Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals

In advance of the Super Bowl on Sunday in Minneapolis, Visa Inc. said it has installed 700 upgraded point-of-sale terminals at U.S. Bank Stadium and additional POS devices at certain merchant locations in the city. The new devices are capable of handling contactless EMV transactions. An estimated 1 million people …

North America’s largest payments company on Thursday said it expects to receive a $1 billion bonus from the federal tax-reform bill passed into law in December. In contrast with its rival Mastercard Inc., which reported earlier in the day it recorded an $873 million charge in the fourth quarter related …

Federal regulatory initiatives targeting the payments industry may have abated, but a variety of others at the state level and in the court system could require reactions from payments providers. That’s the word from Scott Talbott, senior vice president of government affairs, who spoke Wednesday at the annual Northeast Acquirers …

Mastercard Inc. took an $873 million, one-time charge in 2017’s fourth quarter related to the new federal tax law, and the company reported Thursday that the cobranded Cabela’s Visa card will switch to the Mastercard brand. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that President Donald Trump signed into law in …

PayPal Holdings Inc.’s stock was trading down about 7.5% as of mid-morning Thursday, hours after an announcement from eBay Inc. that the big marketplace will shift transaction processing from long-time provider PayPal to Netherlands-based processor Adyen. EBay’s business accounts for about 13% of PayPal’s volume, a share PayPal said Thursday …

PayPal Holdings Inc. on Wednesday said it has reached an agreement with its former owner, eBay Inc., that calls for PayPal to act as a checkout method on eBay for three years beyond the end of the five-year pact that separated eBay and PayPal in 2015. In that three-year period, …

Payments observers who think Venmo and Square Cash have locked up the Millennial crowd for peer-to-peer payments may have to reconsider. With the new advertising blitz it announced Monday, the bank-owned Zelle service is making it plain it plans to steal its share of this huge consumer market. “The advertising …

Banks and credit unions across the board are increasing deposit limits for mobile remote deposit capture transactions, and with the consumer remote-capture market mostly conquered, financial institutions are turning their attention to small businesses. Those are two highlights from RemoteDepositCapture.com’s 2017 study of the mobile-capture market. The Alpharetta, Ga.-based publishing …

Processor Fiserv Inc. reported that its Accel debit network has added new transaction-routing options, including the ability to process signature-based transactions. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is using the new signature service, Fiserv said. Accel also will make signatures optional for merchants beginning in April, as are the four general-purpose card networks. …

The U.S. Payments Forum on Monday reported that the vast majority of large U.S. merchants now accept EMV chip cards. With the conversion to chip from the old magnetic-stripe payment technology at the point of sale now over the hump, though still far from complete, advocates are looking at fuel …

UATP, which is owned by and provides payment processing for many of the world’s airlines, said it is now accepted for U.S. ticket purchases on Expedia, Orbitz, and Travelocity. General Catalyst announced that soon-to-retire American Express Co. chief executive Ken Chenault has joined the venture-capital firm as chairman and a …

Seven months after paying $260 million for Sage Payment Solutions, the U.S. merchant-services arm of Sage Group plc, investment firm GTCR LLC is giving it a new name—Paya—and a refreshed strategy to add more merchants to its portfolio. Announced Tuesday, the Paya name for the Reston, Va.-based payments provider signifies a …

In the hotly contested person-to-person payment business, financial institutions have felt left behind by technology impresarios like PayPal Holdings Inc. and Square Inc. that have entered the market over the past few years with slick P2P apps. But on Monday, the banks’ Zelle network released fresh numbers indicating healthy growth …

The U.S. Secret Service began warning financial institutions last week about ATM “jackpotting,” in which a machine quickly spits out huge amounts of cash after being physically compromised by organized gangs and infected with a variant of malware first seen in 2013, according to KrebsOnSecurity. Hackers are especially targeting Diebold …

Long confirmation times and hefty transaction fees have pushed some Bitcoin backers to back away from the digital currency in recent weeks, but now there are signs that one of those problems is easing significantly while the other is growing much worse. The median transaction fee stood at $5.69 as …

What impact might the PCI Security Standards Council’s recently released spec enabling PIN on glass transactions with commercially available, off-the-shelf devices have on mobile point-of-sale equipment sales? http://ow.ly/k2h030i1yQs  #payments #survey

Investors gave Starbucks Corp. the cold shoulder Friday morning on news that despite a record $6.1 billion in quarterly revenues, growth is slowing in the United States. But the coffee giant’s payments business has several initiatives brewing, executives reported late Thursday. A leader in closed-loop prepaid cards and mobile payments …

• Bill processor Invoice Cloud announced a collaboration with PayNearMe to allow customers to pay bills with cash at participating retail stores, including CVS, 7-Eleven, Family Dollar, Casey’s General Stores, and ACE Cash Express. • The Miami Parking Authority, the municipal parking-management authority for Miami, said drivers had used the …

Last year was a year of revival for Discover Financial Services’ long-suffering Pulse debit network, which posted a 19% fourth-quarter increase in year-over-year dollar volume on 15% more transactions. The strong finish—$42.4 billion in volume on 1.03 billion transactions—brought Pulse’s full-year volume to $157.1 billion, up 14% from $138 billion …

Fraud-prevention specialist Tender Armor LLC intends to use the proceeds from its latest funding round to hire more personnel and launch its marketing efforts. Announced Thursday, the funding round, for an unspecified amount (though characterized as “multimillion”), is a big step in growing the startup, says Madeline K. Aufseeser, chief …