Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals

• Processor and retail ATM operator Payment Alliance International acquired Avery Scott LLC, operator of 400 ATMs in the Louisville, Ky., area. PAI, whose network has more than 74,000 ATMs, will retain Avery Scott’s employees and affiliates. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. • E-commerce marketplace Shop.com has contracted with processor World First USA …

It’s been said for years, but 2017 finally could be the year for mobile payments, according to Chetan Sharma, a prominent consultant in the mobile-technology space. “Fueled by demonetization in India and the rise of viable mobile-payment solutions worldwide, we expect mobile payments to enter the consumer consciousness in a …

• Microsoft Corp. has made further details available about Web Payments, a feature it announced last month it is introducing for both Windows 10 PCs and Windows 10 Mobile. The feature will work with the Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome browsers and will allow Microsoft Wallet users to more easily make purchases on …

The Federal Reserve’s recently released 2016 Payments Study shows that counterfeiting was the biggest type of U.S. card fraud last year. But other types of fraud, especially card-not-present fraud, are rising quickly, thanks in part to the coming of EMV chip cards and the aftereffects of data breaches. The Fed study says counterfeit fraudaccounted …

• Automaker Volkswagen AG has acquired PayByPhone Technologies Inc., according to press reports. A unit of U.K.-based payments processor PayPoint plc, Vancouver-based PayByPhone offers a platform for mobile payments for parking and claims 12.5 million users in North America, Europe, and Australia. The company handles more than $300 million in parking payments annually, according …

With online sales soaring, physical retailers are faced with the challenge of how to recreate the convenience of e-commerce in a traditional store. On Tuesday, a 4-year-old startup called Five Elements Robotics unveiled a device that promises to help with that challenge by putting robots at the service of consumers. Once in …

• A 4-year-old startup called Five Elements Robotics has introduced a robotic shopping cart called Dash that allows customers to download a shopping list and then guides them through the store to find the items. The cart is also equipped with a scanner to let customers scan and pay for the items at …

The Anti-Phishing Working Group reported that the total number of phishing Web sites detected in the third quarter was 364,424, a 21.8% decrease from 466,065 in the second quarter. The APWG said the second-quarter figures were an “all-time-high” for phishing attacks and the third-quarter data is a return to more historical norms. …

Visa Inc. says its U.S. EMV credit and debit card volume surpassed 800 million transactions in November, more than quadruple the chip volume from a year earlier. November’s transactions on EMV chip cards hit 805.9 million versus 175.6 million in November 2015, a month after the general-purpose card networks’ EMV point-of-sale liability …

Alphabet Inc.’s Google unit will launch two new smart watches in the first quarter of 2017 that will run on the new Android Wear 2.0 platform and will support Android Pay, Google’s mobile-payments service. Jeff Chang, product manager for Android Wear, announced the news in an interview with The Verge, a tech Web …

• The law firm Pomerantz LLP, which specializes in securities class actions, said it is “investigating claims on behalf of investors of PayPal Holdings Inc.” The firm says it is looking into whether PayPal executives or directors violated the Securities Exchange Act with respect to the timing of a disclosure of …

The Federal Reserve released its latest triennial payments study Thursday morning, and it reports that the number of U.S. non-cash payments totaled 144 billion in 2015, up 5.3% annually from 2012. Debit and credit cards led in growth, while the automated clearing house network “grew modestly,” the Fed said. The …

It’s still far from a mainstream currency, but Bitcoin is closing out a tumultuous year with a raging run-up in value. The digital currency breached the $800 level on Tuesday, and as of Wednesday afternoon was trading just shy of $822. These are heights Bitcoin hasn’t seen in nearly three …

ATM deployers reporting a “general increase” in physical and fraudulent attacks on their machines declined to 42% this year from 51% in 2015, according to new data from the ATM Industry Association. While that overall finding was good news, skimming, PIN compromises, malware, and other types of fraud-related attacks on ATMs remain …

• Risk-management and compliance-service provider Coalfire has acquired Veris Group, a specialist in testing and engineering services for cybersecurity. Terms of the deal were not announced. • POS Portal, a point-of-sale equipment distributor, said it now is certified by the PCI Security Standards Council as a point-to-point encryption version 2 key injection facility. Risk-management …

• North American Cannabis Systems Inc. said it will work with Alternet Systems Inc. to launch a payment system for the cannabis market. Legal cannabis sales are expected to hit almost $7 billion this year. Details of how the system would work were not disclosed. • Elan Financial Services has agreed to provide credit …

In a rare move against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a federal court has upheld a counterclaim against the agency filed by a company that provides mortgage-payment services through the automated clearing house network. The U.S. District Court in the Northern District of California ruled on Dec. 13 that Nationwide …

When it comes to the U.S. EMV conversion, it seems as if everything has proceeded more slowly than anyone had expected. Merchants have been slow to adopt the chip technology, EMV certifications have been slow in coming, and consumers and merchants alike have even complained about slow transactions. But now, …

A new report by The Pew Charitable Trusts says a minority of “financially vulnerable” consumers generate most overdraft fee revenue for banks, and it calls for bank regulators to put stricter controls on the controversial fee. The report uses data from the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, more than 40 banks, and …

• The United Kingdom’s Competition and Markets Authority issued a provisional finding that the August acquisition of Germany’s Wincor Nixdorf AG by U.S.-based ATM manufacturer Diebold Inc. “risks a substantial lessening of competition … in the market for the supply of customer-operated ATMs in the U.K.” The new company name is Diebold Nixdorf. The CMA …