Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals

The number of EMV chip card-accepting U.S. merchant locations reached 2.3 million in June, up from 2.02 million in March and an increase of 77% from 1.3 million in June 2016, according to new figures from Visa Inc. Visa says in its latest EMV report that half of U.S. storefronts now …

Marketers of integrated, cloud-based point-of-sale systems take note. It’s not enough to have full-featured service replete with multiple functions. It also takes a sales approach that is responsive and knowledgeable. That may sound like common-sense idea, but it’s one that has been vetted by The Strawhecker Group in its “The …

The Federal Reserve issued a paper outlining “refreshed strategies and nine new tactics” for improving the U.S. payment system; the paper is a follow-up to the Fed’s strategic vision for payments issued in January 2015 and comes in the wake of the July report from the Fed’s Faster Payments Task Force. The Federal Trade …

Enthusiasts may lament the slow rate of adoption for mobile payments generally in the United States, but some researchers are forecasting robust growth for contactless payments via mobile wallets at the point of sale. In a recent report, New York City-based research firm eMarketer said so-called proximity mobile payments will exceed $1,000 …

As businesses in the Houston area attempt to recover following the devastation of Hurricane Harvey in late August, the payments industry is offering assistance. First Data Corp. is offering thousands of its Clover Go mobile credit and debit card readers free to business owners affected by the hurricane. The offer includes …

Driven by higher prices and more usage, the value of cryptocurrency transactions could exceed $1 trillion this year, more than 15 times their level in 2016, a British research firm estimates. Hampshire, England-based Juniper Research in a new report pegs the value of cryptocurrency transactions in 2017’s first half at $325 …

Performance Matters, which offers professional instruction for public-school educators, has agreed to use SchoolPay, a unit of My Payment Network, to process payments for professional development for teachers in kindergarten through 12th-grade classrooms. MoneyOnMobile Inc., a Dallas-based company with operations in India, said it processed more than 1 million domestic transfers in …

The financial-services industry can take some satisfaction that it has improved its overall compliance with the PCI data-security standard, going from 42.9% of firms in full compliance in 2015 to 59.1% in 2016, as measured in the 2017 Payment Security Report from Verizon Enterprise, the business-services unit of telecommunications carrier …

Change. It’s one of the most feared events in one’s life; personally and professionally. People are scared of the unknown, which makes them naturally resistant to change. This fear is one of the primary reasons why evolving, or changing, an organization is one of the most difficult leadership challenges most …

Total spending via contactless mobile payments in the United States will exceed $1,000 per user for the first time in 2017, reaching $1,026, according to forecasts by eMarketer. Total U.S. contactless mobile payments will hit $49.29 billion this year, up 78.1% from 2016, the firm projects. Fiserv Inc. completed its $89-million, cash acquisition …

Google plans soon to give merchants access to the vast trove of credit card credentials it has in its databases to speed customer checkout for mobile and online payments. The search-engine giant, however, is not putting itself in competition with payment card networks, a Google executive said this week. The …

With transaction laundering and false-front Web sites a growing problem for acquirers and independent sales organizations, technology vendors are beginning to respond. The latest example is Reno, Nev.-based Conformance Technologies LLC, which this week introduced more powerful tools to combat this growing fraud threat. Conformance has broadened the data elements …

Payments provider NXT-ID Inc. announced its FitPay Inc. subsidiary is providing the payments technology for the vivoactive 3, a new smart watch from Garmin International Inc. Dubbed Garmin Pay, the service supports contactless payments made with Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. credit and debit cards from major issuing banks. Earlier this week, Fitbit Inc. introduced Fitbit Pay. In …

Blackhawk Network Inc., a major player in merchant-branded prepaid cards, just gained an even bigger foothold in that market with its $175-million, all-cash acquisition of CashStar Inc., a 10-year-old firm specializing in digital gift cards. Announced Wednesday morning the dealbrings to Pleasanton, Calif.-based Blackhawk a platform enabling mrchants to market …

There wasn’t a Regular Joe in the room, but that didn’t stop a panel of payments professionals Tuesday from probing the consumer psyche to discern why mobile wallets aren’t more popular. As a percentage of point-of-sale transactions, most experts agree that the major general-purpose mobile wallets—Apple Pay, Android Pay, and …

Digiliti Money Group Inc., a provider of mobile remote deposit capture services for banks, has rejected Urban FT Inc.’s offer to save the company from potential bankruptcy, Urban FT announced Tuesday. Earlier in August, Digiliti said was considering “strategic options” that included a sale of the company or a Chapter …

In its latest flirtation with plastic credit cards, online payments leader PayPal Holdings Inc. unveiled its PayPal Cashback Mastercard, a no-annual-fee card issued by Synchrony Bank that gives PayPal account holders 2% cash back on online and in-store purchases wherever Mastercard is accepted. Rewards, on which there are no limits or expiration …

Consumers have a new option when choosing a fitness device that’s capable of making a contactless payment. Fitbit Inc., a San Francisco-based maker of fitness trackers, announced its Ionic smart watch Monday that includes Fitbit Pay, the company’s first foray into contactless payments. Fitbit Pay, which will be available when …

Target Corp. has integrated its popular Cartwheel couponing app into its main mobile app in preparation for introducing mobile-payment functionality based on quick-response codes, TechCrunch reports, though Target’s deadline for introducing payments on the app is “in flux”and may slip into early next year, according to the online news service. Golden …

Young adults are famous for their enthusiasm for new technologies, and that perception appears to be confirmed by a new study that compared adoption of in-app payments by various age groups. The recently released “2017 U.S. Mobile App Report” from Internet metrics firm comScore Inc. found that 23% of adult …