Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals

Remember host card emulation? You might have lost sight of this variant of mobile payments based on near-field communication amid the flood of publicity Apple Inc.’s SIM-based Apple Pay service generated this fall. But HCE never went away, and now Royal Bank of Canada is making a bid to put …

Digital goods have matured way past ringtones for a mobile phone. And with that, merchants need to adapt their anti-fraud measures, suggests LexisNexis, a Dayton, Ohio-based risk-services company. Today’s consumers are completely comfortable buying books, movies, and apps for the smart phones, tablets, and computers, Aaron Press, LexisNexis Risk Solutions …

  Fraud-prevention efforts typically intensify during the holiday-shopping season, but many marketers don’t know what those efforts cost them, finds a survey from 41st Parameter, a data-technology company owned by Experian plc. In a survey of 250 marketers, 60% said they were unsure about the cost of fraud prevention to …

Mobile-payments platform developer Mozido Inc. expanded its footprint in the budding industry sector with its announcement Thursday that it acquired a majority interest in CorFire, a U.S. m-commerce subsidiary of South Korea-based information-technology provider SK C&C. Mozido already provides the MoTeaf white-label payments platform as well as various person-to-person, bill-payment, …

The earliest known example of a closed-loop gift card was offered during the Christmas holiday season in 1916 by Hampton’s Quality Store in Eugene, Ore. The store advertised a “Christmas Glove Gift Card” that could be given to a lady, allowing her to redeem it for the gloves she wanted. …

Investors in Digital River Inc.’s stock reacted with exultation Wednesday morning when the gateway and e-commerce services provider disclosed that Microsoft Corp., its biggest customer, had renewed an agreement under which Digital River hosts the Microsoft Store online site. Not only has Digital River retained a client that accounts for …

NCR Corp. has added mobile payment and marketing provider LevelUp as an option for merchants using NCR Silver, NCR’s tablet-based point-of-sale system, NCR announced this week. Duluth, Ga.-based NCR says consumers can pay with LevelUp once merchants activate it as a payment option in NCR Silver. NCR Silver is a …

While the payments industry waits for Apple Pay and other promising applications to help mobile catch on in in-store payments, it’s already blazing ahead in online bill pay. Some 27 million U.S. households are paying at least one bill each month on a mobile phone, according to research from banking-technology …

  Merchants using integrated point-of-sale systems and that process payments with First Data Corp. have a new data-security option if they use POS terminals made by VeriFone Systems Inc., which goes by Verifone. Atlanta-based First Data is now selling Verifone’s Secure Commerce Architecture service, which eliminates the flow of consumer payment …

  Consumers looking for a way to transform their credit, debit, and loyalty cards into electronic versions soon will have a new option with the impending shipment of the WocketWallet. Developed by Shelton, Conn.-based Nxt-ID Inc., Wocket enables consumers to scan information from their payment cards, and other commerce cards, …

Point-of-sale terminal maker VeriFone Systems Inc. saw a nearly 20% increase in its fourth-quarter North American revenues as U.S. merchants continued to prepare for Europay-MasterCard-Visa (EMV) chip card acceptance. Looking forward, the company is getting ready to introduce major new products in fiscal 2015, a year chief executive Paul Galant …

  Consumer behavior poses just as much of a threat to the proper use of passwords as do the actions of criminals intent on cracking those passwords. That’s the assessment of a new report from Javelin Strategy & Research, a Pleasanton, Calif.-based consulting firm. The “In Search Of A Better …

When it comes to Bitcoin, no major merchant has more experience with the digital currency than e-commerce giant Overstock.com, which has been accepting it since Jan. 9. Now, with nearly a year of experience under its belt, the retailer will close out 2014 with about $3 million in Bitcoin sales, …

A U.S. House of Representatives committee released a report this week blasting the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. for its role in Operation Choke Point, a federal-government effort to deny payment-processing services to merchants intent on defrauding consumers. The report is one more nail in what appears to be a coffin …

By John Stewart While payments executives are abuzz about how mobile devices are transforming the business, they are slowly coming to realize that not all mobile users—and certainly not all mobile devices—are equal when it comes to such metrics as the average value of payments and rate of usage. The …

  United Airlines is equipping more than 23,000 flight attendants with Apple Inc.’s iPhone 6 Plus smart phone to be used as a payment-acceptance device on flights. Distribution of the devices is expected to begin in the second quarter. United says the devices will be able to handle most onboard …

Dwolla Inc. has entered the race to simplify—and ultimately speed up—payments between individuals and between organizations and individuals. Starting Thursday, the 6-year-old Des Moines, Iowa-based payments provider is allowing people who don’t have Dwolla accounts to receive payments from Dwolla users and flow them directly into their bank account. The …

  Chalk another payment-card data breach up for the bad guys. Payment gateway Charge Anywhere LLC announced Tuesday it discovered a breach of its payments network. It says it has shut down the malware that caused it. South Plainfield, N.J.-based Charge Anywhere said the malicious software, which was discovered Sept. …

  Gift cards sales in 2014 will top $124 billion in the United States, but that comes amid slowing growth, says a new report from CEB TowerGroup. The Arlington, Va.-based advisory firm predicts that gift card sales will see annual growth rates from 5% to 6% through 2017, an indication …

Discover Financial Services expects to incur $35 million in incremental costs next year for Europay-MasterCard-Visa chip card issuance and acceptance, chief executive David W. Nelms said Wednesday. Nelms also said Discover will be an active player in mobile payments. Nelms made his remarks at an investor conference sponsored by The …