The Durbin Amendment, which passed into law within weeks of its introduction in Congress last summer and seemed poised to go into effect in July, hit a stumbling block on Tuesday with the introduction of a bill in the U.S. Senate to delay rulemaking by two years. The legislation, called …
Read More »Despite PCI, a Scanning Tool Finds Widespread Storage of Unencrypted Data
One of the key tenets of the 6-year-old Payment Card Industry data security standard (PCI) is that merchants should never store unencrypted card data in their systems. But data generated from a recent beta test of a new system-scanning tool shows many merchants, knowingly or unknowingly, are violating this basic …
Read More »Operator Creates Marketing Council To Build Awareness of Secure Vault Payments
The operator of the Secure Vault Payments network for online automated clearing house payments said it is creating a marketing council to promote awareness and usage of the new payment system. The council has the endorsement of ACH governing body NACHA, said Denver-based SVP operator eWise Systems USA Inc. Dean …
Read More »Signaling Possible Plans Beyond Credits, Facebook Sets up a Payments Unit
Facebook Inc., a massive social network with more than 500 million users worldwide that is said by some experts to have ambitions in the payments business, has established a wholly owned subsidiary called Facebook Payments Inc. Facebook incorporated the entity in Florida on Dec. 10 and is advertising now for …
Read More »Confusion Forces VeriFone to Pull Skimming Demo As Square Defends Itself
VeriFone Systems Inc. fired a blast at rival mobile-payments provider Square Inc. on Wednesday and sustained some powder burns in the process, but the leading U.S. point-of-sale terminal maker nonetheless may have brought some legitimate concerns about Square’s security into the open, according to at least one analyst. By Thursday, …
Read More »Merchants Willing To Leave Plastic Behind As They Expand Prepaid Offerings
Retailers, other merchants, and processors are increasingly embracing online and mobile forms of gift cards and related prepaid products as they seek to give customers as many payment options as possible, according to executives who spoke at this week’s Prepaid Expo USA in Orlando, Fla. “If you’re not in …
Read More »TCF Tells Court Durbin Could Force It To Lay off Thousands
Big debit card issuer TCF Financial Corp. might need to lay off more than 2,000 employees to offset potential revenue losses if the Federal Reserve Board’s most draconian debit interchange price-control proposal takes effect, TCF said in recent court filings. Wayzata, Minn.-based TCF also said that its annual revenue loss …
Read More »Bankers Tout Mobile-Capture Success, Warn Others to Jump in Soon
Only a year or so ago, allowing consumers to deposit checks using a smart-phone application seemed cutting-edge. Now, some financial institutions that have the most experience with offering mobile remote deposit capture are not only touting the success of the product, they are also warning their peers that the window …
Read More »Durbin Will Hurt, But It’s No Apocalypse for Debit, McKinsey Expert Says
There may be some good news for large banks and card networks fretting over the looming effective date for the Durbin Amendment and its restrictions on debit card income. While the amendment, part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform legislation signed into law last summer, will severely compress debit card …
Read More »Apple’s New iPad Could Be Even More Suitable for Payments Than the Old One
The debut on Wednesday of Apple Inc.’s iPad 2 ushers in a thinner, lighter version of a tablet computer that debuted a year ago to considerable fanfare both generally and in the payments business. Like its sister product, the iPhone, the iPad won adoption by some merchants looking for ways …
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