Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
Consumers carrying around the next-generation Samsung Galaxy S5 smart phone will be able to use PayPal with a tap on the device’s biometric sensor. The smart phone, scheduled for release in April, will have a fingerprint sensor that enables consumers to use their online PayPal accounts to pay for …
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Mobile-Payments Provider for Parking Looks to Serve Offers for Nearby Businesses to Users
PayByPhone Technologies Inc., which runs mobile-payment programs for parking in half a dozen U.S. cities, is looking for ways to serve relevant offers to users of its system, a top executive with the company said Thursday. n The offers, for example, could include discounts at stores or restaurants near where …
Read More »First Data’s Star Network Casts Its Lot With Visa’s Identifier for Chip-Card Transaction Routing
Payment processor First Data Corp.’s Star electronic funds transfer network on Wednesday said it would license Visa Inc.’s so-called common application identifier (AID) that will facilitate chip-based debit card transactions compliant with the transaction-routing requirements of the Durbin Amendment in 2010’s Dodd-Frank Act. The agreement with Visa could give Star, …
Read More »Mt. Gox Bitcoin Exchange Goes Dark, Leaving Bitcoin Owners With Questions
Mt. Gox, a well-known Bitcoin exchange, has shut down, leaving investors who had Bitcoins at the digital-currency exchange wondering what’s next. Bitcoin is a decentralized digital-payment system based on mathematically derived new Bitcoins coming into circulation by so-called “miners” using computers. News service Reuters reports today that the exchange …
Read More »Neiman Marcus Downsizes by Two-Thirds Its Tally of Cards Compromised in Breach
In a rare piece of good, or least not as bad, news about the recent retailer payment card data breaches, upscale department-store chain Neiman Marcus Group says about 350,000 cards were compromised by the breach it disclosed in January, down from its earlier estimate of 1.1 million. The number of …
Read More »By Snapping up C-Sam, MasterCard Bolsters Mobile Capability, Matches Rivals
MasterCard Inc.’s purchase Monday of C-Sam Inc., a mobile wallet technology company, boosts the card brand’s ability to provide mobile wallet services via a variety of payment methods, suggests a payment analyst. MasterCard paid an undisclosed amount for the Oakbrook Terrace, Ill.-based C-Sam, which began offering a mobile wallet …
Read More »EMV Chip Cards and Revenue Streams Worry Independent ATM Deployers
The coming of Europay-MasterCard-Visa (EMV) chip cards along with pressures on interchange and surcharge revenues are the top three concerns of U.S. ATM independent sales organizations and other retail deployers, according to survey results from the ATM Industry Association. The trade group’s annual survey of what’s on its members’ minds …
Read More »Loop Mobile Wallet Debuts With Expectation of Near Ubiquitous Acceptance
Loop, a mobile wallet that uses a case or fob to generate its own contactless field to communicate with many payment terminals, has launched for the latest iPhone models. The brainchild of payments veterans George Wallner, founder of point-of-sale terminal maker Hypercom Corp., now Equinox Payments LLC, and Will …
Read More »MasterCard, Visa Release Specs To Enable NFC Payments That Bypass the Secure Element
A form of near-field communication that does not require a secure element to complete a mobile payment now has the formal backing of card brands MasterCard Inc. and Visa Inc. Each of them announced today their respective contactless payment schemes support so-called host card emulation. Host card emulation got a …
Read More »Capital One Buys Into Big Banks’ clearXchange P2P Payment Service
Card issuer and bank Capital One Financial Corp. has bought into the clearXchange person-to-person payment company, becoming the fourth owner. Founded in 2011, clearXchange was started by Wells Fargo & Co., Bank of America Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co., with the idea of leveraging a consumer’s existing relationship …
Read More »Mobile Payments Growth Fuels Apriva’s $9.55 Billion in 2013 Transaction Volume
Mobile point-of-sale payment provider Apriva marked $9.55 billion in transactions through its payment gateway in 2013, a 17.3% increase from $8.14 billion in 2012, fueled by growth in mobile payment acceptance, cashless vending, and its gateway service. Mobile POS payments, in particular, saw exceptional growth in 2013 versus 2012. Apriva …
Read More »Lamassu Claims First U.S. Bitcoin ATM Deployment with Installation in New Mexico
What is said to be the first ATM for Bitcoins in the United States was announced on Tuesday by Lamassu Inc., which made the machine. The ATM is installed in a cigar bar and lounge near the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, according to a news release from Lamassu. …
Read More »The Feds Give a Cautious OK to Financial Services for Legal Marijuana Sellers
The gradual lowering of barriers that have kept legal marijuana merchants outside of the financial mainstream gained momentum Friday in Washington, D.C. The U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCen) and the U.S. Department of Justice announced new guidelines that signal federal approval for banks to serve legal marijuana …
Read More »As Key Chip Deadline Looms, Doubts Emerge About Small Merchants’ Readiness
With Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc. digging in their heels on a key chip card deadline, payments executives are expressing doubts that all U.S. small businesses will be ready. “The short answer is no,” says Henry Helgeson, chief executive of Merchant Warehouse, a Boston-based merchant processor. “We still have a …
Read More »Square Snags Seven Whole Foods Stores in Another Move Up Market, Updates Square Cash
Consumers shopping at seven Whole Foods Market locations in Austin, Texas, New York City, Florida, and the San Francisco Bay area now can use their Square Wallet apps to pay for merchandise inside the stores. Whole Foods and Square Inc. are installing Square Register-equipped iPads on Square Stands inside these …
Read More »Durbin Wants To Know How Well His Debit Card Fraud-Prevention Adjustment Is Working
In the wake of recent data breaches at Target Corp. and other retailers, U.S. Sen. Richard Durbin, author of a famous amendment that regulates debit card interchange, and an ally want to know how well a provision in the amendment that gives a debit card issuer an extra penny in …
Read More »Revel Systems Adds Bitcoin Support to its iPad POS System
Revel Systems Inc. is the latest payments organization to support Bitcoin with the announcement Tuesday that consumers can use the digital currency with its iPad-based point-of-sale system. San Francisco-based Revel is working with Bitcoin wallet provider Coinbase to integrate acceptance. Revel added Bitcoin acceptance because of about 30 requests from …
Read More »MCX Takes Big Step Toward Launch With Deal To Use Paydiant Mobile Technology
Merchant Customer Exchange, the retailer-controlled mobile-payments network, took another step toward launch on Wednesday when it announced a deal with Paydiant Inc. to use the startup wallet provider’s technology at member merchant locations. Dallas-based MCX also said Wendy’s International LLC, the hamburger chain, and regional grocery chain Acme Fresh Market …
Read More »ISOs Hone Their Tablet-based Point-of-Sale Products
Up Solutions, the cloud-based point-of-sale division of United Merchant Services Inc., has set its Up Tab restaurant POS system at zero cost for resellers, the company announced today. Separately, Harbortouch has updated its POS Sales Center iPad app with new functions. Comprising an Android-based tablet, stand, printer, card reader, and …
Read More »As EMV Comes to the U.S. Market, Canada’s NBS Buys Terminal Maker Equinox
Equinox Payments LLC has a new owner. In a bid to strengthen its hand in the market for EMV gear in the United States, NBS Payment Solutions Inc. announced late Thursday it bought the Scottsdale, Ariz.-based payment-terminal maker for an undisclosed amount from the private-equity investment firm Gores Group LLC. …
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