Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals

By Jim Daly@DTPaymentNews In a move that will further consolidate the U.S. acquiring business, payment processor Vantiv Inc. announced late Thursday that it has an agreement to buy Moneris Solutions Corp.’s U.S. merchant-acquiring subsidiary from its Canadian owners for $425 million in cash.  Also known as Moneris USA, Schaumburg, Ill.-based …

In today’s mobile first world, acquiring customers seamlessly and allowing them to securely transact in the mobile channel is key for any organization looking to win and retain customers. Additionally, the shift to mobile has fraud skyrocketing, while at the same time financial institutions and payments providers are facing ever …

By Jim Daly@DTPaymentNews The PCI Security Standards Council is devising recommendations for protecting payment transactions on devices connected to the Internet of Things, a network with endpoints researchers say already number in the billions. The Wakefield, Mass.-based PCI Council, which oversees a number of security standards for the protection of …

By Kevin Woodward@DTPaymentNews The impact of a Donald J. Trump presidency on the payments industry may not be known in concrete terms yet, but speculation suggests a fair number of moves meant to take some of the sting out of regulations. Republican Trump handily won the Electoral College vote Tuesday, …

• Payments-technology vendor Cardtek announced its Digital Enablement Platform for wearables payments. The platform relies on wearables chips from NXP Semiconductors and is aimed at integrating payment cards, transit tickets, and other services in wearable devices. Cardtek cites research from CCS Insight indicating there will be 411 million wearable devices …

By Jim Daly@DTPaymentNews Payment card manufacturer CPI Card Group Inc. rode the EMV chip card wave over much of the past two years, but slowing sales in the third quarter took a big bite out of its revenues and profits. “Our third-quarter results were below expectations, primarily due to continued …

By John Stewart@DTPaymentNews Bitcoin is on a tear again. The cryptocurrency has breached the $700 price barrier seven times out of the last nine days, according to data from Blockchain.info, and bids fair to remain above that level Tuesday. It was trading at $709 early in the day, according to …

By Kevin Woodward @DTPaymentNews More U.S consumers are using mobile peer-to-peer payments than are using a smart phone to make a point-of-sale purchase, research firm eMarketer Inc. says in a research note. While only 19.4% of consumers made a mobile payment in a store in the preceding six months, 24.9% …

• Payment security technology provider MagTek Inc. and Payment Alliance International (PAI), an ATM independent sales organization and processor, said PAI now supports MagTek’s QwickCodes system for cardless transactions and will deploy it across its nationwide network of more than 74,000 ATMs. • Entertainment operator Live Nation Entertainment Inc. said mobile-ticket …

By John Stewart @DTPaymentNews The U.S. election is just 24 hours away, but if it were up to the readers of Digital Transactions News, Donald Trump would be the next President of the United States. He’d be bound for the Oval Office, however, with a very weak mandate. Republican candidate …

  The traditional box office needed a serious refresh when it came to funneling large crowds through the gates quickly and efficiently. The same outdated model was problematic for all venues including music festivals, concert halls, museums and sporting events. Since many venues employ volunteers or part-time workers, the challenge …

By Jim Daly@DTPayment News First Data Corp. said attrition in its small and mid-size North American merchant portfolio eased off in the third quarter, but chief executive Frank Bisignano cautioned that getting attrition down to acceptable levels will take more time. “Q3 saw a meaningful reduction in the annualized attrition …

• In yet another event related to payment card data security at hotels, Sentinel Hotel announced it is investigating an incident involving cards used at its front desks after receiving reports from some of its guests of unauthorized charges. • While 22% of consumers overall prefer to receive coupons through …

By Kevin Woodward@DTPaymentNews Card controls, a way to empower consumers to control when and where their credit and debit cards are used, are evolving. Viewed as one way to contend with the rampant data breaches fueling payment fraud, card controls are moving beyond the simple on-off switching capability of the …

• A Colorado State University management professor and a Ph.D. student in finance at the University of Utah co-wrote a blog post saying that the “legal incoherence” in federal policy regarding financial services for legal marijuana businesses is hurting an otherwise fast-growing industry that in Colorado alone generated nearly $1 …

By John Stewart @DTPaymentNews Debit card transactions with PIN authentication have historically been seen as the most secure form of payment available, but lately some experts have had cause to wonder. In fact, while credit card fraud losses are declining, losses on PIN debit transactions for payment and at ATMs …

By Kevin Woodward@DTPaymentNews Add Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to the list of merchants that will accept Chase Pay transactions. JPMorgan Chase & Co., backer of the nascent Chase Pay mobile wallet, says the massive retailer will begin accepting the bank’s payment service in more than 5,000 Walmart and Sam’s Club stores, …

• Lengthy negotiations for some large contract renewals caused payments software and processing provider ACI Worldwide Inc. to reduce its 2016 financial guidance; the company posted third-quarter revenues of $217 million, down 9% from a year earlier, and a loss of $9.83 million compared with net income of $14.8 million …

By Jim Daly@DTPaymentNews Mobile payments now account for 25% of transactions at Starbucks Corp.’s U.S. locations, up from 20% a year ago, but a recent 1% decline in transactions had Starbucks executives fielding questions from analysts Thursday about what caused the slippage. Nothing to worry about, folks, was the message …

By John Stewart @DTPaymentNews Shopify Inc. reported on Wednesday that it is starting to see positive response from its very recent moves to adopt Messenger for their users. Besides the Apple Pay and Messenger initiatives, Shopify also launched a new app in September that the company says allows merchants to …