The nation’s biggest debit card issuers have reversed polarity and are now promoting PIN-debit cards over signature debit and small-value transactions over bigger tickets, if the results of a debit study released this week are any indication. “Certainly, there’s a fundamental shift under way” among large banks to focus on …

Point-to-point encryption of card data has been a hot sell for merchant processors and vendors of security technology ever since the Payment Card Industry data-security standard (PCI) took effect in 2006 and especially after a spate of high-profile data breaches at merchants and processors not long afterward. Visa Inc., the …

For electronic currency provider Bitcoin, 2012 is proving to be a problematic year. In March, a well-known Bitcoin trading platform, Bitcoinica, announced a security breach in which hackers stole 43,554 Bitcoins. In May, a Federal Bureau of Investigation report warned that criminals could use Bitcoin for illicit purposes. And later …

Square Inc., the flashy mobile-payments startup that now counts Starbucks Corp. as one of its merchants, announced a new flat-pricing plan Thursday that puts the company squarely into the ring with independent sales organizations and merchant acquirers competing for established small businesses. And Dunkin’ Donuts, a rival of Starbucks for …

The new mobile-payments network being developed by retailers went public on Wednesday with its name, Merchant Customer Exchange, or MCX, and the identities of 15 initial merchant-investors. But, five months after merchants first revealed plans to build an alternative to the major card networks as mobile payments take hold in …

A proposal to change the rules of the automated clearing house network to allow faster clearing times, which last Friday fell short of the votes needed to be enacted, is likely to be resurrected in some form, experts polled by Digital Transactions say. “I don’t think it’s dead, but it’s …

Which was the big payments winner at the Summer Olympic Games in London, which ended Sunday? Answer: Cash, a contender that’s entered every Olympics ever held. Contactless cards and mobile devices accounted for very few payments, according to a Celent LLC analyst who visited two different Olympic venues last week. …

A proposal that would have changed network rules to dramatically speed up automated clearing house transactions fell short on Friday of the votes needed to be enacted by NACHA, the ruling body for the ACH system. The vote on the proposal, which would have provided for same-day instead of next-day …

Acculynk Inc., which on Wednesday announced it has signed up American Airlines Inc., says the recruitment of its largest merchant yet indicates stronger interest among online retailers in accepting PIN debit transactions. Indeed, Ashish Bahl, chairman and chief executive of the Atlanta-based company, tells Digital Transactions News it expects to …

Regardless of how talks between Google Inc. and American Express Co. turn out, it isn’t likely AmEx will shut down its cardholders’ access to the online search giant’s newly overhauled mobile wallet. Indeed, much of the discussion now is likely focused narrowly on the use of the AmEx brand, says …