Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals

Just as consumers have become accustomed to using their credit and debit cards across multiple shopping channels, so too are many expecting the digitized, and mobilized, versions of these cards to mimic that experience. That finding, from 451 Research LLC’s “Mobile Pay and Commerce Advisory Report,” suggests that early adopters …

• Merchant processor iPayment Inc. has agreed to promote acceptance of Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.’s Samsung Pay mobile-payments service to merchants and resellers. Merchants can receive a merchant kit that includes window decals and other point-of-purchase items promoting Samsung Pay acceptance. Samsung announced its Samsung Pay reseller program in January. …

A trade group of independent ATM deployers on Thursday issued a report blasting the federal government’s Operation Choke Point targeting high-risk merchants, and the nation’s leading retailer association called on the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the PCI Security Standards Council on antitrust grounds. While mostly affecting a few merchant …

The latest battle between merchants and the major card brands has been brewing behind the scenes for months but went public Thursday when an advocacy group for big-box retailers charged that a new twist on network rules is slowing the progress of mobile payments. The controversy involves regulations long maintained …

By John Stewart @DTPaymentNews Ever since Apple Pay debuted in 2014, payments pundits have wondered how fast mobile payments would catch on with consumers. The near-simultaneous arrival of two rivals, Android Pay and Samsung Pay, last fall only made the question more urgent. And now data is emerging that indicates …

Merchant-services company Harbortouch Payments LLC has a new private-equity investor in a deal valued at more than $500 million. Searchlight Capital Partners L.P. announced Wednesday it made an investment in Allentown, Pa.-based Harbortouch. Jared Isaacman, Harbortouch chief executive and founder, says the deal is valued at more than $500 million, …

The use of credit cards in the United States is rising, and new payment options like Apple Pay and Android Pay are gaining popularity. You can bet consumers paying at parking meters, vending machines, or pharmacy-pickup windows will start to expect the convenience of these multiple payment options. 1. EMV …

• PayPal Holdings Inc. plans to cease operations in Turkey in the next week because financial regulators there rejected its license applications, apparently because it does not keep its IT systems in Turkey, Fortune reported. • Some 88% of 400 respondents to a RemoteDepositCapture.com poll about risk said the benefits …

Canadian payment processor Beanstream says its U.S. foray is hoping to tap into its parent company’s international reach as Beanstream USA targets software developers and integrators. Beanstream’s U.S. effort—announced earlier this month—is meant to get a piece of the independent software vendor and value-added reseller market that so many payments …

• Some 27% of consumers who have a smart phone capable of performing mobile payments have used Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, or Android Pay at least once, according to the latest Mobile Pay Tracker survey from Auriemma Consulting Group. Of this group, 31% say they pay with these methods every …

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The PCI Security Standards Council on Friday released version 3.2 of its Payment Application Data Security Standard, which sets rules for payment-processing software. The new PA-DSS aligns with the recently updated main security standard, the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard version 3.2. Today’s update was expected, as the Wakefield, …

Despite hiccups and hitches along the way, the conversion of the massive and highly fragmented U.S. payment card industry from magnetic-stripe credit and debit cards to ones bearing an EMV chip appears to be moving apace. The latest data from MasterCard Inc. finds the number of merchants accepting chip cards …

Minimizing fraud is by far the top payment concern of e-commerce merchants, according to findings from the Merchant Risk Council’s newly released global payments survey. Some 46% of all merchants surveyed about payments and e-commerce issues affecting them in 2015—51% of MRC members and 35% of non-members—ranked managing e-commerce fraud …

• Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. is planning to launch an app in South Korea that will streamline online payments for users of Samsung Pay, Reuters reported, citing a report in the Electronic Times. The app, dubbed Samsung Pay mini, will also be compatible with all Android and Apple Inc. devices, …

U.S. e-commerce merchants are struggling with more fraud, but they’re also contending with two related problems that are on the rise and costing them plenty of time and money—manual reviews and false rejections, also known as false positives. That’s according to two studies, one released on Wednesday and the other …

This week’s revelation by The Home Depot Inc. that it has incurred $263 million in expenses from its 2014 data breach means that the home-improvement retailer’s breach costs, together with those of another big-box retailer, Target Corp., now total $554 million. In a quarterly regulatory filing Tuesday, Atlanta-based Home Depot …

• The number of merchants accepting chip cards increased to 1.4 million as of April 30, according to new data from MasterCard Inc. That’s a 17% increase from 1.2 million MasterCard reported in March. MasterCard also says 68% of all U.S.-issued MasterCard-branded consumer credit cards have an EMV chip. The …

Wells Fargo Bank N.A.’s announcement Tuesday that it would launch a mobile wallet with payments capability built into the Android version of its banking app could be a win for the bank, and herald similar moves by other banks. That’s the assessment from Daniel Van Dyke, an analyst at Javelin …

• The Texas Attorney General’s office and PayPal Holdings Inc. last week settled the office’s allegations that PayPal’s Venmo person-to-person payments service compromised customers’ privacy and security; PayPal agreed to improve disclosures, ensure that Venmo users know who can see their transaction information, and pay the state $175,000. “We are …