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 »Payments Companies Are Getting Pricier, Researcher Says
Note to payments-company owners: now just might be the right time to sell. Buyers in 2019 have paid more for firms in the payment-tech space since at least 2010, according to a new analysis by 451 Research of more than 1,100 deals over nearly a decade. The median price to …
Read More »Visa Says EMV Chip Cards Continue To Gain Share and Cut Counterfeit Fraud
EMV chip cards continued to gain share of U.S. card payments in early 2019, although their conquest is not yet complete more than three years after the payment card networks’ EMV liability shifts. But Visa Inc. says counterfeit fraud is dropping sharply, as intended. Visa reported Thursday that 3.5 million …
Read More »Payday Lenders Settle Operation Choke Point Lawsuit Against Federal Bank Regulators
A five-year-old lawsuit brought by payday lenders against federal banking regulators over the government’s controversial Operation Choke Point ended with a settlement this week. Advance America, Cash Advance Centers Inc. (Advance America), and Check Into Cash had sued the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Office of the Comptroller of …
Read More »