Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
EMV chip card payments made substantial gains in the U.S. last year, but the nation still lags most other regions in EMV penetration, according to new figures from payment card standards body EMVCo. Some 53.5% of general-purpose U.S. card-present transactions in 2018 were so-called chip-on-chip, meaning both the point-of-sale terminal …
Read More »Can MoneyGram And Ripple, ‘Two Wounded Ducks,’ Take Flight With Their New Pact?
Its long-term prospects for success are unclear, but the investment and cross-border payments partnership struggling wire-transfer provider MoneyGram International Inc. announced late Monday with blockchain-services developer Ripple Labs Inc. certainly produced a short-term bang by doubling the value of MoneyGram’s beaten-down stock. As part of the deal, Ripple invested $30 …
Read More »Circle Will Sunset Its Circle Pay App To Concentrate on Cryptocurrency Projects
Circle Internet Financial Ltd. will cease supporting its 5-year-old Circle Pay mobile app beginning next month in order to concentrate on its blockchain and cryptocurrency ventures. Circle Pay is a no-fee peer-to-peer payments app that enables users to send money using the recipient’s phone number or email address. The service …
Read More »A Core Group of Consumers Continues To Prefer Cash, Researcher Finds
The debut of cashless stores has led to pushback by several cities, the state of New Jersey, and a member of Congress concerned that card or mobile-payments-only options will leave cash-dependent consumers unable to shop in such stores. Now, new research from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta concludes that …
Read More »WEX Looks for a Transaction-Volume Charge From a New Deal With an Electric-Vehicle Charge Supplier
Fleet and corporate payments provider WEX Inc. expects to enhance its charge volume through a new agreement to provide payment services to ChargePoint Inc., which has a global network of 66,000 charging stations for electric vehicles. The agreement with Campbell, Calif.-based ChargePoint will enable WEX’s 11 million fleet card holders …
Read More »A Court Ruling May Affect Acquirers’ Ability to Pass Along Data-Breach Fines to Merchants
A common assumption among merchant acquirers and retailers is that merchants are the ones who ultimately are liable for network fines after a merchant’s data breach. But a recent decision by a federal appellate court that ruled against First Data Corp., the nation’s largest payment processor, sends a message that …
Read More »Return Fraud Is a Source of Increasing Worry for Retailers
Retail loss-prevention executives say fraud is increasing the most inside stores, but nearly a third say fraud is rising the most in online-only sales and more than 20% say it’s going up the most in multi-channel sales. The findings come from the Washington, D.C.-based National Retail Federation’s newly released National …
Read More »Square Aims to Declutter the Restaurant Point of Sale—And Stay Ahead of Merging Competitors
Merchant processor Square Inc. is making it easier for its restaurant clients to use third-party delivery services, while at the same time fortifying itself against bigger merchant acquirers slated to merge into even bigger ones. San Francisco-based Square, which has its own restaurant delivery, pick-up, and catering service called Caviar, …
Read More »About 200,000 Card Numbers from Medical Collections Agency for Sale, Researcher Says
A data-security services firm says it has spotted approximately 200,000 payment card numbers in online fraudster marketplaces stolen from a collections firm serving diagnostic laboratories, but it expects more to come up for sale later. Secaucus, N.J.-based Quest Diagnostics Inc. reported Monday that financial and other data on some 11.9 …
Read More »May’s Wall Street Downdraft Pulled in Payment Processors
May became the first negative month of 2019 for payments stocks as worries about tariffs and an economic slowdown as a result gripped the wider market. Chicago-based Barrington Research Associates Inc. reported Monday that a 29-company group of transaction-processor stocks posted a mean return of negative 2.57% last month. Only …
Read More »