Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals

By Jim Daly Results of a merchant processor’s survey released Wednesday claim that only 4% of small businesses have point-of-sale terminals that can accept near-field communication (NFC) contactless mobile payments, and only a small minority currently plan to upgrade their equipment so they can. Meanwhile, payment processor Vantiv Inc. on …

Conspicuously absent from new point-of-sale terminal maker Poynt Inc.’s Oct. 30 unveiling was how the new company’s L-shaped, portable devices would be distributed. The answer to that question came Monday when Poynt chief executive Osama Bedier revealed that two of the nation’s largest merchant acquirers, Chase Paymentech and Vantiv Inc., …

  Mobile payment provider LoopPay Inc. launched the LoopPay Card and CardCase, accessories meant to make it easier to use the mobile-payment service. After downloading the free Loop Wallet from the iTunes or Google Play stores, the user connects a Loop device to the phone. The user creates an account …

First Data Corp.’s Clover point-of-sale system now is available in a mobile version that enables merchants to roam their store aisles with the device. Dubbed Clover Mobile, the service can be paired with the stationary Clover Station or used as a standalone service, First Data says. Like Clover Station, Clover …

The newly rebranded Verifone Inc. this week made several product announcements. As the payments industry pays more attention to data security, Verifone this week said it is making its secure payment service Verifone Point available to all of the terminal maker’s direct customers and U.S. merchant acquirers and independent software …

A confident Kenneth I. Chenault appeared before 7,000 payments and financial-services executives on Tuesday to talk about what he touted as American Express Co.’s recent record of success in digital payments. While he runs a 164-year-old company with roots in plastic cards and travelers’ checks, Chenault conceded nothing to his …

  Money-transfer provider MoneyGram International Inc. has launched MGiAlloy, a technology platform to enable greater use of alternative financial services. MGiAlloy, which can be used on kiosks, online, on mobile device or at points-of-sale, enables consumers to transfer money, pay bills, cash checks, reload prepaid cards and other services. Dallas-based MoneyGram …

  CPI Card Group is working with digital issuance and wallet platform provider Sequent Software Inc. on CPIMobile, a service to deliver secure digital credentials to near-field communication (NFC)-compatible smart phones. CPI announced Monday. NFC is a two-way protocol that enables mobile devices to share data in a secure environment. CPIMobile …

With financial institutions lending less to small businesses, new, technology-based companies are moving into merchant lending to fill the void. This is a market typically served by so-called merchant cash-advance firms, companies that lend money in the form of advances against a merchant’s expected credit card volume. In many cases, …

Payments entrepreneurs and veterans alike view Bitcoin and other so-called cryptocurrencies as the new land of opportunity, but with the territory comes a considerable amount of legal risk. Federal authorities busted the Liberty Reserve and Silk Road ventures, the latter because it attempted to hide illegal activity by requiring customers …

In an effort to prevent money laundering, New York State’s top financial regulator made history last year when he proposed that virtual-currency providers obtain a so-called “Bitlicense” to ensure that they have proper controls in place to protect consumers’ money. Now Benjamin M. Lawsky, superintendent of the New York Department …

Count Poynt Co. as the newest member of the point-of-sale terminal maker industry. The Palo Alto, Calif.-based company hopes to entice merchants, developers, and resellers to its product. Osama Bedier, Poynt chief executive, formerly led Google Inc.’s Google Wallet and before that worked at PayPal Inc. The L-shaped device rests on …

Financial analysts gave MasterCard Inc. and Visa Inc. credit for leading a New York Stock Exchange rally Thursday as higher consumer spending on payment cards boosted the networks’ revenues. And processor Vantiv Inc. reported a 42% increase in merchant-processing revenues in the wake of its June acquisition of Mercury Payment …

  While Apple Inc.’s Apple Pay mobile wallet has been grabbing the headlines, the telco-controlled Softcard mobile-payments service this week lined up another major fast-food chain. Consumers now can use their Softcard mobile wallets to pay for purchases at U.S. McDonald’s locations. Formerly known as Isis, Softcard is a smart …

By Jim Daly and Kevin Woodward Just hours after Merchant Customer Exchange LLC (MCX), the retailer-backed developer of the CurrentC mobile-payments service, posted a response to reports about some of its members dumping Apple Inc.’s rival Apple Pay service, the company notified customers that “unauthorized third parties” had obtained email …

By Jim Daly Attempting to do damage control in the wake of an email hack and unfavorable publicity about retailers who want to accept other mobile wallets, the chief executive of the retailer-sponsored Merchant Customer Exchange LLC (MCX) mobile-payments service said Wednesday that MCX is working with general-purpose credit card …

Stressing new services such as tokenization, online checkout, and mobile payments, Visa Inc. chief executive Charles W. Scharf on Wednesday left no doubt where the sprawling card network’s future lies. “The things we are doing are all about having the best products in the market to capture where the growth …

For the past decade, image exchange has been one of the undisputed success stories of electronic payments—so much so, in fact, that nearly all banking and retail executives take it for granted that paper checks will clear as images and funds will likely settle the same or next day. But …

  Merchants using the newly released Evo Snap Mobile smart-phone and tablet-based point-of-sale service from Evo Payments International can create and manage loyalty, rewards, and promotion programs in addition to accepting payments. Melville, N.Y.-based Evo says the Snap Mobile service, available globally, works with iOS and Android devices. In addition …

Issuers signing up to have their cards included in the Apple Pay wallet may benefit from all the hype Apple Inc. is generating for the new mobile-payment service. But behind the scenes, the 500 or so financial institutions that have enlisted in the program so far are also signing up …