Prepaid card issuer and services provider Green Dot Corp. lost considerable reload volume and revenues in the first quarter because of the discontinuance of its popular MoneyPak product, but the company late Thursday said its core businesses demonstrated good organic growth and recent acquisitions gave a big boost to the …
Read More »Western Union Says Reports of Possible MoneyGram Buyout ‘Are Not Accurate’
By Jim Daly Wire-transfer market leader The Western Union Co. issued a brief statement early Wednesday afternoon saying reports that it is in early talks to buy rival MoneyGram International Inc. “are not accurate.” The statement appeared to quickly deflate the two companies’ stock prices, especially MoneyGram’s, which had soared …
Read More »Research Shows How Durbin Torpedoed Visa And MasterCard’s PIN Debit Traffic
By John Stewart The Durbin Amendment’s transaction-routing requirements, which have been in effect now for three years, are widely thought to have benefited merchants by increasing competition for debit card traffic. But PIN debit networks that aren’t owned by Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc. were expected to benefit as well …
Read More »Execs’ Confidence in the Security of New Payments Systems Runs Low: Survey
Confidence in the security of new payments systems is not high among businesses executives, finds the “Data Security in the Evolving Payments Ecosystem” report released Monday by the Ponemon Institute LLC. In the report, commissioned by Experian, 36% of respondents said they are not confident about the security of a …
Read More »First Data’s Finances Continue To Brighten as New Clover POS Products Debut
Processing giant First Data Corp. didn’t manage to record a second consecutive profitable quarter, but its financial picture did continue to brighten. Simultaneously, First Data officially launched two new, smaller-footprint products in its Clover line of mobile point-of-sale technology. The Atlanta-based company on Monday announced it had taken a $112 …
Read More »Eye on Earnings: Western Union, MoneyGram Report Online Growth; Heartland Prospers
By Jim Daly Leading wire-transfer providers The Western Union Co. and MoneyGram International Inc. both reported big growth in their online businesses in the first quarter while merchant acquirer Heartland Payment Systems Inc. posted strong increases in charge volume. • They’re still a small portion of its overall business, but …
Read More »Heartland Preps Merchants for EMV As CEO Carr Cites Small-Seller Challenges
The message about EMV and its payment-processing benefits is not sinking in with smaller merchants. That’s the assessment from Heartland Payment Systems Inc.’s chief executive Robert O. Carr, who says Heartland is responding by offering all-in-one security technology that includes but goes beyond EMV. “Well, resonating would be an overstatement,” …
Read More »Visa’s Scharf Stresses ‘Unique’ Benefits of Costco Deal, Decries Industry ‘Gossip’
Visa Inc.’s branding and marketing strengths were what won Costco Wholesale Corp. over from American Express Co. in a set of exclusive acceptance and cobrand agreements announced early in March, according to Visa chief executive Charles W. Scharf, who spoke Thursday afternoon during a conference call to discuss Visa’s results …
Read More »It’s Mooney in, Davidson out As MCX Picks a New CEO Ahead of Expected Launch
Brian V. Mooney, who on Tuesday took over as interim chief executive of the retailer-controlled Merchant Customer Exchange LLC payments consortium, brings strengths to the organization that could prove valuable when MCX at last launches its long-awaited CurrentC mobile-payments system, sources tell Digital Transactions News. And, by some accounts, he …
Read More »MasterCard Posts Increases in Transactions and Charge Volume, and Boosts Incentives
Transaction volumes, revenues and profits all headed up smartly for MasterCard Inc. in the first quarter. But MasterCard on Wednesday also reported laying out nearly $900 million in rebates and incentives during the quarter to build future volume in an increasingly competitive global card marketplace. In the United States, total …
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