Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals

Shares of publicly traded electronic transaction processors handily beat the leading stock-market indexes in June, the second quarter, and 2018’s first half, according to an analysis from Barrington Research. In the first half, 28 payments-industry stocks posted a mean return of 15.62%, handily beating the Nasdaq Composite Index’s return of …

Now that the PCI Security Standards Council’s July 1 deadline has passed for implementing newer versions of Transport Layer Security technology to protect payment data, some experts believe nearly a third of small brick-and-mortar and e-commerce merchants don’t meet the new requirements. As a result, expect merchant acquirers, processors, and …

The new era of data breaches and privacy failures has had far-reaching effects. Personal information is packaged, sold, and distributed on the dark Web, leaving consumers feeling uneasy. Americans want to be protected, but also want convenience, and are holding businesses to high standards, even higher than what they hold …

Token, a provider of contactless payment terminals tailored for events, launched its Mini-Serve EFTPOS system, which allows attendees at events or venues to top up their wristbands or badges with payment cards or mobile wallets. In an expansion of a relationship that dates back to 2004, PayPal Holdings Inc. has …

Ethiopian Airlines, which flew more than 8.7 million passengers in 2017, will use the Cellpoint Mobile payment platform across its domestic and international operations for tickets and related transactions, Miami-based Cellpoint Mobile announced Sunday. In addition to common payment acceptance, the deal also will enable Ethiopian Airlines, which flies 100 …

The latest findings from a long-running survey of consumers’ payment choices show that new technology is driving a growing number of transactions, but overall usage patterns for credit cards, debit cards, and cash remain stable. The simultaneously released 2016 and 2017 Surveys of Consumer Payment Choice from the Federal Reserve …

Mobile-commerce technology provider Shopgate Inc. said it has joined the Shopfiy Plus Technology Partner Program, which will allow Shopify Plus merchants to access Shopgate’s mobile-app platform. The installed base of mobile point-of-sale devices in the United States will grow to 27.7 million by 2021, compared to 3.2 million in 2014, …

The cybersecurity firm Gemini Advisory recently announced a large-scale data breach at Saks Fifth Avenue and its sister company Lord & Taylor, compromising 5 million credit cards. While the forensic investigation is still under way, it appears that the breach was likely caused by malware on the parent company’s point-of-sale …

Payments-technology provider Bluefin Payment Systems said NCR Corp. is using Bluefin’s point-to-point encryption service at merchants deploying NCR’s Counterpoint Retail Solution to process payments through NCR Secure Pay. Payments provider Merchant Consulting Group, which was founded in 2005, changed its name to Paystri. Credit-union processor PSCU said its new Lumin …

A massive, 13-year-old legal case pitting merchants against the bank card networks and big issuers over credit card interchange could be nearing a settlement, according to regulatory filings and press reports. Mastercard disclosed in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Thursday that negotiations among the parties are moving along and …

Equifax Inc. disclosed Wednesday that it has entered into a consent order with eight states that requires it to improve its data-protection practices in the wake of the huge data breach last year at the national credit-reporting agency. The breach compromised personal data on approximately 148 million consumers, including Social …

LaterPay Inc. released its LaterPay button as a tool to decrease payment friction, especially for nonprofit organizations and journalism sites, the company announced Thursday. Munich-based LaterPay, which has a U.S. office in New York City, says the button is designed to be a low-friction way to enable consumers to make …

It has been a busy week in the cryptocurrency business. On Thursday, technology vendor Fit Pay Inc. announced it is closer to shipping a contactless coin-shaped device called Flip that allows consumers to convert their Bitcoin to U.S. dollars so they can make purchases. Earlier, news emerged that the online …

ATM manufacturer NCR Corp. said it integrated AFS TrueChecks, a service from Advanced Fraud Solutions for preventing check fraud, into its platform for interactive teller machines. Shift4 Payments announced an integration with Megasys Hospitality Solutions, developer of the Portfolio HMS software application for lodging businesses. AvidXchange, a startup providing payment-automation …

Merchants selling digital goods were dealt a heavy blow last year as the fraud rate for the category soared 167%, finds the Fraud Attack Index from online-fraud prevention specialist Forter and the Merchant Risk Council, a merchant group that addresses fraud prevention. Released Tuesday, the index also found that account …

Captiva MVP Restaurant Partners LLC, operator of the PDQ fast-casual chain, reported that a hacker accessed its computer system through a technology vendor’s “remote connection tool” and may have compromised an undisclosed quantity of payment card numbers, cardholder names, expiration dates, and verification values. The breach, which affected all but three …

While the opportunity to earn interchange on transactions made on its new Venmo debit card seemingly answers the oft-asked question of how PayPal Holdings Inc. plans to leverage its free peer-to-peer payment service, the full answer runs much deeper. Interchange is only one piece of the puzzle. A much larger …

With its Monday decision upholding American Express Co.’s anti-steering rules, the U.S. Supreme Court unleashed a tide of press speculation about just how payment card pricing, rewards, and network rules will be affected. At this point, however, only a few things are clear. The first is that AmEx chief executive …

Financial institutions providing banking services to cannabis businesses in states where marijuana has been legalized are no more at risk of being punished by federal regulators than they were before Congress last week rejected legislation to provide them safe harbor. Legislators in the House of Representatives and the Senate separately …

Bill.com announced that, at more than $52 billion, it has surpassed the $50-billion mark in bill payments processed annually for more than 3 million small-business clients. Prepaid specialist Incomm announced it is working with CheckFreePay Corp., a unit of Fiserv Inc., on a cash-based bill-payment service in store checkout lanes. …