. introduced mobile-payment and -loyalty capability for Enmarket Convenience Stores, a chain of 123 c-stores and 14 quick-service restaurants …

Last week payment processor Square Inc. announced its Square Installments service which provides loans of up to $10,000 to customers of its merchant clients. Like all similar services, it splits a consumer’s repayment of large purchases into fixed monthly amounts. Installment solutions are not unique in payments, far from it. But …

The co-defendant in the Securities and Exchange Commission’s insider-trading lawsuit against former Heartland Payment Systems Inc. chief executive Robert O. Carr will pay $528,608 to the SEC under a settlement approved Thursday by a federal judge. Katherine M. Hanratty, described as Carr’s long-time girlfriend, neither admitted nor denied the SEC’s …

Fresh data indicates that most debit card transactions on mobile wallets—77%—are on Apple Pay. Coming from New York City-based Auriemma Consulting Group, which canvassed debit card issuers, the data also found that Samsung Pay and Google Pay accounted for 17% and 6% of transactions. Auriemma suggests one reason for the …

Priority Payment Systems LLC said it is making an online installment-payment service from Sezzle available to its merchants. Sezzle pays the merchant in full, upfront, and assumes all repayment risk. A little more than one week into its managed-payments program, eBay Inc. reported it is working on adding PayPal as …

It’s no secret contactless payments have struggled in the United States, but less discussed is what needs to be done to boost usage. A paucity of dual-interface cards—EMV plastic that can either be inserted into terminals or tapped on them—is much to blame, but it turns out the answer goes …

Among debit card issuers Apple Pay made up 77% of mobile-wallet transactions, Auriemma Consulting Group said in an analysis of mobile wallets. Samsung Pay and Google made up 17% and 6% of transactions, respectively. Rich Consulting and Double Diamond Group launched a suite of services to aid acquirers, independent sales …

While the Federal Reserve Board mulls an entry into the business of real-time payments, a major competitor is already racking up impressive gains among U.S. financial institutions. The Clearing House Payments Co. L.L.C., the New York City-based company that, among other services, operates one of only two switches for the …

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday unveiled a proposal to facilitate real-time settlement of faster payments. The Fed said it is not committed to any specific action on its plan, but banks and private-sector payment processors are watching for any infringement on their turf. “Over the past year, we have undertaken …

Payments and software provider SpotOn Transact LLC  acquired EmaginePOS, a vendor of point-of-sale software for restaurants and bars. Terms were not announced. Business-services provider CSG Systems International Inc. bought Forte Payment Systems Inc., an independent sales organization, for an undisclosed amount. Credit and debit card information of more than 28,000 …

The EMV liability shift for fuel dispensers may still be two years away, but some are not waiting to get their EMV-compliant products and services installed in convenience stores and fuel stations. Gas Pos launched a service Wednesday that puts EMV-compliant card readers in fuel dispensers and in stores, all …

The national trend of merchants passing on their credit card fees continues to accelerate, aided last week by a federal court striking down Texas’s “no-surcharge” law as unconstitutional. The Texas ruling follows the defeat of no-surcharge laws in Florida and California, but it is a unique milestone: Texas is the …

P97 Networks Inc., the Houston-based company behind mobile wallets from Gulf Pay and Phillips 66, will work with data-security provider ControlScan Inc. on controls for mobile-payment services. Announced Tuesday, the deal is targeted at convenience stores and fuel retailers, quick-serve restaurants, and related merchants. Alpharetta, Ga.-based ControlScan will be tied into …

NACHA reported Monday that it has acquired the non-profit Business Payments Directory Association, a move that deepens the presence of the U.S. automated clearing house network’s governing body in business-to-business payments and provides an entrée into blockchain-based payments. Herndon, Va.-based NACHA said the BPDA will operate as a self-governed group …

PayPal Holdings Inc. announced a partnership with the National Basketball Association’s Phoenix Suns that makes PayPal a payment option on some point-of-sale terminals in the Suns’ arena. The PayPal logo also will adorn players’ jerseys beginning Oct. 17, when the NBA season starts. Free Speech Systems LLC, the company behind …